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Evening Dress

ca. 1963 (made)
Artist/Maker
Eisa (maker)
Balenciaga, Cristóbal (designer)
Place of origin
Spain (made)

Evening dress and scarf of printed silk .

Object details

Categories
Fashion
Womenswear
Evening Wear
Object type
Evening dress
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Evening Dress
  • Scarf
Materials and techniques
Printed silk
Silk (Textile)
Printed
Brief description
Evening dress and scarf of printed silk, designed by Cristóbal Balenciaga for Eisa, Spain, ca. 1963
Physical description
Evening dress and scarf of printed silk .
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
Ava Gardner
Other number
1985/1585 - RF number
Collection
Textiles and Fashion Collection
Accession number
T.438&A-1985

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O365904/evening-dress-balenciaga-cristóbal/
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