Dress

Designer Gilbert Adrian American

Not on view

The memory of Adrian's Marie Antoinette costumes survives in this evening dress. Its pattern reflects the heavily embroidered Baroque motifs of Louis XV s movie court through the use of a warp-weave taffeta so light and full of body that it holds its shape without any built-in underpinnings. The airy large-scale symmetrical pattern circles around the basket of flowers at the skirt's center front, referencing the ponderous gold embroidery radiating from the central motif of an angel's head on the underskirt of Madame du Barry's ball gown. The heavily embroidered engageantes on her sleeves have mutated and migrated to the bustline, where they form two wings emerging from the center bodice.

Dress, Gilbert Adrian (American, Naugatuck, Connecticut 1903–1959 Hollywood, California), silk, metal, American

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.