Evening dress
Not on view
One of the world's great connoisseurs and collectors of eighteenth-century art and decorative arts wore this dress. Givenchy is an unrelenting modernist; here he may have been touched by his experience of working with Schiaparelli in his offering of a truncated illusion of an open robe in the back using a fall of cloth, like a fly panel except that it is heavy to fly away or drape away. Rather, it functions as a reductive form of an eighteenth-century back, heavy in a continuous flow to the ground. The exotic and sumptuous fabric only confirms the intimation of the eighteenth century in spite of Givenchy's modernity.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
