In the early twentieth century, Liberty catalogues regularly offered loosefitting outerwear in both silk and wool with embroidered bands. In this teal-blue silk velvet coat, the yoke, upper sleeves, and large armholes are embroidered with Celtic-inspired intertwined curlicues and scrolls in aquamarine-blue silk floss worked in satin stitch. Long knotted grey silk cords finished with aquamarine-blue silk tassels hang from two buttons embroidered with four-petaled flowers in matching silk. This coat, identified as the “Bertette Coat in Orion satin, lined with satin” costing 11 ½ guineas, is illustrated in a Liberty catalogue of 1908. An identical garment, identified as an unlined “Cloak” in “cloth [wool], with hand-embroidered yoke and sleeves” costing £6. 6. 0, appears in a Liberty catalogue of 1909.
Label: “Liberty & Co. / London & Paris”
FIG. 1
Liberty & Co. Trade Catalogue, 1908, p. 67
BABANI
Tea gown
French, the silk Japanese, ca. 1920
Evening coat
French, the silk probably Turkish, ca. 1920–25
Founded in 1893 by the Turkish-Jewish entrepreneur Vitali Babani (1858–1940), and continued by his son Moïse Maurice Babani (1891–1974) and daughter Marie Babani Bacri (1889–1950), the Babani brand achieved success with its marriage of Asian leitmotifs and Parisian fashions.
By 1905, Vitali Babani had engaged a Kyoto workshop to produce kimono-style tea gowns or robes d’intérieur for export. This example (opposite and pp. 6–8), embroidered with cranes, may be unique for the use of a figured silk gauze ground. The silhouette—swinging sleeves with contrasting wadded hem and ties at the waist—reveals a kosode adapted for European use. A similarly constructed satin kimono with different embroidered motifs is illustrated in Renaissance de l’art français et des industries de luxe (July 1920), p. 367. Extant Babani kimonos, embroidered on satin with butterflies or cranes, are at the Alexandre Vassiliev Foundation (2019.5.23.15.CW.DR.C1910.FR); Indianapolis Museum of Art (2003.108); and Palais Galliera (1965.100.5, 1990.276.1).
The metallic chainstitch on this silk velvet evening coat (pp. 9–10) may have been executed in Vitali Babani’s birthplace of Constantinople, where he had employed embroiderers since the 1890s. The form suggests an Ottoman entari, a woman’s robe with open sleeves revealing the lining. An identical evening coat of metallic-embroidered blue silk velvet is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2006.465). Similar evening coats with slit sleeves are in the Palais Galliera (1957.52.5, 1957.52.6).
The masterful and time-consuming curved piecing in this black silk crepe jacket and skirt with cream-colored silk satin collar and cuffs as well as the impeccable finishing suggest the suit is by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (1883–1971). In June and July 1926, Femina illustrated finely pleated day dresses and “deux-pièces” ensembles that resemble the effect of the piecing seen here. The suit would have been worn with an accompanying hip-length blouse, like those seen in Femina’s June 1926 article, “La blouse, élément d’élégance.”
Chanel often used black and white to emphasize the refined, understated appearance of her masculine-inspired daywear. A black silk charmeuse suit with a cream-colored silk blouse by Chanel dating to about 1927 is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1984.29a-c).
FIG. 2
“La blouse, élément d’élégance.” Femina, June 1926, p. 11
MADELEINE VIONNET (attributed)
Day dress
French, Spring 1933 or Spring 1934
Although Madeleine Vionnet (1876–1975) is best known for her luxurious bias-cut evening wear, the designer often used the same technique for her understated daywear. This bias-cut red satin-back silk crepe dress with faggoting detail and cream-colored silk satin ties is similar to several shown by Vionnet in both her Spring 1933 (see models 3525 and 3556) and Spring 1934 (see model 3686) collections that are accessorized with a belt at the waist. The drawings are preserved at the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris; registration photographs are in the Archives de Paris.
FIG. 3
“3556. Juliette. Robe chouky turquoise,” Croquis Eté 1933. Robes de jour, f. 47v-f. 48r. Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris
AUGUSTABERNARD
Evening coat
French, ca. 1929–30
Structural pintucks hidden at the back of the neck and silk crepe peeking through the slitted sleeves are the only ornaments on this black silk velvet evening coat with satin lining by Augustabernard, the eponymous house of couturière Augusta Bernard (1886–1946). Bernard used inventive cuts and complementary fabrics and furs on the sleeves of several coats in 1929. The following year, shawl collars for coats, suits, dresses, and blouses prominently featured in her models. Created at the height of her maison’s short-lived success, this coat highlights Bernard’s mastery of flawless, simple silhouettes.
