Evening dress, fall/winter 1991–92
Gianni Versace (Italian, 1946–1997)
Pale blue quilted silk satin, silk georgette, lace
Gift of Gianni Versace, 1993 (1993.52.2)

Setting the most complex and concentrated tasks for the expertise of the couture ateliers, Versace here brought satin in trapunto into immediate conjunction with pleated lace. Although lace with its elasticity and suppleness is customarily worked as a flat panel, Versace creased it into narrow pleats and delighted in applying a second unexpected effect upon one technical privilege of the couture. Always inclined, even in his ready-to-wear, to challenge the possibilities of the medium, Versace's couture work summoned its own tests of technique.

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