Mexican Dinner Plate

Physical description

Long evening dress of cream silk chiffon printed with 'Mexican Dinner Plate' pattern in red, purple and green. It has short sleeves with open upper seams caught twice with white chiffon rouleau bows. It has a fallen circular collar edged with diamantes, sequins and seed pearls. A bright blue satin sash, which ties at the front, accompanies the dress.

Place of Origin

London, England (made)

Date

1977 (designed)

Artist/maker

Rhodes, Zandra, born 1940 (designer)

Materials and Techniques

Screen printed silk chiffon with diamates, sequins, and seed pearls, satin sash

Object history note

Following a trip to Mexico, Zandra Rhodes created the Mexican Sombrero print, inspired by the large, cheaply-embroidered sombreros she saw in the markets. While she was developing this print she realised she was cutting out the centre of the circular motifs for use, and wasting the rest of the print, and so developed the 'Mexican Dinner Plate' print, which is confined to the specific part of the circular motif she was using. It was made "to be less wasteful, and have plenty of small collars for the dresses"

This particular dress is a version of Butterfly No 108/cat no 77/9 as depicted in Rhodes' autobiography (1984)

- Daniel Milford-Cottam

Reference:
Rhodes, Zandra and Knight, Anne, The Art Of Zandra Rhodes, London, 1984

Descriptive line

Evening dress of printed silk chiffon with sash of satin, 'Mexican Dinner Plate', designed by Zandra Rhodes, London, 1978

Materials

Sequins; Silk satin; Silk chiffon

Techniques

Screen printing

Categories

Fashion; Evening wear; Women's clothes

Production Type

Haute couture

Collection code

T&F