Evening suit
Although Saint Laurent's modernist impulses suggest a conceptual affinity to traditions established by Jean Patou and Coco Chanel, he has cited as well his admiration for the work of Elsa Schiaparelli, the designer best remembered for her surrealist collaborations with Jean Cocteau and Salvador Dali. With this Schiaparelli-inspired evening suit, Mrs. Kempner selected a piece adorned with its own jewelry-a trompe l'oeil rose blooming at the throat. The extraordinary three-dimensional embroidered flower is from the workshop of Françoise Lesage, whose mother created the original Surrealist embroideries for Schiaparelli in the 1930, demonstrating the ongoing support of tradition by the métiers of haute couture.
Artwork Details
- Title: Evening suit
- Design House: Yves Saint Laurent (French, founded 1961)
- Designer: Yves Saint Laurent (French (born Algeria) Oran 1936–2008 Paris)
- Date: fall/winter 1978–79
- Culture: French
- Medium: a) silk, metallic; b) silk, metal, rhinestone, synthetic, plastic
- Credit Line: Gift of Thomas L. Kempner, 2006
- Object Number: 2006.420.50a, b
- Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute
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