Evening dress

Jean Patou|House of Patou

ca. 1927 · silk, glass, metallic thread, plastic · Costume Institute

If Chanel was the formidable figure of sportswear, even in the 1920s and 1930s, Patou was sportswear's gentleman, always said to be debonair and a charmer. His dresses exude such a winning confidence and allure: an evening dress, for example, has the simple silhouette of a tennis dress, but it also has the kaleidoscopic beadwork that is all but Fabergé in fantasy and also extravagant in imagination. The armature of the dress is as simple and as flat as possible. As he had brought American models to Paris to show his clothing, Patou was indebted to the guileless all-American girl as modern symbol, a quality correlative to the artless modernism of his apparel.

Artist

Jean Patou|House of Patou

Date

ca. 1927

Medium

silk, glass, metallic thread, plastic

Culture

French

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. John A. van Beuren and Mrs. Samuel M. V. Hamilton, 1977