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House of Chanel, design house

Strapless Lace Dress with Velvet Sash, 1958

Description

Maker

  • Coco Chanel, 1883-1971, French, designer
  • House of Chanel, French, design house

Title

Strapless Lace Dress with Velvet Sash

Year

1958

Medium

Silk and cotton machine-made lace with velvet sash

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • cotton,
  • silk

Dimensions

Center back length: 96.5 cm (38 inches)

Type

  • Fashion,
  • Costume

Credit

Gift of Ronald and Lillian Dick

Object Number

2001.83.16

About

It was French designer Christian Dior who first called knee-length dresses worn in early evening “cocktail dresses.” He credited their invention, however, to the American women who flocked to purchase examples by French couture houses including Dior, Balmain, and Chanel, and in donning them saw themselves as radiating sophistication and glamour.

In this Chanel cocktail dress, a structured bodice hides under an elegant lace overdress with flirtatious flounces at the hem. Throughout her career, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel investigated the nuances of the color black, interpreting the little black dress in a variety of materials and textiles. Deft handling of luxurious materials such as alençon lace, as seen in this example, added romanticism to her otherwise streamlined silhouettes.

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Projects & Publications

Publications

Cocktail Culture

Ritual and Invention in American Fashion 1920 - 1980

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Cocktail Culture

April 15 - July 31, 2011

Related

Coco Chanel

Black lace strapless dress with velvet sash, early 1960s

Coco Chanel

Black lace strapless dress with velvet sash, early 1960s

More objects +

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 Strapless Lace Dress with Velvet Sash with the accession number of 2001.83.16. 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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