Evening dress

Unknown

ca. 1927 · silk, rhinestones · Costume Institute

In 1924, Vionnet introduced her Little Horses dress, decorated by heavy beading applied in a special manner to her bias cut dress. The beads were arranged to move with the fabric and the design was an interpretation of the horses found on Grecian vases. The dress seen here is a copy of this well-known design, which was particularly appealing and highly sought after. As stated in Betty Kirk's work on Vionnet, there were many unauthorized copies being made in the United States at this time. While it is not an original, the design is quite charming and explains why this particular piece was all the rage during the mid-1920s.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1927

Medium

silk, rhinestones

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 Nikki Scheuer, 1982