KCIDigital Archives

The KCI Digital Archives on the KCI website presents image and text information for the objects in the collection, arranged in chronological order.

Suit

© The Kyoto Costume Institute, photo by Taishi Hirokawa

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Suit

1940s

Designer
Jeanne Lanvin
Brand
Lanvin
Label
JEANNE LANVIN PARIS 22 Frg st HONORÉ
Material
Set of jacket and skirt; beige-pink wool twill; trapunto-stitched pocket with buttons.
Inventory Number(s)
AC4786 84-4-6AB

Square padded shoulders and a knee-length skirt were fashionable during the war, as this tailored suit demonstrates.
In 1944, Paris was freed from the Occupation. Many Parisian fashion houses had closed or moved to other cities during the war, and few remained. The serious shortage of materials had entailed a massive curtailing of production. Lanvin took pride, as an established haute couture house, in producing the highest quality creations even in a regulated time, as may be observed in the elaborate trapunto-stitching and the beautiful seams of the skirt.

1940s