Evening dress

Christian Dior|House of Dior

1952–53 · silk, horsehair · Costume Institute

Christian Dior made masterful use of surface embellishments for his evening dresses of the early 1950s. In this example from the 1952-1953 collection, complex beading and applied ruffles create a lively and varied surface for the dress. Pealescent sequins and paillettes of four different shapes and sizes are interspersed with narrow ruffled bands of pale pink horsehair, creating a subtle tone-on-tone pattern that swirls across the skirt and bodice. The pale color palette and strapless neckline makes the garment a prime example of Dior's more revealing looks for 1952, a connection made by Richard Martin in reference to another version of the same dress in the collection of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Artist

Christian Dior|House of Dior

Date

1952–53

Medium

silk, horsehair

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 Rodman A. Heeren, 1961