Labels: “AUGUSTABERNARD”; “MADE IN FRANCE”
JEANNE LANVIN
Evening jacket
French (Paris), ca. 1933–34
Jeanne Lanvin’s (1867–1946) hallmark parallel rows of machine stitching cover every inch of this silk evening jacket. The diamond piecing of the fabric in subtly contrasting hues of champagne-gray and peach satin— possibly a paler variant of the “orange-cantaloup” color favored by Lanvin in 1933 (Women’s Wear Daily, May 2, 1933, p. 1)—and the quilting create a kaleidoscopic effect. The crepe chiffon lining is dyed a cool gray to match.
Short, densely quilted evening jackets appear in Lanvin’s registration photos in both spring and autumn 1933, and diamond piecing (already a leitmotif for Lanvin in the late 1920s) in quilted satin is seen in 1934. Lanvin also used this distinctive sleeve shape, accented with chevrons and diamonds, throughout that year. A model wears a stitched short jacket with similarly cut three-quarter sleeves, photographed by Madame D’Ora, in L’Officiel in December 1934.
Label: “Jeanne Lanvin PARIS / 22. Faubourg ST. HONORÉ”
FIG. 4
L’Officiel de la Couture et de la Mode, December 1934, n.p.
KOSTIO DE WAR
Evening dress
French, ca. 1937–39
Lyska Kostio de Warkoffska (1896–1986), better known as Kostio de War, was one of a handful of Paris-based designers specializing in knitted and crocheted sportswear and evening wear in the 1930s and 1940s. This dress in silver- and gold-wrapped yarns is emblematic of the shimmering, bodyhugging robes du soir that attracted European and American starlets and socialites to Kostio de War’s boutique. The open silver-tone crochet tapers near the waist without interrupting the gold carreaux, which are worked in a tighter knit (see cover). Criss-crossing silver straps reveal a bare back and fall loosely into two attached streamers forming a short self belt. Although difficult to date precisely, this dress was probably made between 1937 and early 1939, when fashion magazines and newspapers called attention to her metallics for evening. The actress Suzy Solidor, a client of Kostio de War, wears a crocheted sleeveless gown with belt in a 1938 photograph with Jean Cocteau.
Extant metallic crocheted evening ensembles and dresses by Kostio de War include those in the FIDM Museum (2015.5.66A-C); Musée des Arts Décoratifs (52807.ABCD; UF 57-38-1); Museo de la Moda, Santiago; and V&A Museum (T.230&A-1964).
CALLOT SOEURS (attributed)
Evening dress
French, ca. 1931–32
Three chevron tiers of long fringe cascade like waterfalls over the chiffon underskirt of this silk crepe romain evening gown. Unlabeled but undoubtedly made in the atelier of Callot Soeurs, this dress fits neatly within the house’s oeuvre in the time of Pierre Gerber, who took over following the death of his mother Marie Callot Gerber in 1927.
From the front, the gown presents a modest neckline; when the wearer turned, however, the deep V back almost fully exposed her bare skin Two silk velvet streamers fall from the back of the waist to near the hem, creating additional depth and texture. On the interior, a wide Petersham ribbon—an unusual and anachronistic element of construction—fastens at center back near the natural waist, helping to create the blouson effect that bisects the columnar silhouette.
A Callot Soeurs evening gown of an identical black crepe romain with chevron tiers of fringe sold at Charles A. Whitaker Auction Company on April 26, 2016, lot 740. This dress also contains a Petersham ribbon, with the maison’s label and the date “Hiver 1932–1933.” A registration sketch in the Paris Archives is dated February 21, 1931; model 90, Fandango, is a gown of “romain noir” with low scooped neckline at front and back, three tiers of black silk fringe, and wide cummerbund belt.
