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Classicism in Modern Dress

• 
  Statuette of Nike (personification of victory), late 5th century b.c.; Classical
  Greek
  Terracotta

  H. 7 in. (17.8 cm)
  Rogers Fund, 1907 (07.286.23)

• 
  Grave stele of a little girl, ca. 450–440 b.c.
  Greek
  Parian marble

  H. 31 1/2 in. (80 cm)
  Fletcher Fund, 1927 (27.45)

• 
  Lekythos (oil flask) depicting Poseidon pursuing Amymone, ca. 440 b.c.; Red-figure
  Attributed to the Phiale Painter
  Greek, Attic
  Terracotta

  H. 17 7/16 in. (44.30 cm)
  Rogers Fund, 1917 (17.230.35)

• 
  Bell-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water) , ca. 440 b.c.; Red-figure
  Attributed to the Persephone Painter
  Greek, Attic
  Terracotta
  

  H. 16 1/8 in. (41 cm)
  Fletcher Fund, 1928 (28.57.23)
  
  Obverse: The return of Persephone
  Reverse: Libation scene

• 
  Statue of a woman, second half of 4th century b.c.
  Greek
  Marble

  H. 68 1/8 in. (173.02 cm)
  Gift of Mrs. Frederick F. Thompson, 1903 (03.12.17)

• 
  Statue of a young woman and a girl from a grave monument, ca. 320 b.c.
  Greek, Attic
  Marble

  H. of woman 56 7/8 in. (144.5 cm), H. of girl 40 1/2 in. (102.9 cm)
  Rogers Fund, 1944 (44.11.2,3)

• 
  Statuette of a veiled and masked dancer, Hellenistic, 3rd–2nd century b.c.
  Greek
  Bronze

  H. 8 1/16 in. (20.5 cm)
  Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971 (1972.118.95)

• 
  Relief with a dancing maenad, ca. 27 b.c.–14 a.d.; Augustan
  Roman copy of a Greek relief attributed to Kallimachos, ca. 425–400 b.c.
  Pentelic marble

  H. 56 5/16 in. (143.03 cm)
  Fletcher Fund, 1935 (35.11.3)

• 
  Fragments of the Great Eleusinian Relief, 27 b.c.–14 a.d.; Augustan
  Fragments of a Roman copy set in a plaster cast of the original Greek marble relief, ca. 450–425 b.c.
  Marble

  H. 89 3/8 in. (227 cm)
  Rogers Fund, 1914 (14.130.9)

• 
  Statue of Eirene (personification of peace), ca. 14–68 a.d.; Julio-Claudian
  Roman copy of a Greek bronze statue by Kephisodotos, ca. 375/374–360/359 b.c.
  Marble

  H. without plinth 69 3/4 in. (177.17 cm)
  Rogers Fund, 1906 (06.311)

• 
  Statue of a wounded Amazon, 1st–2nd century a.d.
  Roman copy of a Greek bronze statue, ca. 450–425 b.c.
  Marble (Pentelic)

  H. 80 1/4 in. (203.84 cm)
  Gift of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., 1932 (32.11.4)

• 
  Madame Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, later Princesse de Bénévent (née Noël-Catherine Verlée, 1761–1835), ca. 1808
  François Gérard, called Baron Gérard (French, 1770–1837)
  Oil on canvas

  88 7/8 x 64 7/8 in. (225.7 x 164.8 cm)
  Wrightsman Fund, 2002 (2002.31)

• 
  Two dresses, ca. 1810
  French
  White cotton

  Purchase, Gifts in memory of Elizabeth N. Lawrence, 1983 (1983.6.1)
  Rogers Fund, 1907 (07.146.5)

• 
  Evening gown, 1920s
  Mariano Fortuny (Italian, born Spain, 1871–1949)
  Pale-pink pleated silk with pink silk cord and glass beads

  (a) L. at center back 47 5/8 in. (120.7 cm), (b) L. 42 1/2 in. (107.5 cm)
  Gift of Estate of Lillian Gish, 1995 (1995.28.6a)

• 
  Dinner dress, 1922–23
  Paul Poiret (French, 1879–1944)
  Navy-blue and red silk faille, gold metallic bullion buttons

  Gift of Mrs. Muriel Draper, 1943 (C.I.43.85.2a,b)

• 
  Evening ensemble, 1934
  Mariano Fortuny (Italian, born Spain, 1871–1949)
  Pale-blue pleated silk

  L. at center back 38 in. (96.5 cm)
  Gift of Mrs. Anthony Wilson, 1979 (1979.344.11a,b)

• 
  "Venus" dress, 1949
  Christian Dior (French, 1905–1957)
  Gray silk net embroidered with feather-shaped opalescent sequins, rhinestones, simulated pearls, and paillettes

