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.

Evening Dress

© The Kyoto Costume Institute, photo by Takashi Hatakeyama

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Evening Dress

c. 1944

Designer
Madame Grès
Brand
Grès
Label
none
Material
White silk jersey one-piece dress; finely pleated; eleven bones inside bodice.
Inventory Number(s)
AC5664 87-34-2

Small pleats contour the lines of the chest, and the natural flow of the cloth becomes a skirt. This work demonstrates the typical style of Grès.
Madame Grès opened the fashion house Alix in 1934, but was forces to close it in 1939. In 1942 she opened a new house under her husband's "nom d'artiste", Grès. In the mid-1930s she became known for extravagantly arranged clothes made of silk jersey in the classical Greek style and with few visible seams. The dress illustrated here was designed in 1944 for actress Danièle Delorme for her appearances in Jean Anouih's play "Antigone".

1940s