Silk sash with silk appliqué, designed by Sara Lipska for Marie Cuttoli at Maison Myrbor, Paris, 1922

Sash consisting of a curved panel made of ivory silk with multicoloured hand-sewn silk appliqués in the shapes of flowers and foliage. It is an irregular oval tapering to squared ends and is lined with green silk. The flowers are in shades of vermilion, the flag types in fuschia shading down to pink, and the foliage are in yellow, ochre, gold, emerald and jade.

The colourful applique decoration of this sash corresponds to a design sketch by Lipska for a costume in the ballet production Annabella, written by Maurice Magre with music by Charles Cuvillier, staged at the Théâtre Fémina in Paris, November 1922. The sketch is reproduced in Ewa Ziembińska’s publication about the life and work of Lipska (2023, see Bibliography).

Sara Lipska (1882-1973) studied at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts before emigrating to Paris in 1912. Originally trained as a sculptor, throughout her career Lipska also designed for theatre, interiors, and fashion. Around 1919 Lipska began working under Léon Bakst, designing sets and stage costumes for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes. In the 1920s she began working for renowned couture houses including Maison Myrbor. The House of Myrbor was an exclusive shop owned by the French Marie Cuttoli. It sold fashion, rugs and curtains designed by the international avant-garde. Later that decade Lipska opened her own couture house first at 4, rue Belloni de Montparnasse before moving to the fashionable avenue de Champs-Elysées in 1928.

A sample with a similar design incorporating similar motifs in different colours is in the collection of The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (object accession number 2009.300.1885).

This sash was worn by Miss Emilie Grigsby (1876-1964) who was a wealthy independent American who came to England from New York. She established a salon which was frequented by writers and the military. She was considered to be one of the great international beauties, with extremely pale, almost transparent skin and golden hair. She was frequently the subject of articles in the New York Times during the early 20th century. Her clothes were purchased from couturiers in London, Paris, and New York, and demonstrated an elegantly avant-garde approach to style.

T.156-1967