Evening dress

Gabrielle Chanel|House of Chanel

ca. 1926 · silk · Costume Institute

The dateless quality of Chanel's satin dresses resides in her abiding recognition of the female form. Typically, she employed spiral, arced and crisscross piecing as structural and decorative devices that sensuously aligned with the curvatures of the body. In several versions from the 1930s, arcing planes of satin sweep around the body like a gyroscope. To punctuate the sleek, streamlined sensuality of the designs, Chanel often employed self-fabric flowers, usually her beloved camellias or gardenias. Self-tie bows, a detail she introduced in the 1920s, highlight discrete zones of the body, such as the neck or hips, providing further animation.

Artist

Gabrielle Chanel|House of Chanel

Date

ca. 1926

Medium

silk

Culture

French

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Gift of Esmé O'Brien Hammond, 1977