One of the first 50 copies on vélin d'Arches (no. 2).
First staged at the Théâtre des Ambassadeurs on 16 January 1963, La Robe mauve de Valentine belongs to the dramatic vein in which Françoise Sagan extended to the stage the casual elegance and sure sense of dialogue that had already secured her success as a novelist. The premiere boasted a first-rate production: Danielle Darrieux in the role of Valentine, staging by Yves Robert, sets by Pierre Simonini, and costumes by Christian Dior for the dresses.
Critical reception was more reserved. Bertrand Poirot-Delpech, writing in Le Monde at the time of publication, singled out the qualities that usually gave Sagan’s theater its worth — that blend of nonchalance, grace, veiled emotion and effortless naturalness — only to regret that here this charm seemed diminished: the critic faulted the play for an art grown too self-conscious of its effects, far from the expectations raised by the author of Château en Suède, her first play and outright success, staged in 1960.