Five-year-old Gisele tried to stand still while two seamstresses worked on the hem of the gossamer tulle skirt that she was modeling in Giambattista Valli’s atelier. Kitty would take three of the dresses—each worth 175,000 euros—for each of their closets in Shanghai, Singapore, and Beverly Hills. Kitty received special treatment when she traveled, but she knew it was only because she was the wife of Jack Bing—one of the world’s 10 richest men. That status ensured that everything was at her disposal: nannies, maids, bodyguards, luxury hotels, private tours, fine dining, and couture clothing. Having everything, however, left Kitty bored.

Seeing the boredom in his client’s eyes, Giambattista Valli’s assistant, Luka, led Kitty and her friends into Valli’s hidden workroom to see a dress that the designer was working on, which was inspired by the Gustav Klimt painting Adele Bloch-Bauer I. Kitty and her friends were in awe of the dress, which didn’t yet have a price. Kitty decided that she wanted it. Luka said that the dress already had an owner and that it wouldn’t be possible to make a replica. The dress’s owner, it turned out, was Colette Bing. Colette planned to wear the dress at her wedding to Lucien Montagu-Scott.