JEANNE LANVIN
Rumeur evening dress and cape
Spring/Summer 1937
For her Spring 1937 collection, Jeanne Lanvin (1867–1946) designed this elegant evening gown, called Rumeur (“rumor,” like Lanvin’s fragrance launched three years prior). Chevron and diamond quilting, as well as an oversized cellulose zipper, provide eye-catching elements against the creamy wool crepe. Two quilted panels drape over the bust and cast shadows at the bodice; they extend up and over the shoulders, fastening together at center back and tapering to a point at the hip. The four panels making up the body of the dress are cut straight, splitting at the calves to create a dramatic effect when in motion and mirroring the quilting at the bust. The gouache sketch for Rumeur, preserved at Lanvin Heritage, indicates the dress would have also had a thick self-fabric belt with buckle. This example retains its matching cape with faux burnous hood. Lanvin styled quilted crepe dresses with coordinating “burnous” capes for both afternoon and evening ensembles in Spring 1937 (Women’s Wear Daily, April 30, 1937, pp. 1, 3). A model wears Rumeur in American Vogue, June 1, 1937, p. 69, photographed by Horst.
This form-fitting bustled evening gown reflects both Elsa Schiaparelli’s (1890–1973) propensity for dramatic silhouettes and her use of plaid for day and evening wear. In its August 6, 1947 report on the Paris openings, Women’s Wear Daily noted that “plaids are played up for day and night” at Schiaparelli. Here, she used the gray, brown, and eggplant-colored silk faille-and-satin plaid, woven by Ducharne, on the bias to sculpt the torso and upper front thighs, emphasizing these smooth curves with a deep, gathered flounce at the lower front skirt and prominent back fullness. The same dress in a gray Ducharne silk, photographed on the imposing staircase at the Paris Opéra, is illustrated in the December 1947/January 1948 issue of Femina
Label: “Schiaparelli / 21. Place vendôme Paris”; bolduc: “89532[?]”
FIG. 6 Femina, December 1947–January 1948, p. 113. Courtesy of Librairie Diktats
SALON MODERNE
Evening dress
American, 1939
At Saks Fifth Avenue’s Salon Moderne, established in 1927 and headed by Sophie Gimbel from 1929, well-heeled clients could purchase imported French models as well as in-house custom creations. The dramatic effect of this elegant gown relies on the perfectly matched mitered navyblue-faille-and-fuchsia-satin stripes of the bodice and, especially, the generously draped bias-cut skirt. At the hem, two large, curved pieces are invisibly joined to the main panels, extending from the center front to the center back seams. Mitered stripes were particularly fashionable for evening wear shown in French Vogue in 1939. In January, the magazine illustrated a short-sleeved silk gown with mitered stripes by Lucien Lelong, modeled by his daughter Nicole, and, in April, a sleeveless dress in silk chiffon and satin with mitered stripes by Maison Bialo. Additionally, the fitted bodice, shoulder straps, and trompe l’oeil tie at the center front of the Salon Moderne model are very similar to the Maison Bialo gown as well as to an evening dress by Véra Boréa that appeared in the March issue of French Vogue. Mitered stripes were also popular for day in the summer of 1939; the same magazine featured knee-length striped dresses by Jean Dessès and Worth and a full-length backless beach dress by Véra Boréa in June and July 1939.
The wearer was probably Mrs. James Russell Forgan, née Ada Rand Johnson (1900–1974), whose husband served in the O.S.S. during World War II and was a leading investment banker in Chicago.
Labels: “Salon Moderne / Saks Fifth Avenue” and “Saks Fifth Avenue / New York / Mrs. Forgan / DATE: 12-20-39 NO. 280”
CHRISTIAN DIOR
Chalutier day ensemble
French, Spring/Summer 1950
This two-piece ensemble of white slubbed silk printed with calligraphic black dots in columns is from Christian Dior’s (1905–1957) Verticale line. American and French Vogue illustrated his white crêpe de chine with blue ribbons “vertical” dress in March and May 1950, respectively. Both issues also included sketches of other straight-silhouetted day dresses by Dior, worn with the short and long boxy jackets, referred to in French as “paletots droits,” that were fashionable that spring. As seen in these sketches, the original belt may have matched or contrasted with the dress. Dior’s refined interior finishing in the dress includes wide bands of offwhite chiffon lining at the seams and inverted pleats and shoulder pads covered with off-white chiffon and inscribed in black ink “devant” (front) and “dos” (back).
The dress’s wide spreading collar may provide a clue to the ensemble’s name, Chalutier, meaning trawler or trawlerman. Dior, who grew up in the seaside town of Granville, would have been familiar with the jackets with similar collars worn by these fishermen.
