Dress
Designer
Grès
(French)
c. 1950
Silk satin
Gift of Ms. Jean Vaughan
Object number79.24.24
This cocktail dress was possibly inspired by the sacque-back dress popularized by couturier Cristobal Balenciaga in the mid-1950s. Grès's version does not have the commanding presence of a Balenciaga because she broke up the line by containing the back pleats with an inset waistband, creating two smaller poufs rather than one large one. The result is a dress that gives the wearer a greater sense of her own body by defining her shape. Balenciaga carried the fullness of his sacque-back dresses, gowns, and tunics to their respective hemlines, a technique that obscured all sense of the body underneath.
DescriptionDress in champagne beige silk satin with sleeveless blouson bodice and short pegged skirtExhibitions