Medium: Wool crepe

Date: c.1968

Country: France

Credit: Gift of Frederick Supper

This dress at once obscures the figure and turns the wearer into a work of art. It was created from streamers that were suspended from the yoke of the bodice, then caught and sewn at the hem to form long loops. Although generally considered a "futuristic" designer, Cardin has clearly cited the tubular silhouette and emphasis on motion of the "flapper" dresses of the 1920s. The hem is reminiscent of the innovative barrel and bubble shapes Cardin introduced in the late 1950s, but the dress was updated for the Sixties with a mini-length skirt and youthful, bright orange-red wool fabric. Like rising hemlines, extremely vivid, “loud” colors were part of a youthful revolution in fashion, whereby standards of “good taste” were ruthlessly swept aside in the pursuit of personal expression.

Object Number: 82.3.2