Dress
Charles James
ca. 1956 · silk · Costume Institute
The voluminous design of this dress lent itself to a maternity version that James made for Lane Bryant, in which the faille exterior is attached to a taffeta underslip that is cut to expand gradually from under the bust to accommodate a pregnancy. To develop the design, James established the angle of the expansion with tapes passed through staples tacked into a wooden platform. Despite the design’s origins in complicated engineering, the final dressmaking solution for the blouson was a simple horizontal welt tuck circling the skirt, angled high at back and lower at front.
- Artist
- Charles James
- Date
- ca. 1956
- Medium
- silk
- Culture
- American
- Department
- Costume Institute
- Credit line
- Purchase, Costume Institute Benefit Fund, Friends of The Costume Institute Gifts, and Acquisitions Fund, 2013
