Evening dress

Design House House of Vionnet French
Designer Madeleine Vionnet French
ca. 1936
Not on view
Vionnet's method was to use a diminutive dress form so that she could work front and back as well with a minimum of cloth's weight and drag. Her front and back are unified via the neckline buttons at the far sides that attach a front flap of the bodice with over-the-shoulder pieces coming from the back. Vionnet purposely denied the usual dialectic of front and back, preferring that shifting Mobius plane that Cubism used so purposefully as pictorial convention.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Evening dress
  • Design House: House of Vionnet (French, active 1912–14; 1918–39)
  • Designer: Madeleine Vionnet (French, Chilleurs-aux-Bois 1876–1975 Paris)
  • Date: ca. 1936
  • Culture: French
  • Medium: silk
  • Credit Line: Brenner Couture Inc. Fund, 1978
  • Object Number: 1978.278.3a, b
  • Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute

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