Evening ensemble

Design House House of Balenciaga French
Designer Cristobal Balenciaga Spanish

Not on view

This evening ensemble consists of a waist-length jacket (a) and full, floor-length bell-shaped skirt (b). The jacket, modeled after a matador's costume, is made of putty-colored velveteen trimmed with appliqués of black velvet embroidered in jet beads and edged with black silk cord. The black taffeta skirt has a very deep flounce applied above the knee, extending to mid-calf and covering the upper edge of the deep velveteen border above the hemline.



The tight-fitting jacket has a shawl collar with a three-piece cut-and-shaped back point at center waistline; a four-piece cut-and-shaped front pointed below the center-front buttoned closing; and two-piece sleeves set-in under epaulets, applied over the shoulder, and finished at the wrist with turnback cuffs. The collar, cuffs, epaulets, and a large oval patch applied over each elbow are encrusted in jet. The epaulets are finished with a button formed of black silk cord from which hang three ball-tassels formed of silk cord and embroidered in jet.



The skirt is gored and gathered with a very wide self-fabric flounce applied above the knee, ending over a deep border of black velveteen applied at the lower edge. The skirt is worn over panniers and a wide band of horsehair is set inside to provide internal backing to the flounce.

Evening ensemble, House of Balenciaga (French, founded 1937), silk, cotton, jet, French

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.