Beautiful Dresses, Beautiful Women: Cannes 2012

The weather has been dreadful in Cannes and I know from personal experience that it is not much fun dragging a long evening gown through a torrential downpour.  Just take a look at poor Isabelle Huppert's soggy gown:

No umbrella for Isabelle?  It looks like she needed Fonzworth Bentley -  P. Diddy's former umbrella man:

And then the wind caught Lily Cole's dress and she flashed a bit of her very sensible looking knickers.  

But wet weather aside, there have been some beautiful dresses on the red carpet and Diane Kruger in particular has been a real stand out.  She has looked super glamorous and like a movie star and you can tell she really enjoys getting dressed up.   In Giambattista Valli:

Looking very Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief don't you think?

And then she wore this ridiculously fabulous Vivienne Westwood gown

Which has a really wonderful late 19th century silhouette but in a futuristic and shiny gold.

I also loved the Versus laced dress that she wore:

and with friends like Karl Lagerfeld you are reportedly given gifts like antique earrings to wear with your Westwood gown: 

La Dolce Vita

There is something about seeing a light, colorful frock when it is freezing cold (as it is here in New York) that can suddenly make the day seem a little longer and warmer. You feel the sidewalks turn to sand and that large cup of Starbucks in your hand becomes a margarita. If you are off to Palm Beach or Mustique this December or January or just dreaming of being someplace warm then these two dresses perfectly capture that sea-and-sun mood.

Our first dress is an early 1990s Gianni Versace for Versus in a vivid purple. It shows lots of leg and though the cut is a simple sheath, it has sexy cut-outs in the front and especially on the back. There is also a bit of gold detail in the buttons - we always want at least a little splash of gold on a Versace!

Early 1990s Gianni Versace for Versus silk dress. Size 6.

Our second Resort piece is a 1960s Italian haute couture dress by Botti. Botti is not well known and even in Italy is largely forgotten. But we were very excited when we were shown this beautifully made, easy dress. There is a small inner corset so the fit is amazing. The fabric in its optimistic shades of lime and pink is a little shorter in the front and would look great with jeweled flats or a strappy sandal for evening.

For more information about this item please email info@rarevintageinc.com or call (212) 581 7273