Fashion Baby · Moschino Baby Rose Knit Dress, 2010s
Fine textured cotton knit · dropped waist · gathered skirt · shoulder snaps · Moschino Baby · Italian · 2010s · AU size 2, approx 18-24 months
Dusty rose, fine-knit and Italian, and more quietly elegant than you might expect. The house known for wit and spectacle in its grown-up line makes beautiful, restrained children's pieces, and this is one of them: fine textured cotton knit with a faint self-stripe, falling from a plain round neck to a dropped waist where the skirt gathers gently.
Moschino Baby, 2010s. Franco Moschino founded his house in 1983 on the principle that fashion should be playful and self-aware, and the children's line carries that lightness without the provocation. Small snap fastenings at one shoulder ease the dress over a kid's head without ceremony. The cleverness here is entirely in the cloth and the proportion, which is exactly the right place to put it: a designer baby dress that is also genuinely comfortable to wear, which is rarer than it should be.
The knit is springy and even, the dropped waist clean and precise. A very good day dress for a very good day.
Care
Cool gentle wash. Reshape and dry flat. Press lightly if needed, cool only.
More on looking after vintage pieces in our care guide.
Size
Measured flat: length 50cm, chest 28cm, waist 28cm, sleeve length 8cm, skirt width at hem 60cm. Fits approximately AU size 2, around 18 to 24 months.
Our size guide explains how vintage sizing is read here.
Condition
Exhibition condition. The cotton knit is springy and even, the shoulder snaps all working. No damage or staining.
Our condition lexicon explains the grades we use.
Before it reaches you
Someone loved this before you did, and I try to honour that properly. Each piece is hand washed, or cleaned in the way that the fabric permits, then steamed until it softens and straightens and feels newly attended to. Wherever a button was missing, it has been replaced with a vintage one from my long-kept collection. Wherever a hem had given way, I fix it by hand. By the time it leaves this room it is genuinely clean, pressed, whole, and looked over one final time before I let myself believe it is ready. Not restored. Not made new. Just returned to a state where it can be loved again, by someone who was not there the first time.
Moschino built a whole house on the joke worn plainly, so a Moschino dress this restrained is clearly keeping its wit somewhere out of sight, most likely in the self-stripe that only appears when the light decides to be generous. Dusty rose is the colour a louder pink turns once it has learned some manners. The dropped waist keeps the good behaviour up top and lets the skirt get away with a little swing below. It is a serious dress for a small person planning something entirely unserious.