Label: “MADE IN FRANCE / Christian Dior / Paris / 11400”; bolduc: “16542”
CHRISTIAN DIOR (attributed)
Cocktail dress
French, early to mid-1950s
In Christian Dior’s (1905–1957) inaugural Spring 1947 collection, the couturier introduced his so-called “New Look” that came to define the return to a heightened femininity in the postwar years, exemplified by this black wool crepe cocktail dress. Dating to the early-to-mid-1950s, the dress’s hourglass shape, emphasized by crisscrossed draping over the bust, narrow skirt, and eye-catching bow with fringed ends attests to the importance of line in Dior’s elegantly provocative designs, his sophisticated handling of fabric, and his use of black, which he called “the most popular and the most convenient and the most elegant of all colours.” In its form and construction, the dress is similar to Cachottière (“secretive”) from Dior’s Oblique collection of Autumn/Winter 1950–51, and Delphine (“dolphin”) from his Aimant collection of Autumn/Winter 1956–57 that features a wrapped bodice and large bow with fringed ends at the waist. In this model, the highly refined interior finishing including garters attached to the bodice’s concealed black silk crepe peplum is a hallmark of Maison Dior in the early to mid-1950s.
CHRISTIAN DIOR by YVES SAINT LAURENT
Cocktail dress
French, ca. 1959
Yves Saint Laurent’s (1936–2008) first collection in Spring 1958 after taking over the helm at Maison Dior was acclaimed by the fashion press for its youthful style. This cocoa-brown silk faille cocktail dress with its jaunty, oversized bow and knee-length, tulip-shaped skirt probably dates to 1959 or 1960. In the latter year, American Vogue illustrated several copies of cocktail dresses by the house that feature bows at the shoulders, back, upper bodice and skirt.
A nearly identical dress in anthracite black taffeta with shorter sleeves and a second bow at the left hip sold at auction in the Collection Didier Ludot Mon défilé secret, Christie’s-Artcurial, January 26, 2023, lot 46.
Label: “Christian Dior / PARIS / 15040”
CHARLES JAMES for SAMUEL WINSTON, INC.
Evening jacket
American, ca. 1952-53
In 1952, English-American couturier Charles James (1906–1978) embarked on his only retail partnership, with New York City businessman and garment wholesaler Samuel Winston. The relationship quickly dissolved, however, ending in multiple lawsuits between the two parties in 1954 and 1955; Winston sued James for breach of contract and James alleged that Winston used his designs without credit under Winston’s other label Roxane.
This evening bolero of mahogany brown silk taffeta comes from that collaboration, with the shape possibly based on the bodice closure and cutout of James’s famous Infanta afternoon dress, which he originally designed in 1946. The jacket is trimmed with a silk velvet ribbon and finished at the cuffs with hidden zippers. An identical bolero, noted as a sample and part of an ensemble with a form-fitting black cocktail dress, is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2013.336a, b).
Label: “Samuel Winson / by Charles James”
YVES SAINT LAURENT
Day suit
French, ca. 1964–65
Yves Saint Laurent’s (1936–2008) iconic boxy suit of black slubbed wool epitomizes the mid-1960s silhouette. In his 1964 and 1965 collections, the designer presented double-breasted wool suits and coats in solid colors and tweeds with turn-down collars, large buttons, loose-fitting sleeves, and knee-length hems. From the opening of his couture house in 1962, American Vogue regularly reported on Saint Laurent in its coverage of the seasonal Paris collections. In September 1965, the magazine featured two of his “little suits supreme” in tweed with similar styling and details. Although understated in its form, the construction and interior finishing of the suit—in perfect condition—exemplify the highest quality of midtwentieth-century couture garments.
Label: “MADE IN FRANCE / YVES SAINT LAURENT / PARIS / 03868”
ANDREA ARANOW for DAKOTA TRANSIT
Jacket, trousers, and dress
American, ca. 1968–73
At once iconic and entirely obscure, the East Village store Dakota Transit was a mecca for artists, musicians, and the so-called “beautiful people” during its short existence from 1968 to 1974. Heavily influenced by the Youthquake movement and the creative freedom it espoused, owner and head designer Andrea Aranow (1945–2021) opened her boutique and workshop in 1968 at 333 9th Avenue, around the corner from St. Mark’s Place and likeminded shops like Limbo and Knobkerry. She specialized in clothing and accessories in fur, suede, feathers, and leather and snakeskin patchworks.
