Ensemble

Design House House of Dior French
Designer Christian Dior French
spring/summer 1955
Not on view

A model primarily remembered for having been in the wedding trousseau of Olivia de Havilland, this gray wool suit is the transfiguration of the man's suit as an expression of the feminine. More importantly, this suit, long anticipated by Dior's interest in tailoring and in menswear fabrics, is poised on the edge of his move away from the New Look's historicism toward a simpler, increasingly reductive, architectonic geometry. The essential A-line of the 1960s began here.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Ensemble
  • Design House: House of Dior (French, founded 1946)
  • Designer: Christian Dior (French, Granville 1905–1957 Montecatini)
  • Date: spring/summer 1955
  • Culture: French
  • Medium: (a–c) wool, silk
    (d) straw
  • Credit Line: Gift of Christian Dior, 1955
  • Object Number: C.I.55.63a–d
  • Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute

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