I was lucky enough to go to Paris for a couple of days last week, and took the opportunity to ask a vintage designer expert if my grandmother’s dress (which I wrote about recently) was a Balenciaga.
Didier Ludot‘s shop is a treasure trove of designer vintage goodies in Galerie Montpensier near the Louvre in the heart of Paris. I made my way through the Chanel bags and Hermès jackets to where Didier Ludot himself was negotiating a sale with a chic Parisienne. He told me the dress was a beautiful example of an early 1950s evening dress, but that the boning in the corset needed repairing, and that it was missing its petticoat. (He offers repair services, ideal if you have any precious vintage clothes that need a little TLC.) As for the Balenciaga question, he was rather sceptical – without a photograph of my granny modelling it with it a caption about the designer, we won’t ever know for sure. Apparently, Balenciaga wasn’t super keen on zips, so the fact that it has a zip throws a bit of doubt on its origin. And so the mystery continues…
