Evening dress of silk velvet with silk georgette streamers, designed by Madeleine Vionnet, Paris, ca. 1934

Evening dress of black silk velvet with two asymmetric pink and purple silk georgette streamers.

Given by Mrs D.M. Haynes and Mrs M. Clark

Opal Holt was born in Canada in 1887 but lived in the US until the end of the Second World War. She travelled extensively between the wars and was in the first plane to land in Bali. She married Herbert Holt, a Canadian who lived a large part of his life in England, as her third husband in 1946. They came to England and Europe every summer and Opal Holt began buying clothes in Paris for her life in England, and for the Bahamas in Winter, over a period of about thirty years. She died in 1980.

Given by Mrs D.M Haynes and Mrs. Clark (nee Holt; Opal Holt's step-daughters).

The designer Madeleine Vionnet had an approach to structure that was founded on an innovative use of fabric cut 'on the bias' (against the straight grain of the material). In this case, glossy silk velvet in black makes a slip of a dress, a cross-over, slightly bloused bodice and svelte skirt that weighs a mere 380 grams. A pair of asymmetric silk georgette streamers is attached to the shoulder back - toffee pink on the left and, slightly shorter in length, royal purple on the right. This dress was worn by Mrs Opal Holt.

T.89:1, 2-1982