Evening dress

fall/winter 1976
Not on view
Madame Alix Grès' career spanned five decades and throughout them all she excelled in her ability to manipulate fabric and use its innate characteristics to enhance her designs. She executed flowing body-skimming forms inspired by ancient Greek dress; minimalist, sculptural forms and voluminous, dramatic shapes. Grès combines all of these features in a variation on her 1974 taffeta evening dress (2009.300.35a, b). Starting with a single-shoulder, columnar sheath in silk taffeta, Grès adds an enormous balloon sleeve with tight gathers at the wrist and an attached himaton-like wrap with her trademark asymmetrical hem. The combination of volume, drama, sculpture and classicism create a striking silhouette that encapsulates Grès' design sensibilities into the 1980s.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Evening dress
  • Designer: Madame Grès (Germaine Émilie Krebs) (French, Paris 1903–1993 Var region)
  • Date: fall/winter 1976
  • Culture: French
  • Medium: silk
  • Credit Line: Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mrs. William Randolph Hearst, Jr., 1988
  • Object Number: 2009.300.1379
  • Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute

More Artwork

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.