This beige silk slip and overdress of embellished nylon mesh were designed by Collette Dinnigan of Sydney. The ensemble is part of a collection of Australian and international designer clothing, shoes and bags from the personal wardrobe of Catherine Martin.

Catherine Martin is one of Australia's outstanding creative talents, working as a production designer, film producer and costume designer on significant film, theatre and event productions including Strictly Ballroom, Moulin Rouge, Romeo + Juliet, La Bohème and Australia. Martin's creative collaboration with husband Baz Luhrmann has produced a visually lush, musically exhilarating, poetic style of storytelling.

Her personal wardrobe reflects Martin's romantic style, knowledge of fashion history and passion for handcrafted, artisanal textiles; an aesthetic that is also a key part of her designs for film, theatre, interior design and fashion. The collection includes outfits Martin wore to premiers and award nights including the evening dress she wore to the 74th Academy Awards where she received two Academy Awards for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction.

Catherine Martin's personal wardrobe enhances the Museum's contemporary fashion and dress collection with significant examples of work from Australian and international designer labels including Easton Pearson, Collette Dinnigan, Willow, Akira Isogawa, Chanel, Mui Mui, Jill Sander, Comme des Garçons and Prada.

In addition the Catherine Martin collection includes a group of costumes and accessories from the films Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Australia (2008), set models from the film Australia (2008) and costumes and accessories from the theatre production of Puccini's opera La Boheme (2003). A key feature of these productions is the costuming and sets which reflect the extensive research and inventive interpretation of references drawn from across history and cultures. These costumes enhance the Museum's existing collection of costumes for the Baz Luhrmann films Strictly Ballroom (1992) (92/1900-92/1939) and Moulin Rouge! (2001) (2008/199/1-17).

This collection reflects the diverse approaches Martin and her team take in costuming film and theatre productions. In Romeo + Juliet, Leonardo DiCaprio's Romeo wears an off the shelf Prada shirt that has been skilfully distressed to appear dirty and bloodied, while his companions the Montague boys appear in colourful screen printed and hand painted Hawaiian shirts. The Australia costumes reflect the design and production teams' careful research into 1930s and 1940s clothing which they have skilfully re-interpreted and reproduced for the film. In contrast the costumes for the four key characters from La Bohème are an eclectic mix of contemporary mass market work wear, designer labels and newly created garments.

- Glynis Jones, Curator, Fashion and Dress, December 2010

The fabric for the dress was made in France. The fabric of the slip was made in China.

Purchased by Catherine Martin from the Collette Dinnigan 'look book'.

This development of this dress from sketch to production was featured in an article in the Sydney Magazine, Sydney Morning Herald 'Dress Circle' by Andy Shea page 76-80.

Catherine Martin was born in Sydney in 1965. She completed a Diploma Design course at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney. It was here that she met and started working on projects with her future husband and creative partner Baz Luhrmann (b 1962).

Martin's first design project with Luhrmann was his experimental opera entitled Lake Lost devised for the Australian Opera in 1987, for which she and her co-designer Angus Strathie won a Victorian Green Room Award for Best Design. She has designed all of Luhrmann's subsequent productions including Strictly Ballroom (1992), Romeo + Juliet (1996) for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Art Direction, A Midsummer Night's Dream (various season's 1993, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2003) Moulin Rouge (2001) for which Martin won Academy Awards for Best Costume Design and best Production Design, La Bohème (various productions, 1990, 1993, 1996, 2002, 2003, 2004) and Australia (2008).

Catherine Martin and Baz Luhrmann married in 1997 and in the same year co-founded their film, theatre and entertainment production company Bazmark Inc and its subsidiaries Bazmark Live and Bazmark Music.

Overdress of nylon mesh embellished with silver and bronze vertical stripes on bodice and horizontal stripes on skirt worked in sequins, gold and metallic thread and beads. Dress has fitted bodice with v neckline and cap sleeve with skirt to knee length. Side opening fastens with silver coloured metal buttons and thread button loops. Dress is machine sewn and unlined.

Fitted sleeveless slip with v neckline of beige silk fabric. Machine sewn and unlined.

Designed: Dinnigan, Collette; Sydney, New South Wales; 1995 - 2005

Owned: Martin, Catherine;

Dress is labelled with two fabric labels inside centre back neck. One is 'Collette Dinnigan'. The other is 'Garment made in Australia' / '100 % Nylon' / 'Made in France'/ 'Applied Ornamentation', '50% Glass', '50% Metallic' / 'Dry Clean Only', 'In Hydrocarbon', 'In Net Bag', 'Do Not Wash', 'Do Not Bleach', 'Do Not Iron', 'Do Not Steam' / 'This is an original Collette Dinnigan garment and is protected by copyright', 'Style: 5215180' / 'Collette Dinnigan'.

Slip is labelled with two fabric labels inside centre back neck. One is 'Collette Dinnigan'. This other is 'Garment made in Australia' / '100 % Silk' / 'Finest silk made in China' / 'Dry Clean Only', 'Do Not Wash', 'Do Not Bleach', 'Light Steam Only', 'Cool Iron' / 'This is an original Collette Dinnigan garment and is protected by copyright', 'Style: 5215180' / 'Collette Dinnigan'.

2011/43/60

1995 - 2005