Evening ensemble

Design House House of Dior French
Designer Christian Dior French
(c, d) Salvatore Ferragamo Italian

Not on view

The dramatic and austere sensibility of this gown results from Christian Dior's choice of a somber color, heavy weight textile and design of the piecing at the front of the bodice that resembles a rigid busk, an element of women's foundation garments from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The elegant line at the waist that transverses the hip however, offsets what might have been an overly severe look otherwise, as does the choice of the light colored wrap. The use of decorative self buttons and tailored self bows are a hallmark of Dior's designs, similar details can be seen in other examples from the Brooklyn Museum collection, such as 2009.300.445, 2009.300.363 and 2009.300.346.

Evening ensemble, House of Dior (French, founded 1946), silk, French

Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.