A Couture Leather skirt and top set by Paco Rabanne – Paris 1967

Paris

Outfit in leather by Paco Rabanne, mini-skirt and open bolero with triangular ivory leather cut-outs held in place by metal rings. Skirt with flared panels appliqué with silvered pockets and brushed steel triangular studs, with an echo on the bolero and pass belt. Paco Rabanne, Paris paper Label signature on the inside of the belt. Slight patina of the leather and dust on the inside of the leather, otherwise no major defects. Good overall colour and condition.

Dimensions: Equivalent to size 36 France. Bolero: shoulders 33 cm, bust 86 cm, waist 77 cm, height 41 cm. Skirt: waist 73 cm, hips 95 cm, height 43 cm.

Iconography: Paco Rabanne, Michel Lafin 1996, photo Gunnar Larsen, page 167.

Using mesh, vinyl, leather, plastic and steel, Paco Rabanne moulded the female body in a highly avant-garde, Space Age style. His muses of the time, from Jane Fonda to Françoise Hardy, propelled “the metallurgist of fashion”, as Gabrielle Chanel humorously dubbed him, to the pinnacle of Modernity, one step ahead of traditional Haute Couture.