The shop’s proximity to the Fillmore East ensured visits from musical royalty like Jimi Hendrix and Miles and Betty Davis, who all donned Aranow’s dramatic outfits. These three separates were custom-made for a New York client closely linked to the record industry. The peplumed jacket features exotic skins cut, dyed, and machine stitched to create a geometric garden. A nearly identical jacket, probably the sample on which this one was based, is seen in an early promotional photograph.
Originally worn with a feathered top, the pants are an appliqué of neutral skins reflecting the brand’s mix-and-match aesthetic. Although best known for those patchworks, Aranow experimented with other techniques, as on an unusual leather halter dress tie-dyed in mustard yellow and wine red (pp. 65–66).
Labels: “ANDREA ARANOW / designs for / DAKOTA TRANSIT / New York”
ZANDRA RHODES (b. 1940)
Evening dress
English, 1978
Throughout her career, Zandra Rhodes’s (b. 1940) textile designs were inspired by her worldwide travels. This evening dress features the “Mexican Fan” pattern, with bold black-and-white straight and wavy radiating lines and dotted squiggles and zigzags on a grey-green silk organza ground. A voluminous petticoat of yellow tulle layered over olivegreen rayon satin creates the full-skirted “crinoline” silhouette, as Rhodes referred to it, that the designer presented in numerous collections. The delicate trimmings of faux seed pearls, small plastic flowers, and chiffon bowknots, as well as the outsized white satin sash tied in a large bow, underscore the gown’s hyper-feminine appearance.
Two identical dresses are in the Zandra Rhodes Archives—one in this colorway and print and another in a different print. See Zandra Rhodes and Anne Knight, The Art of Zandra Rhodes (London: Zandra Rhodes Publications Ltd. and Michael O’Mara Books Ltd., 1994); cat. 110.
Label: “Zandra Rhodes / London”
AZZEDINE ALAÏA
Evening ensemble
French, ca. 1975
This two-piece evening ensemble, dating to Azzedine Alaïa’s (1935–2017) early career, was made in about 1975 for a private client whose husband was in the fashion industry. The long-sleeved, thigh-length inky-blue chiffon dress floats over a sleeveless hotpants jumpsuit of deep sapphire sequins; the matching silk charmeuse collar, cuffs, center front buttoned band, and hem define the contours of the dress. Play between layers of transparent materials appealed to Alaïa, who described chiffon as a “smoky veil” that softened vivid colors and revealed the wearer’s skin tone. The modified shirtdress form reflects Alaïa’s admiration for the sophisticated simplicity of men’s haberdashery that he often explored in dazzling white cotton. Christophe van Weyhe (b. 1937), Alaïa’s longtime partner and collaborator, created the handwritten label, a practice he continued until the official label “Alaïa / Paris” was registered in 1983.
Label: “ALAÏA”
FIG. 7
KRIZIA
Three-piece ensemble
Italian, Spring/Summer 1981
Evening dress
Fall/Winter 1982
A pioneer of post-World War II Italian fashion, proponent of the “Made in Italy” movement, and shrewd businesswoman, Mariuccia Mandelli (1925–2015) founded the ready-to-wear label Krizia in 1954. By the 1990s, Krizia was the apex of a global operation that stretched as far as the luxury hospitality industry.
Over the decades, Mandelli’s thematic fashion collections often centered on the natural versus the manmade. For Spring 1981, her interest in zoology bordered on cultural stereotyping in its glorification of earlytwentieth-century Anglo-American safari wear—in this case, a leather bustier embossed with an African elephant’s head and linen jodhpurs, accessorized in the runway presentation with pith helmets (opposite, pp. 78–79). In a February 1981 Vogue Italia editorial, a model wearing this bustier poses aloofly on a boat next to indigenous Kenyans.
That year, inspired by industrial production and engineering, Mandelli also began experimenting with heat-pleated silks, acetates, and synthetics. This dress from Fall 1982 features architectural triangular lapels and exaggeratedly pointed sleeves (pp. 79–80). The rigid, angular silhouette and gunmetal-hued polyester taffeta exemplify the popular interest in robotics and futurism in the early 1980s.
