Evening ensemble
During the 1930s Chanel continued to exploit the dramatic possibilities of black, often using it to enhance the romantic and seductive appeal of her lace evening dresses. Lace possesses a natural elasticity that allows it to cleave to the wearer's contours, a quality that appealed to Chanel's compulsive fixation on the accommodation of the body. Rarely loose, yet rarely tight, Chanel's lace dresses never constrain the torso through rigid underpinnings. However, some of her lace gowns of the late 1930s do incorporate boning, a technique Chanel employed not to reorganize the body but to achieve an off-the-shoulder décolleté that could not rely on straps or sleeves for support.
Artwork Details
- Title: Evening ensemble
- Design House: House of Chanel (French, founded 1910)
- Designer: Gabrielle Chanel (French, Saumur 1883–1971 Paris)
- Date: 1927–28
- Culture: French
- Medium: silk
- Credit Line: Gift of Paulette Winston Zerner, 1964
- Object Number: C.I.64.21.3a–c
- Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute
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Multiple artists/makers
fall/winter 1987–88
Multiple artists/makers
spring/summer 2009–10
Multiple artists/makers
fall/winter 2012–13
House of Chanel
Gabrielle Chanel
1937
House of Chanel
Gabrielle Chanel
1937–38
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