Evening ensemble

Though Christian Dior began his creative process with sketches, selecting fabrics only after a design had been finalized through the creation of a muslin toile, Cristobal Balenciaga considered fabric a starting point that guided the design direction. The fabric’s hand–its crispness or softness–determined the volume and shaping that could be achieved; its composition, whether of wool or silk, could determine its suitability for day or night, formal or informal occasions; and the scale of its pattern, or the absence of pattern, might suggest a design that showed off a novel motif or instead emphasized the abstract geometry of a silhouette. For this evening ensemble from the wardrobe of Elizabeth Parke Firestone, Balenciaga relied on the natural body of silk faille, which he gathered to produce a dress with soft fullness reminiscent of an 1880s bustle. For the coordinating coat of the same fabric, Balenciaga’s precise seam lines created structured contours whose dramatic effect is amplified by the color choice, a deep charcoal gray.