By At Home Wear for Ran Raalte

Peach Lurex Vintage Mini Dress

I was surprised when I came across this cute little 70s lurex mini dress and found an unusual Van Raalte label in it. 
This little dress has a simple A-line shape with artful gathers at the bust to create a curvy shape. The fabric is a sparkly silver lurex on a peach poly knit. It very likely was a long maxi dress that has been cut shorter.  Definitely not a typical design from Van Raalte.

"At Home Wear" was started by Spanish fashion designer Fernando Sanchez in 1973.  He studied fashion at École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne in the early 50s and was a classmate of Yves Saint Laurent.  He worked at Nina Ricci and later Christian Dior designing lingerie and knitwear and also worked for Vanity Fair.  He is also known for his glamorous and extravagant colorful dyed furs he designed for Revillon in the 1960s and early 1970s. His designs are described as "Seductive, luxurious, trendsetting, and expensive

..."

Fernando created "At Home Wear" with an emphasis on lounging pieces for easy glam at home and was an initiator of the concept of lingerie being worn as outerwear.  He must have designed a line of lounging pieces for Van Raalte but I can find no specific information or advertising of these. 

Another example:

A groovy lounging dress with a bright autumnal floral print, courtesy of BoudoirBarbie

XOXO Empress