Labels: “Krizia / MADE IN ITALY”
FRANCO MOSCHINO for ARMONIA Swimsuit
Italian, Spring/Summer 1982
Before the creation of his namesake label in 1983, Italy’s mascot of sartorial camp, Franco Moschino (1950–1994), worked as an illustrator for Gianni Versace and designed for the Italian sportswear company Cadette and the swimwear label Armonia. His Spring 1982 collection for Cadette celebrated a cheeky form of italianità juxtaposed with the more somber message of uplifting women’s rights, with models carrying Italian flags and wearing draped and tiered tricolored skirts in reference to the tonneau or barrel skirt. An illustration by Antonio Lopez in Vanity magazine even proclaimed Cadette’s clientele the “new suffragettes.”
That same season, Moschino also used those reference points in his designs for Armonia. Dressing up a simple black spandex maillot, Moschino applied a pieced green, white, and red sash—not so far from the famous “Votes for Women” sash—to the trunk, crossing over the chest and tying in an oversized bow at the shoulder. Photographer David Bailey shot model Kelly LeBrock in this swimsuit for the April 1982 cover of Vogue Italia.
Label: Armonia / MADE IN ITALY
JOHN GALLIANO
“Big” shirt
British, Fall/Winter 1985
A patchwork of plaids and men’s classic shirting cottons in exaggerated proportions make up this “Big” shirt from John Galliano’s (b. 1960) third collection in Fall 1985, The Ludic Game. The only other vestige of gender, however, remains in the shirt’s button placement, fastening left over right along the placket. In Galliano’s seminal runway presentation, which famously ended with a dead mackerel being flung into the audience, both men and women wore variations of this shirt styled in a myriad of ways: layered or alone, buttoned up or unbuttoned, sleeves rolled or hanging, collar down or popped, blouson at the waist or flowing like a dress. As such, Galliano transformed a historically male garment into a pillar of genderless individuality, self-expression, and, above all, play.
Label: “John / Galliano / 1 / MADE IN BRITAIN”
ISSEY MIYAKE
Ensemble
Japanese, Fall/Winter 1983
Dress
Spring/Summer 1984
Throughout his career, Issey Miyake (1938–2022) was at the forefront of experimention with fabrics and dyes. Although renowned today for his heat-pleated polyesters, Miyake maintained a deep respect for the natural world and its materials, which consistently played an important role in his creations.
The skins and fur on this 1983 ensemble (opposite, pp. 89–90) recall yoroi, Japanese armor made of leather or iron plates (sane). The laced plates of historical yoroi would flex in motion, an effect that Miyake mimicked in basket-woven leather with strips of mink on this “poncho”— really a T-shaped coat that calls to mind another Japanese garment, the hikeshibanten or fireman’s jacket. The so-called “apron belt” comprises two sane-like panels falling from a wide leather waistband, finished with a shallow pocket and knotting at one hip. For his 1988 picture book collaboration with Miyake, Irving Penn photographed model Jun Kano in an identical poncho and apron belt in a different colorway. This version in predominantly brown leather appeared on the runway and was acquired after the presentation by its owner.
The one-shoulder dress from the following season in Spring 1984 appears to be gingham from afar (pp. 91–92). Upon closer inspection, however, the pattern exposes a textural checkerboard of cotton warp and weft floats, loosely woven with the elastic qualities of a knit. Essentially an oversized tube with asymmetrical armscyes, the dress’s exaggerated shape and stretch allow for dramatic folds and falls from the shoulders and back, as well as at the hips when accented with a sash.
AZZEDINE ALAÏA Suit
French, Winter 1985
This green felted wool suit demonstrates Azzedine Alaïa’s (1935–2017) impressive tailoring skills that he employed to both delineate and exaggerate the female form. Although the jacket’s rounded padded shoulders and nipped-in waist are typical of mid-1980s “power dressing,” the wide turn-down collar, notched curved lapels, double-breasted closure, and long, flared skirt reflect the designer’s longstanding interest in nineteenth-century men’s frock coats and women’s amazones or riding habits.
In addition to this suit with its narrow skirt, Alaïa’s Winter 1985 collection included similar jackets with slim pants and wide-shouldered, double-breasted full-skirted coats; several of these were illustrated in the August 1985 issue of French Vogue that described the designer’s “ethic” as the “purity of materials, colors, [and] forms.” An identical suit was worn at Alaïa’s presentation at the Palladium in New York in 1985.
