Evening dress

Designer Madame Eta Hentz American, born Hungary
spring/summer 1944
Not on view
Madame Eta Hentz was born in Budapest and educated at the Hungarian Royal State Academy of Industrial Arts. During the 1920s she was involved in a business partnership with Maurice Rentner for a company called Ren-Eta. Then in the late 1930s, she started her own company with Ann Sadowsky. Her clothes were thought to be flattering, especially for matronly figures and were readily available on a ready-to-wear basis. She is most known for her Grecian themed collection of 1943, featured here, which received much praise.

This elegant evening dress is a superb adaptation of a classical garment for modern-day dress. The upper portion of the dress resembles a Greek chlamys or a Roman palla, while the fluted skirt mimics the bottom half of a Roman stola.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Evening dress
  • Designer: Madame Eta Hentz (American, born Hungary, 1895–1986)
  • Date: spring/summer 1944
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: rayon, beads
  • Credit Line: Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Madame Eta Hentz, 1946
  • Object Number: 2009.300.119
  • Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute

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