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Evening Dress

1925 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This sleeveless, below-the-knee evening dress is made of embroidered and beaded silk, showing motifs of Chinese dragons. It was designed by Lucien Lelong and shown in the Paris International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in 1925.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Silk chiffon (main dress) Gold band at the top of the dress is silk-satin, it has a yellow silk weft and a metal warp. Metal warp is gold coloured metal wrapped around a yellow silk core. Blue band - blue silk warp and weft and supplementary metal weft. Metal weft is gold coloured metal wrapped around a blue silk core.
Brief description
Evening dress, silk chiffon with beading, motifs of Chinese dragons (woven), designed by Lucien Lelong and displayed at the Paris exhibition of 1925
Physical description
Sleeveless, below-the-knee evening dress made of beaded golden and navy silk. Square and straight shape, slightly wider below the waist. Deep V neckline at front, round neckline at back, trimmed with diamantés. Upper part of bodice is made of 2 triangles of transparent silk chiffon edged with diamantés, over a wide band of golden silk satin. Lower part of bodice is made of navy silk woven with Chinese dragon motifs, and 2 vertical bands of geometrical motifs. Skirt is made of silk chiffon scalloped at the hem, completely covered with beading, and has circumvoluted patterns made of diamantés.
Dimensions
  • Shoulder to hem height: 112cm
  • Waist flat width: 46cm
  • Centre front, neckline to hem height: 105cm
  • Centre back, nape to hem height: 107cm
Production typeHaute couture
Marks and inscriptions
"Chimere"
Credit line
Given by Mrs William Gordon
Object history
This dress was previously catalogued as by Jeanne Paquin, however, there is no mention of Paquin in the original museum documentation so it is unclear where this attribution came from.

It is now believed this dress was designed by Lucien Lelong. Photographs of the dress at the Paris exhibition in 1925 show it displayed alongside other dresses identified as Lelong. A photograph of this design was attributed to Lelong in L'Art et la Mode, no. 9, 1925.
Summary
This sleeveless, below-the-knee evening dress is made of embroidered and beaded silk, showing motifs of Chinese dragons. It was designed by Lucien Lelong and shown in the Paris International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in 1925.
Bibliographic references
  • Lourdes Cerrillo Rubio, Moda y creatividad. La conquista del estilo en la era moderna 1789-1929, 2019, p. 121.
  • Miller, Lesley Ellis, and Ana Cabrera Lafuente, with Claire Allen-Johnstone, eds. Silk: Fibre, Fabric and Fashion. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 2021. ISBN 978-0-500-48065-6. This object features in the publication Silk: Fibre, Fabric and Fashion (2021)
Collection
Accession number
T.50-1948

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Record createdJanuary 10, 2003
Record URL
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