Dress

Unknown

ca. 1920 · linen, cotton · 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 of antique lace. Blouses made partially or completely of lace like this example, were a fixture of her wardrobe. Here, the simple cut of the garment suits the pictorial quality of the filet lace. No seams or darts interrupt the horse and rider motifs. De Acosta Lydig would have paired this garment with a dark solid-colored underlayer to show the lace to its best advantage.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1920

Medium

linen, cotton

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