John Anthony is an award-winning American fashion designer best known for simple, elegant clothing with a strong sense of chic. His work veers towards minimalism, with sharp tailoring, striking evening wear being his signature. He is renowned for his cutting and tailoring. From the day that he launched his atelier in 1971 his design philosophy is a fusion of function and purpose. The function is his logical, wearable approach; the purpose, his pared-down ideas. As a designer, he considers it his job to make things easy for the customer. He designs with focus and a narrow palette for both day and night, so items can easily intermingle. He uses natural fabrics and is noted for contradictory daywear fabrics in his evening collections. In the early 70’s he was one of the first designers to promote the idea of easy-to-travel clothes that resist wrinkling. By 1976, he was showing soft, liquid separates in muted colours that became his trademark and received 2 Coty awards, one in 1972 and one in 1976, as recognition.
His business was all done on a made to order basis. That means the majority of pieces you will find are a one-off, or if there are similar pieces, very few of each piece exist. This personal attention to each dress is clearly seen in the workmanship of his pieces. His work is very expensive and beaded pieces did, and still do, retail for over $10,000. His work is a personal favourite of mine and I am thrilled to offer this exclusive nine piece capsule collection of pieces and samples that John pulled from his own archives to share with you.
This dress is exceptional and a wonderful example of his work during this time period. It is made from a black stretch jersey that allows it to drape beautifully over the body and highlight every curve. The stretch in the jersey and the netting on the top allows the dress to show off your curves while still feeling unbelievably comfortable once on. The top of the dress is spectacular and it is so well made that you could wear it either way around depending on just how bare and daring you want to be. The entire bodice mixes curved cut outs of the black jersey with a back netting. This makes it very sexy despite the fact that the dress completely covers you. The net sleeves are long and followed the curve of the arm. Panels of jersey curve up from the waist and wrap over you. If you wear it with the more covered side to the front then the back is left almost bare under the black netting. If you turn it around and wear the more exposed side to the front it creates a more halter effect. The dress skims over the body and falls to the floor in a beautiful drape of jet black jersey. It is cut super model long in length and I love how the bottom of the skirt flares out just a touch. A zipper sits at the neck of the more opaque side and this allow you to show a little skin there or zip it up to the neckline. It is incredible and made to demi-couture standards. Excellent condition.
Unlined and slips on to wear with a zipper at the neckline. It appears to have been worn very little if at all. Hand finished. The fabric does have stretch so should fit a range of sizes. The measurements below give you the comfortable range the fabric has when lying flat.
Sleeves: approx 25""
Shoulders:
Bust: 15-18" flat across from side seam to side seam
Waist: 12-14" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: 16-19" flat across from side seam to side seam
Length: 67" from neck to hem
Modern Sizing Equivalent: XS-MED
Item# DD3828
Reference Photos: From the .
This garment has been professionally cleaned, pressed and is odor free. Thoroughly checked over before shipping, it will be ready to wear upon arrival.
