In Couture Dior For Color Me Barbra Advance Photo Shoot
Barbra Streisand wore couture Dior for an advance photo shoot to promote her T.V. special “Color Me Barbra” (March, 1966). The shoot took place on Dec 29th, 1965 at Studio 41 at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York, NY. Prior to filming Color Me Barbra, the show’s sponsor Chemstrand paid for Barbra to visit Paris to attend the haute couture shows and order any outfits she wanted.
Some of the shows Barbra attended included Dior, Chanel, Grés, and Yves Saint Laurent. She attended six shows total, but was late to four of them due to being sick. Barbra was such a big star at the time that the Dior delayed their show ten minutes for her. Barbra recalled “I didn’t expect them to delay for me. No wonder the duchess (of Windsor) looked so grouchy.” In 2009 she told In Style “Unfortunately I was sick to my stomach for ten days from a bouillabaisse I ate in Marseille. If I look a little strange, it’s because I thought I might throw up.” During this trip Barbra had meetings with legendary designers Madame Grés, Coco Chanel and Dior’s Marc Bohan among others.
Though Barbra wasn’t thrilled at Paris prices, she ended up spending $20,000 at Dior on hats, shoes, gowns and coats “as thought she were putting together an order of sandwiches, to go, from the Stage Delicatessen”. This dress was one of the items she chose.
This black, Chantilly lace cocktail dress features an empire waist bodice with a low scoop neck. Long, sheer lace sleeves end in scalloped, flared cuffs at each wrist. There is a thick black satin bow at the gathered waist. The under layers of this skirt are comprised of black silk and tulle.
There is black satin edging at the hem which ends in scalloped chattily lace. The back of the dress has a slit back closure with a button at the neck. The look was paired with a pair of Dior glossy black leather pumps.
Thought it was a stunning look on Barbra, it did not make the cut for the show, which was filmed three months later.