Evening ensemble

Adrian was known for flawlessly tailored suits, intricately cut and pieced to create both superb fit and subtle ornament. He excelled not only at the tailor’s precise and technical approach to garment-making, but at combining tailoring’s well-defined shapes with dressmaking’s soft draping. In this evening ensemble, Adrian’s military-inspired jacket, with its firm and accentuated shoulder, is softened by its pairing with a bias-draped skirt that clings gently to the figure. The strong shoulder is further emphasized by an arrangement of passementerie that suggests a stylized military fourragère.

This design was shown the same year Dior introduced his New Look collection. Dior’s rounded shoulders, cinched waists, and padded hips contrasted starkly with Adrian’s streamlined forms. Adrian critiqued the New Look in harsh terms, calling it “dowdy and dumpy” and characterizing it as a return to the past that was both unattractive and uncomfortable. Adrian continued to show his slim, square-shouldered line as an alternative to the new direction from Paris until he retired in 1952.