Dress
Vivienne Westwood’s evening dress made of narrow strips of tulle, appended with a bustle-like padding on the back, was part of her iconic “On Liberty” collection for fall/winter 1994–95, in which she blended her knack for historicism with a caricature of the fashion spectacle, which reached its heights in the 1990s with the supermodel- and logomania. Camping the spectacle and the values of the bourgeoisie, she let a parade of supermodels wear a blend of fur, thongs, bustles and tartans, using notions of bourgeois taste and culture from both the 19th and 20th centuries to subvert the gaudy spectacle of fashion which conflates the female body with branded commodities. A punk at heart, she uses fashion’s seductive tropes to aggrandize its faults, serving up a mirror to the fashion world seasoned with British irony.
Artwork Details
- Title: Dress
- Design House: Vivienne Westwood (British, founded 1971)
- Designer: Vivienne Westwood (British, 1941–2022)
- Date: fall/winter 1994–95
- Culture: British
- Medium: silk
- Credit Line: Purchase, Gould Family Foundation Gift, in memory of Jo Copeland, 2015
- Object Number: 2015.65a, b
- Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Multiple artists/makers
1978
Multiple artists/makers
1976
Vivienne Westwood
Malcolm McLaren
1981
Vivienne Westwood
Malcolm McLaren
1982
Multiple artists/makers
1977
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.