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Wedding bodice and cap
Pierre Balmain, born 1914 - died 1982 - Enlarge image
Wedding bodice and cap
- Place of origin:
France (made)
- Date:
1946 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Pierre Balmain, born 1914 - died 1982 (designer)
Paulette (milliners) - Materials and Techniques:
Quilted satin, embroidered with pearls
- Credit Line:
Given by Stella, Lady Ednam
- Museum number:
T.46&A-1974
- Gallery location:
In Storage
Pierre Balmain maintained that 'the basic job of a couturier...is to dress women for everyday living'. Everyday living for Balmain's clientele often involved grand evening occasions, and he is perhaps best known for the lavish ball-gowns he created for these events.
Miss Stella Carcano y Morra wore this jacket at her marriage to Viscount Ednam on 10 January 1946. She teamed it with a skirt of white faille and a small pillbox cap. Balmain later wrote, 'This was the first society marriage for which I designed the bride's and bridesmaids' dresses'.
The jacket forms part of the Cecil Beaton Collection. Sir Cecil Beaton was a society photographer. With great energy and determination Beaton contacted the well-dressed élite of Europe and North America to help create this monument to the art of dress. The Collection was exhibited in 1971, accompanied by a catalogue that detailed its enormous range.
