Princess Lucretia's Journey of Self Discovery: The Dotty Duke and Duchess

One night at the races, Princess Lucretia met a dotty Duke and Duchess.  They both fell madly in love with her and invited her to move in with them.  If the Duke bought the Princess an emerald from Cartier, the Duchess would buy her an even larger emerald.  Their lives were strange and romantic.

The Duke and Duchess decided to throw a ball in the Princess' honor.  The princess wore a John Galliano cream bias cut satin gown with a teal sash.  She looked beautiful but the Duke and Duchess sensed that she was beginning to feel claustrophobic and might be beginning to be bored by their society.  They thought that it might be time for her to try opium...

 

 I love the beautiful and subtle star detail.

 

1994 John Galliano Princess Lucretia collection bias cut satin gown with teal sash.  Size 4.

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Princess Lucretia's Journey of Self Discovery, Part Two: Freedom

Part two of Princess Lucretia's journey of self discovery begins on a racetrack in Scotland.  She discovers that all that she wants is freedom and fun.  She flirts, frolicks, drinks gin and becomes a successful gambler.   She buys a John Galliano heather colored linen riding coat, trimmed in tiny buttons and wears her skirt shockingly short.  She stays out until dawn, going to places she's never been.  It's a beautiful life.

 

  

  

 

1994 John Galliano Princess Lucretia Collection ensemble.  Size 4.  Runway piece. 

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Princess Lucretia's Voyage of Self Discovery

One of my favorite designers is John Galliano.  I love his vision of story and history in his designs.  I especially love the early pieces and the early fashion shows.  I do like the current couture shows for Dior but my soft spot is for the late 1980s/early 1990s John Galliano pieces.  The time that includes the most perfect little, tiny, shop that was in Bergdorf Goodman's.  It was a place of escape and dreams.  If I could have moved in there, I would have.  So when I had the chance to purchase pieces from John Galliano's famous Princess Lucretia collection for RARE I was very excited!  The young Princess Lucretia's journey begins...

with an escape from Russia in 1860.  The daughter of a noble family, she had a French Governess, wore French clothing and only spoke French at home.   Her father, Prince  Alexi  Dmitrich  Borovsky was very charming, and had had many lovers before and after marrying the glamorous but cruel society beauty Countess Marie Komarovna.  The family had a vast number of serfs working on their estate and this caused Princess Lucretia much unhappiness.  She did not believe that any person had a right to own another person.  Her attempts to convince her father were met by punishment and banishment from the family dinner table.  During her time alone she would go for long walks in the countryside and there she met a young and handsome serf, Mikhail.  He was intelligent and had secretly taught himself to read.  Princess Lucretia and Mikhail secretly met often.

Princess Lucretia's mother wanted to see all of her daughters married as well and as unhappily as herself, during a game of chess she planned Princess Lucretia's marriage to a very rich Count with tendencies towards idleness, drunkeness and gambling.

The governess, Mademoiselle Minoux, had herself left home rather then face marriage to a man she did not love.  She knew of the Countess Marie Komarovna's plan to marry the young princess off and so told the princess of her mother's plans.  The princess decided that very evening to leave without even changing out of her silk taffeta gown from the ball.  She rushed into the cold winter evening to Mikhail's house with her skirts flying about her.

She gave herself completely to him even though they both knew that she could not stay in Russia and that they could never be together.  Princess Lucretia had a wild, independent streak that her mother and father both blamed each other for giving her.

In the morning, Princess Lucretia went through the few bits of clothes that Mikhail owned and made a sort of smoking pajama suit so she could leave on a train in third class dressed as a rather fetching young boy.

And so begins Princess Lucretia's voyage of self discovery.  The Highland fling part of her journey begins tomorrow.  (okay, so I just totally made this up but it is a sort of a more elaborate story of John Galliano's inspiration for the fab Princess Lucretia collection.  What is fashion without story, character and a lil' DRAMA!)  Stay tuned...

This ensemble is the actual runway piece which for a collector is the holy grail of a designer's vision.

 

 

 

 

John Galliano 1994 Princess Lucretia Collection.  Size 4.

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