Evening Dress
ca. 1963 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Black lace evening dress and coat.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
|
| Materials and techniques | Lace |
| Brief description | Black lace evening dress and coat, designed by Cristóbal Balenciaga for Eisa, Spain, ca. 1963 |
| Physical description | Black lace evening dress and coat. |
| Credit line | Given by Miss Ava Gardner |
| Object history | Registered File number 1985/1585. If the cost of his Paris salon was out of reach, there were other ways to buy a Balenciaga design. Some were sold less expensively under Balenciaga’s label Eisa in Spain, where labour costs were lower and cheaper fabrics might be used. Ava Gardner moved to Madrid in the 1950s. She found Spain ‘unspoiled . . . dramatic . . .and so god-damn cheap to live in, that it was almost unbelievable’. She bought Balenciaga designs both in Paris and at Eisa, which may have appealed to what she called her ‘frugal side’. Gardner spent her final years living around the corner from the V&A and donated several of her clothes to the museum. Gardner referred to her couture garments as her ‘babies’ and insisted on opening her wardrobes daily to let them ‘breathe’. |
| Association | |
| Other number | 1985/1585 - RF number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.436&A-1985 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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