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Unknown Maker, French

Dress

Maker

Culture

French

Title

Dress

Year

ca. 1927

Medium

Silk net with embroidery

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Silk net with embroidery

Materials

silk

Dimensions

101.6 cm (40 inches) (center back length)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Label: Made in France

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of L. J. Cella III

Object Number

1990.129.44

Type

Costume

Exhibition History

The Art and Design of Spider Silk

Sep 27, 2019 – Apr 19, 2020

Label copy

Cinema often plays a role in setting fashion trends, and in the late 1920s the Chinese silent film Pan si dong (also released as The Cave of Silken Web and Cave of the Spider Women) inspired a number of spider-web-embellished garments in Europe. From this lace dress embroidered with webs to the Vionnet gown decorated with a glass-bead web at the hip, it was in vogue to be a “black widow.”

Image use

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Tombstone

Unknown Maker, French

Dress, ca. 1927

Silk net with embroidery

101.6 cm (40 inches) (center back length)

Gift of L. J. Cella III 1990.129.44

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