Dress #062.3: Charles James cocktail dress in wine Raccoon It is made from black

It is made from black chiyogami (Japanese) paper that is accented with a pattern of gold twigs

This jacket design is from Debenham & Freebody’s autumn 1874 catalogue

They can be found happily hanging out (though you wouldn’t know it to look at them) in shallow lagoons

summer 1890 catalogue

The turtle is 4

Dress #062.3: Charles James cocktail dress in wine Raccoon It is made from blackThis hand stitched wine red paper dress is based on a cocktail dress designed by British born American designer Charles James in 1950. It is made from Japanese Kiku paper. Hand embroidered lines imitate the seams and folds of the dress. It is stitched onto cold pressed 100% cotton paper. The original dress is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession 2009. 300. 180. Charles James produced some of the quintessential dress shapes of the 1940s