  (a) L. at center front 10 in. (25.4 cm), (b) L. at center back 49 in. (124.5 cm), (c) L. 180 in. (456.2 cm), (d,e) dimensions not available
  Gift of Mrs. Byron C. Foy, 1953 (C.I.53.40.7a-e)

• 
  Evening gown, 1954
  Madame Grès (French, 1903–1993)
  White silk jersey

  L. at center front (a) 55 in. (139.7 cm), (b) 39 in. (99.1 cm)
  Gift of Mrs. Byron C. Foy, 1956 (C.I.56.60.6a,b)

• 
  Evening gown with wrap, 1974
  Halston (Roy Halston Frowick) (American, 1932–1990)
  Pleated ivory and beige silk chiffon

  L. at center back (a) and (b) 60 in. (152.4 cm)
  Gift of Hillie (Mrs. David) Mahoney, 1996 (1996.498.2a,b)

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Although components of Hellenic attire have appeared throughout Western fashion's 600-year history, it is only from the 1790s to the 1810s that classicized forms are embraced as the prevailing mode.

Related

Cited Works of Art or Images (1)

• 

Timelines (4)

• Ancient Greece, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• Italian Peninsula, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• Italian Peninsula, 1900 A.D.–present

Primary Thematic Essays (4)

• Ancient Greek Dress
• The Chiton, Peplos, and Himation in Modern Dress
• Classical Art and Modern Dress
• Contemporary Deconstructions of Classical Dress

Other Thematic Essays (18)

• The Art of Classical Greece (ca. 480–323 b.c.)
• Athenian Vase Painting: Black– and Red–Figure Techniques
• Classical Antiquity in the Middle Ages
• Costume in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Eighteenth–Century Silhouette and Support
• Empire Style, 1800–1815
• Gardens in the French Renaissance
• Greek Gods and Religious Practices
• The Greek Key and Divine Attributes in Modern Dress
• List of Rulers of Europe
• List of Rulers of the Ancient Greek World
• Neoclassicism
• Nineteenth–Century Silhouette and Support
• The Rediscovery of Classical Antiquity
• Roman Copies of Greek Statues
• The Symposium in Ancient Greece
• Twentieth–Century Silhouette and Support
• Women in Classical Greece

Maps (3)

• Europe, 1000 b.c.–1 a.d.
• Europe, 1900 a.d.–present
• World 1000 b.c.–1 a.d.

Index Terms (17)

Art Movement/Style

• Persephone Painter

Artist

• Dior, Christian (French, 1905–1957)
• Fortuny, Mariano (Italian, born Spain, 1871–1949)
• Gérard, François, called Baron Gérard (French, 1770–1837)
• Halston, or Roy Halston Frowick (American, 1932–1990)
• Madame Grès (French, 1903–1993)
• Poiret, Paul (French, 1879–1944)

Geography/Place

• Nineteenth–Century Art from the United States
• Nineteenth–Century European Art
• Twentieth–Century Art from the United States
• Twentieth–Century European Art

Material and Technique

• Plaster

Object

• Children's Clothing
• Dress
• Men's Clothing

Subject Matter/Theme

• Secular Figure
• Women Artists from Europe

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History, whether manifested as embracing revival or smug repudiation, is especially evident in fashion. Although components of Hellenic attire have appeared throughout Western fashion’s 600-year history, it is only from the 1790s to the 1810s that classicized forms are embraced as the prevailing mode. For most of the period that followed, classical motifs and allusions were essentially superficial. Not until the first decade of the twentieth century, with the movement to an uncorseted body, did a classical sensibility return to fashion with any pronounced significance.

Hellenic dress, with its diversity of draped effects based on reductive, orthogonal components, established an apt paradigm for designers. While the modernists gravitated toward the elegant economy of the construction of dress provided by antique models, postmodernists preferred to cite classical iconography more explicitly. That such contradictory movements incorporated the concepts and imagery of classical dress suggests the protean nature of the style.

In the face of the fashion system's cycle of novelty and obsolescence, the classical mode, with its evocation of an enduring and immutable ideal, is somewhat of a paradox. Ancient Hellenic attire continues to inspire designers two-and-a-half millennia later, testimony to the universal aspiration to transform woman into goddess through dress.

Harold Koda The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Citation

Koda, Harold. "Classicism in Modern Dress". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/god1/hd_god1.htm (October 2003)

Further Reading

Koda, Harold. Goddess: The Classical Mode. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003.

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