Evening overdress

Callot Soeurs

ca. 1920 · silk, linen, metal · Costume Institute

Rita de Acosta Lydig (1880-1929), a noted beauty and style icon of the early twentieth century, owned this garment. A great admirer and collector of lace, de Acosta Lydig's garments and accessories often incorporated insertions or trims of antique lace, sometimes taken from her own collection. De Acosta Lydig favored dramatic and slightly idiosyncratic garments when dressing, some of which she may have designed herself. Long, unfitted garments that emphasized the panels of lace trim rather than the body of the woman who wore them, such as this example, were a staple of her wardrobe.

Artist

Callot Soeurs

Date

ca. 1920

Medium

silk, linen, metal

Culture

probably French

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mercedes de Acosta, 1955