Dress #117: Charles James cocktail dress in brown Octopus made by the Wexler &

made by the Wexler & Abraham department store

Materials: Japanese & Thai kozo papers

This hand-stitched blue Regency dress

which I’ve replicated with a metallic hemp & silk tissue

other Japanese paper

Dress #117: Charles James cocktail dress in brown Octopus made by the Wexler &This hand stitched paper dress is based on a brown silk cocktail dress made by Charles James between 1952 1954 as a sample for New York ready to wear manufacturer Samuel Winston; the original is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession 2013. 341). That relationship eventually ended in a lawsuit for breach of contract, as James was convinced that Winston was stealing his designs for one of his other labels, without crediting James. James