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Gilbert Adrian

1942–52 · silk, metal · Costume Institute

Like Adrian's great film costumes that invariably were designed to move, this simply cut evening dress, with its long slices of fringe tumbling down the back and spiraling around the hem, is a worthy successor to Jean Harlow's evening dress, with its floor-length fringe cascades. In 1949 Virginia Pope wrote in the New York Times that Adrian "likes to make clothes that move." She later commented, "One senses motion in his styles, which are created to look well as the wearer walks."

Artist

Gilbert Adrian

Date

1942–52

Medium

silk, metal

Culture

American

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Gift of Patricia Pastor and Barry Friedman, 2012