Beene and his keen competitor Bill Blass made dresses for ladies who lunch. They were inspired to make some of the most beautiful and wearable, ever so wearable, couture of the 20^th century, by those real women who were also their friends.

This is a dress for a dreadful summer day. The linen is finely woven but dense enough to hold its shape and there's no real need for a slip beneath. The front neck is higher than the back, and clearly so with one of my favorite couture touches:  center front neckline tag that says:  Front.

It has a zipper down the side front that playfully starts to unzip at the hem. Useful or not, it adds gravitas and weight to the dress. It is beautifully finished inside and all extra weight has been trimmed or taimed to get that sleek, almost floaty look.

It is in unworn condition.

40” around underarms, 42” around waist, t46” around hem. 32” long from top of shoulder to the hem. 18" across shoulders and sleeves are 7" long. The sleeve bottom is 12” around – do check because it won’t fit a fleshy arem like mine.

I provide all this information so that you can get it and love it, so I hope you use it. Please ask any questions – that helps me write better listings.

The sewing form measures 38-30-39, FYI.

I am not a professional seller. I do this because I am weak and must have money for shopping. So please check your measurements and understand that I hope to avoid returns – tho I certainly will accept them, and, unless if I've really made a mistake in the factual portion of the description, I will ask you to share the shipping costs. I avoid future relations with people who send things back worn or because they didn’t read the description.

Please keep in mind that eBay keeps up to 20 percent of each purchase for letting me – and you – use this wondrous platform. And that the post office doesn’t ship free for me or eBay; eBay promotes promising it because people think they’re getting a deal with ‘free shipping.’

I also shop here on eBay and try to behave like so many of the great sellers and buyers I've had the privilege and good luck to deal with.