Evening ensemble

Maisons Agnès-Drécoll|Madame Havet

1930 · a) wool b) silk c) coral, silver, rhinestones · Costume Institute

Displaying a Chinoiserie delicately appropriated from the decorative arts, Drécoll's coral-orange bolero is worn atop her Western-style (but cheongsam- or qi-pao-related) column dress. The result is a Shanghai-like synthesis of East and West. By the 1930s, the frequent trade expositions in Paris had encouraged keen awareness of Chinese costume and arts among French fashion designers, including Grès, Lanvin, and Drécoll. Drécoll cleverly used the exoticism of the bolero to set the rank badges onto Western dress as a kind of acknowledged appliqué.

Artist

Maisons Agnès-Drécoll|Madame Havet

Date

1930

Medium

a) wool b) silk c) coral, silver, rhinestones

Culture

French

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Gift of Miss. Julia P. Wightman, 1990