ticketsMember | Make a donation

Evening dress

Designer Geoffrey Beene American
1968
Not on view
Active sports have repeatedly inspired designers of women's sportswear, though chiefly by the sports in which women engage. Football is yet a male preserve; even football watching is defined as a male activity. Beene tells the story of being solicited by a "football widow," one whose football-season afternoons are lost to a husband watching games on television, to make a knock-out dress to get her husband's interest even on a bowl Sunday. Beene took to the field and rendered the football jersey into a sequinned evening gown slinky enough, opulent enough to take attention away from the game, at least for half-time.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Evening dress
  • Designer: Geoffrey Beene (American, Haynesville, Louisiana 1927–2004 New York)
  • Date: 1968
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: plastic, silk
  • Credit Line: Gift of Geoffrey Beene, 1983
  • Object Number: 1983.209.36
  • Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute

More Artwork

More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Pumps, Geoffrey Beene for American, silk, linen, leather, American
Pumps
Geoffrey Beene
Fratelli Rosetti
1986–88
Ensemble, Geoffrey Beene American, (a) wool, metal; (b) satin, wool, metal, American
Ensemble
Geoffrey Beene
fall/winter 1999–2000
Jacket, Geoffrey Beene American, wool, American
Jacket
Geoffrey Beene
spring/summer 1997
Ensemble, Geoffrey Beene American, (a, b) mohair, wool; (c) silk, metal, American
Ensemble
Geoffrey Beene
fall/winter 2000–2001
Ensemble, Geoffrey Beene American, (a) wool, leather; (b) wool, American
Ensemble
Geoffrey Beene
fall/winter 1996–97

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.