20s Dance Dress Worn on the High Seas
Storytelling Brings Fashion to Life
In 1927, Rosa Perlman of Melbourne, embarked on a world cruise with her husband, owner of The Bias Binding Factory, at the time the only manufacture of bias binding for the thriving fashion industry in the city.
Rosa loved to travel and on this journey planned to sail from Australia and visit her favourite cities: Paris, Colombo, Kowloon and Berlin. At each city she made a point of buying something exquisite to wear and in Berlin she found this stunning silk chiffon dance dress, embellished with celluloid sequins in shimmering bronze, silver and gold.
As Rosa and her husband were champion Charleston dancers she knew this dress would turn heads as she twirled in the ship's candlelit ballroom in the arms of her husband as they sailed the high seas.
This dress was gifted to The Darnell Collection by Rosa Perlman's daughter, Barbara,
who lives near Melbourne.