Label: “ALAÏA / PARIS”
FIG. 8
Barneys New York advertisement, Vogue, September 1985, p. 187.
Knits in a variety of materials including rayon acetate were among Azzedine Alaïa’s (1935–2017) preferred fabrics with which he experimented throughout his career. In Summer 1984, he presented this deep forest green day dress with a blouson front bodice and crisscrossed straps over a bare back (pp. 97–98).
At an awards ceremony held at the Opéra Garnier in October 1985, at which the designer received both the “Prix special du jury” and the “Oscar du créateur de l’année” from the Fédération française de la couture, du prêt-à-porter et des créateurs de la mode, Grace Jones sang “La Vie en rose,” dressed in one of the designer’s most iconic silhouettes: a raspberrypink form-fitting full-length sleeveless acetate rayon knit gown with an attached hood and lacing at the side of the left thigh. In his prêt-à-porter collection the following summer, Alaïa showed the same dress as well as short skirts with side lacing, worn with a variety of tops. These included the two versions shown here: models in the same hue as Jones’s dress and in mint green, in addition to other variations in pink, cream, and black (the latter also worn by Cher).
Labels: “ALAÏA / PARIS”
AZZEDINE ALAÏA
Evening dress
The silk designed by Christophe von Weyhe French, Summer 1987
In addition to sculpting with heavy woolens and clinging knits, Azzedine Alaïa (1935–2017) frequently draped with fluid silks like this taffeta printed with a faux-ikat pattern that he used for his Summer 1987 collection. He presented this halter-top evening dress, with its short, flared skirt and completely bare back, in a brown-and-beige colorway, shown with and without a strapless bra. Alaïa’s longtime collaborator and partner Christophe von Weyhe (b. 1937) designed the textile whose earth tones evoke the palette of the North African landscape.
This dress is from the wardrobe of Danielle Luquet de Saint Germain, a house model and muse to Yves Saint Laurent and Claude Montana. Madonna wore an identical dress in an abstract gold-patterned printed silk on the cover of Cosmopolitan’s July 1987 issue.
DRIES VAN NOTEN
Evening jacket
Belgian, Autumn/Winter 2004
Dries, Baron van Noten (b. 1958) has long been captivated with postmodern reinterpretations of historical silhouettes and fabrics, from brocades used by Charles Frederick Worth to Verner Panton’s prints. This evening jacket from the Fall 2004 collection showcases another of van Noten’s touchstones: traditional Chinese dress and textiles. The overall shape is adapted from a woman’s short jacket or ao, with contrasting embroidery imitating the applied bands that would have finished the collar, hems, and sleeves. The animals, archaistic vessels, and other motifs worked in silk floss and couched metallic threads are likewise taken from a repertoire of auspicious Chinese symbols. Worn on the runway with wide-leg black satin damask evening trousers, the ensemble alludes to not only western fashion’s obsession with “Orientalist” modes but also the vogue for lounge pajamas in the 1920s and 1930s.
A nearly identical jacket—each one is hand-embroidered and thus slightly different—is in the ModeMuseum, Antwerp (ST1513).
Label: “DRIES VAN NOTEN / Size 38”
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD
Ensemble
English, Spring/Summer 1993
This three-piece ensemble from Vivienne Westwood’s (1941–2022) Grand Hotel collection represents the designer’s passion for experimentation with fabrics, in particular her inventive uses of denim to reimagine textile history. Although designed with a man’s figure in mind, the outfit is completely unisex in size and shape. The fabric’s blue-green metallic coating recalls the wings of the jewel beetle used to embellish textiles in South Asia since the eighteenth century and subsequently appropriated by westerners in the nineteenth century. By leaving seams exposed and edges frayed, Westwood highlights textiles’ inherent fragility and ephemerality. With regular wear, the glaze would age to form a patina, also typifying her interest in ideas of decay and destruction in high fashion.
Label (in jacket, shirt, and pants): “Vivienne / Westwood / MADE IN ENGLAND”
Françoise Auguet, Antoine Bucher, Patrice Dutarte, Jean Denis Franoux, Nicolas Montagne, Daniela Morera, Alexandra Palmer, Sarah Piettre, Harrie Schloss, Myriam Teissier, Sophie Theallet, and Joana Tosta
Martina D’Amato byappointment
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