Wedding ensemble

Jacques Gerber|Callot Soeurs|Pierre Gerber|Madame Suzy

1930 · silk, linen, leather · Costume Institute

With its cathedral-length train, this dramatic example of a French couture wedding gown illustrates the sleek, reductive look of 1930s fashion. Both construction and design details mark it as an example from Callot Soeurs. The scallops on the train, worked on the bias, are a signature figuration of the design house. The treatment gives the effect of rippling water, as in a Japanese landscape, and is consistent with the Callot predilection for Asian inspiration. While this dress dates from the period after Madame Gerber's retirement from Callot Soeurs, it serves as evidence that the next generation, Madame's sons Pierre and Jacques, inherited their mother's design sensibility and executed effective designs until the business merged with the house of Calvert in 1937.

Artist

Jacques Gerber|Callot Soeurs|Pierre Gerber|Madame Suzy

Date

1930

Medium

silk, linen, leather

Culture

French

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mrs. Russell Davenport, 1963