#0861 $295
Bonnie Cashin wool knit tunic dress, c.1967
The innovative sportswear designer Bonnie Cashin produced a distinctive body of work guided by her own fashion sense. This superb example of the Cashin look features her signature leather piping, metal closures, and strong color contrast. The designer, who favored solids over prints, often used a palette of muted earth tones with a bright color accent.
The tunic dress is fashioned from charcoal gray wool knit and is lined with matching shocking pink wool knit. The shocking pink is repeated in the leather trim. The easy-to-wear style features a loosely belted back, sides open to the waist, and deep front pockets.
This tunic dress came from the private collection of Phillip Sills, who was Cashin's manufacturing partner. Sills considered the dress an example of her best work. The unlabeled dress, probably a showroom sample, comes with Sills' inventory tag (bottom picture), which reads "Fall 1967."
The condition is almost excellent. It was never worn. The belt, which originally had three decorative snaps on each side, now has two. Although this is apparent only on close inspection, I reduced the price of the dress.
It measures: 44" bust, waist and hip, 20" sleeve length, and 33" from the shoulder to the hem.
