Circa 1930

France

Long summer dress in taffeta and light salmon silk net knit by the enigmatic Maison de Couture Martial & Armand in Paris, dating from the 1930s. Sleeveless dress with oval neckline in silk net knit applied with large crenellated leaves in taffeta treated asymmetrically on the bust. Long skirt with very large bottom alternating crenellated palms and silk mesh with mini side trains. Under-dress in Duchesse satin covered in light salmon silk chiffon with crenellated detail at the bottom. Beautiful haute couture and hand-finished work. Handwritten sewn signature on the reverse of the bottom of the underdress indicating Martial-Armund (?). There is some structural fragility to the taffeta (a few micro cracks) and minor repairs to the silk net. Good condition despite its fragility. Non-wearable collector's dress. Very rare label.

Dimensions: Equivalent size France 35-36. Height 147 cm, Shoulders 36 cm, Chest 83 cm, Waist 72 cm, Hips 90 cm.

Little is known about this Parisian Couture House, which cultivated a certain secrecy. A certain Mr Armand opened a boutique called ‘Martial et Armand’ in Paris in 1896 at 13 rue de la Paix, initially selling fine lingerie. In 1902, his first dress designs came out: Armand appeared in an issue of La Mode magazine retouching a model, helped by his wife. A few years later, in 1906, the boutique moved to 10 Place Vendôme. He began to enjoy success in the United States, where his designs were exported. In 1916, the American press commented: ‘The house of Martial et Armand has always been a mystery. No one ever seems to have met Martial’. In the 1920s, he took on Pauline Trigère as an apprentice. A few of his designs appeared in the Gazette du Bon Ton (1915, 1922, 1923). During the 1950s, a Martial et Armand boutique was located at 22 rue d'Aguesseau, but the business disappeared around 1957.