Object: Evening dress
Brand:
Balenciaga
(French, founded 1937)
Designer:
Cristóbal Balenciaga
(1895 - 1972)
Date: 1938-1939
Medium: Silk velvet
Country: France
Credit Line: Gift from The Estate of Tina Chow
Object number: 91.255.2
DescriptionCourt style two-piece evening dress in black silk velvet with cutwork leaf pattern; fitted jacket style peplum bodice with wide shoulders, long sleeves, CF buttons; long dress with full skirt in cutwork velvet, gathered at side hip with effect of panniers, strapless silk taffeta under bodice and long underskirt; couture
Label Text:From the moment Balenciaga opened his couture house in Paris in 1937, he created gowns inspired by those of the Infantas, the princesses of Spain's golden age. The padded hips, or panniers, combined with the rich black velvet (meticulously rendered in a cutwork leaf pattern and popular in the baroque era), further enhance the historic look of this garment. But, the fitted bodice and the canted hemlines of both the jacket and the skirt illustrate Balenciaga's blending of modern dressmaking techniques, a practice that he would continuously refine in his later work. The modernity of the suit attracted the eye of the celebrated woman of style, Tina Chow, who bought and wore this ensemble nearly four decades after it was made.
In Collection(s)
Exhibitions:
- Fabulous! Fashions of the 1940s
- A Queer History of Fashion: From the Closet to the Catwalk
- 50 Years of Fashion, 1947 - 1997