Evening dress

Elsa Schiaparelli

winter 1938–39 · silk · Costume Institute

From the winter 1938-39 zodiac collection, this dress is a chic example of Schiaparelli's penchant for using unique fabrics to embellish streamlined silhouettes. The fabric used here is a subtly ribbed fancy weave that drapes beautifully and has a textured hand. As Dilys Blum states in "Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli," this collection was inspired by Euclid's treatise on geometry "Elements." The cords used to fashionably gather in the bodice are emblematic of that mathematical precision, as it would require exact measurements to accomplish the seemingly simple effect.

Artist

Elsa Schiaparelli

Date

winter 1938–39

Medium

silk

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 Millicent Huttleston Rogers, 1951