Evening dress
With mechanized sewing becoming ubiquitous, as well as the Victorian penchant for machine-made trimmings such as braid, lace, and ribbons, women's dress became the foundation on which elaborate surface decoration was applied. This example was seen in its day as à la sirène, or mermaidlike, in outline. Its extended bodice, called the "cuirasse" since it encased a woman's torso like body armor, was the clearest nineteenth-century expression of the hourglass shape.
Artwork Details
- Title: Evening dress
- Date: 1877–82
- Culture: European
- Medium: silk
- Credit Line: Gift of Aline Bernstein, 1937
- Object Number: C.I.37.61.1a, b
- Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute
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