Evening dress, full length, white organza and net with floral motif, Madeleine Vionnet, France, 1935.

Full length evening dress of white organza and net with floral motif. The dress has a small frilled collar of the same fabric and very full sleeves with a wide insert of cream chiffon at the upper arm. The skirt parts in two at the centre front to reveal the cream organza petticoat.

Purchased with support from The Art Fund and an anonymous donor

Lady Foley purchased a number of dresses designed by Madeleine Vionnet between 1929 and 1938. This dress is one of four acquired by the Museum in 2009. They form part of a larger group of nine dresses stopped at export and secured for the nation. The other dresses are held in the collections of The Bowes Museum and The Fashion Museum, Bath.

Lady Foley was born Minoru Greenstone, the daughter of mine owner Harry Greenstone of Johannesburg, South Africa. She married the seventh Baron Foley (1895-1927), a former flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force who became Baron in 1918. Lord Foley died in 1927.

Minoru Foley’s marriage introduced her to British society. During the early to mid-1920s, the couple is listed in the Times Social Register as attending events of the London season and travelling to Paris on several occasions. Lord and Lady Foley’s son was born in 1923. Photographs of the couple taken by Bassano Ltd are held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. Lady Foley was among the women of privilege who could afford the finest quality textiles, meticulously crafted designs and highly personal attention offered by couture houses such as Vionnet’s.

The nine dresses together comprise a remarkable record of a decade of designs for a single client by one of the 20th century’s most important couturiers. In addition, the objects date from the last decade of Vionnet’s career, and represent Vionnet at her most sophisticated and complex, at the height of her design powers.

This dress formed part of the wardrobe of Lady Minoru Foley (around 1888-1968). Lady Foley was among the women of privilege who could afford the finest quality textiles, meticulously crafted designs and highly personal attention offered by couture houses such as Vionnet's.

In the construction of this dress, equal attention was paid to the unseen elements: meticulously finished seams, finely sewn fastenings and delicately rolled hems. The dress is made from finely crafted white organza and net, a textile Vionnet favoured in the 1930s. With its full sleeves and gently gathered collar, it is a romantic expression of fashionable 1930s eveningwear.

T.379-2009