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Unknown artist

Dress, ca. 1949

Description

Maker

  • Unknown

Title

Dress

Year

ca. 1949

Medium

Silk with lace embroidered with metallic-wrapped yarn, sequins, metal beads, glass beads, metallic-wrapped-yarn applique

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • sequin

Type

  • Fashion,
  • Costume

Credit

Gift of Mrs. Leon A. Mnuchin

Object Number

61.103.2

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Luminous Lace

January 27 - July 30, 2017

This understated ballgown is perhaps misleading in terms of the careful craft and immense time that were required to create it. The cream fabric is a deftly woven slub silk with a repeating floral motif composed in couched gold thread; each flower is completed with three hammered sequins and a glass bead. Lace finishes the bodice and ends in a deep flounce at the hem. The lace was not created using a traditional bobbin or needle technique, but the outline of the motif was painstakingly embroidered using couched metallic-wrapped yarn.

The gown’s donor, Harriet Gervitz-Mnuchin, was frequently dressed by designer Hattie Carnegie. This example is unlabeled, but it was made either in the Carnegie workshop or by a similarly skilled dressmaker.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Dress with the accession number of 61.103.2. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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