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Evening dress
  • Evening dress
    Yves Saint Laurent, born 1936 - died 2008
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Evening dress

  • Place of origin:

    Paris, France (made)

  • Date:

    Autumn/Winter 1967 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Yves Saint Laurent, born 1936 - died 2008 (designer)
    Vermont (embroiderer)
    Bucol (textile, manufacturer)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Silk cigaline, embroidered with pearlised and textured silver sequins, diamantés, crystal beads, silver gilt threads, plastic paillettes and ostrich feathers

  • Credit Line:

    Given by Princess Stanislaus Radziwill

  • Museum number:

    T.368-1974

  • Gallery location:

    In Storage

  • Image in copyright

Physical description

Black and grey evening dress of black cigaline with grey-to-black graduated sequin embroidery, and ostrich feathers. The simple shape is heavily embroidered with three dimensional embroidery which incorporates pearlised and textured silver sequins, diamantés, crystal beads, silver gilt threads, leaf-shaped plastic paillettes and a hem of ostrich feathers. The latter are painstakingly sewn down in nine horizontal rows, each one inch apart. The dress fastens with a zip at the left side and hooks and eyes on the left shoulder.

Place of Origin

Paris, France (made)

Date

Autumn/Winter 1967 (made)

Artist/maker

Yves Saint Laurent, born 1936 - died 2008 (designer)
Vermont (embroiderer)
Bucol (textile, manufacturer)

Materials and Techniques

Silk cigaline, embroidered with pearlised and textured silver sequins, diamantés, crystal beads, silver gilt threads, plastic paillettes and ostrich feathers

Descriptive line

Evening dress of embroidered cigaline and ostrich feathers, dress designed by Yves Saint Laurent and embroidered by Vermont and textile made by Bucol, Paris, autumn/winter 1967.

Exhibition History

The Little Black Dress (Victoria and Albert Museum 01/01/1983-31/12/1984)
Fashion: an anthology by Cecil Beaton (Victoria and Albert Museum 01/01/1972-31/12/1972)

Labels and date

MINI EVENING DRESS, organdie (Bucol) with embroidery (Vermont)
French, Paris, Yves St Laurent: 1967

While the bodice shades to pearl, the dominant note of this flared shift is black. The shape is totally subservient to luxuriant decoration and has to be as simple as possible in order to accommodate the three dimensional embroidery. It incorporates pearlised and textured silver sequins, diamantés, crystal beads, silver gilt threads, leaf-shaped plastic paillettes and ostrich feathers. The latter are painstakingly sewn down in nine horizontal rows, each one inch apart. This deep black feather hem throws the glitter above into sharp relief. The dress fastens (with difficulty) with a zip at the left side and hooks and eyes on the left shoulder.

Worn and given by Princess Stanislaus Radziwill
The Cecil Beaton Collection
T.368-1974 [1983-84]

Materials

Silk; Sequins; Ostrich feathers

Techniques

Embroidery

Categories

Embroidery; Fashion; Evening wear; Women's clothes

Production Type

Haute couture

Collection code

T&F

Qr_O138971
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