Evening dress
The corset is a fashion convention to define the waist and project the bosom. Challenged by nature, reason, and gender rights, the corsetted silhouette remained a persistent aesthetic ideal of the twentieth century. During the 1940s and 1950s, in particular, ideas of femininity were expressed fashion-wise in a cinched waist akin to the corsetted construction of the past, as in this evening gown by Jacques Fath. Despite the anachronistic lacing, this dress reveals its structure like a modernist building. Pink, a color of twentieth-century lingerie, is combined with a traditional lacing in an evening silhouette of the postwar years, here given deeper historical resonance. In 1954, just before his death, Fath returned to the representation of the corset as a means of reationalizing the wasp waist he preferred.
Artwork Details
- Title: Evening dress
- Designer: Jacques Fath (French, 1912–1954)
- Design House: House of Jacques Fath (French, founded 1937)
- Date: spring/summer 1947
- Culture: French
- Medium: cellulose acetate
- Credit Line: Gift of Richard Martin, 1993
- Object Number: 1993.55
- Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
American
1940s
Jacques Fath
House of Jacques Fath
fall/winter 1949–50
Jacques Fath
House of Jacques Fath
1930s
Multiple artists/makers
1951
Jacques Fath
House of Jacques Fath
1955
Related Content
Publications
Books, guides, and catalogues published by The Met.
Free to download
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.