Evening dress

Charles James

1937–38 · silk · Costume Institute

James’s writings indicate he conceived the design for this dress as one piece that spiraled around the body with a single diagonal seam running from the knee to the shoulder. The logistics of fitting and the limitations of fabric width, however, necessitated that it be cut in three pieces—the scarf/front bodice, the skirt/back bodice, and a triangular piece that extends the skirt into a wrap—thereby allowing, as James put it, “for a leg to emerge while seated.

Artist

Charles James

Date

1937–38

Medium

silk

Culture

American

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Purchase, Annette de la Renta Gift, 2013