Evening dress
From the late teens, Chanel created glamorous evening clothes entirely embellished with paillettes. While the paillettes were seemingly inconsistent with her anti-decorative aesthetic, she asserted the modernity of her designs by applying them in a uniform field, which enhanced a garment's monochromatic starkness as well as its straight, usually tubular, silhouette. Some of her all-over paillette evening clothes revealed sportswear influences. Several were based on separates dressing, such as tops, skirts, and scarves, with some bodices revealing straps based on swimwear. Most famously, Chanel created a luxe version of her beach pajamas for the fashion arbiter Diana Vreeland.
Artwork Details
- Title: Evening dress
- Design House: House of Chanel (French, founded 1910)
- Designer: Gabrielle Chanel (French, Saumur 1883–1971 Paris)
- Date: 1925
- Culture: French
- Medium: silk, plastic
- Credit Line: Gift of Miss Isabel Shults, 1944
- Object Number: C.I.44.64.7
- 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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