Dinner dress

Design House House of Worth French
Designer Charles Frederick Worth French, born England
ca. 1877
Not on view
Autumn leaves decorate a silk dress the bronzed color of the season and its leaves. Never melancholy in their majesty, the leaves remind us of Homer's phrase: "like leaves on trees the race of man is found, Now green in youth, now withering on the ground: another race the following spring supplies; they fall successive, and successive rise." The dress is likewise an allegory cognizant of the season and of a cycle of life and death.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Dinner dress
  • Design House: House of Worth (French, 1858–1956)
  • Designer: Charles Frederick Worth (French (born England), Bourne 1825–1895 Paris)
  • Date: ca. 1877
  • Culture: French
  • Medium: silk
  • Credit Line: Gift of Estate of Mrs. Pierpont Morgan, 1925
  • Object Number: 25.63a, b
  • Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute

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