Evening dress, full length, cream tulle with appliqué swallow motif, Madeleine Vionnet, France, 1935.

A full length evening dress of white organza and net with appliquéd stylised swallow motif across skirt. The sleeveless bodice fastens behind with a row of attached diamanté bow brooches and two long bands of tulle which fall to the floor.

Purchased with support from The Art Fund and an anonymous donor

Madeleine Vionnet's couture house was known for championing the bias cut, a technique of cutting across the grain of a textile to produce a carefully draped silhouette.

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.

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.

Madeline Vionnet's couture house was known for finely crafted designs of particularly intricate dressmaking techniques. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, her loyal clients included European aristocrats and wealthy North Americans. This dress was worn by Lady Minoru Foley, (around 1888 to 1968), wife of the 7th Baron Foley.

In Vionnet's hands, finishing details such as hems, seams and applied decoration are executed with precision and finesse. This dress was designed by Vionnet in 1935. By this year, Vionnet had operated her own couture house for 23 years and had worked for nearly 50 years in the dressmaking and couture trades. The dress is crafted from organza and fine tulle. Its delicacy is underlined by the scattering of appliquéd velvet swallow motifs across the skirt.

T.380:1, 2-2009