"L'Eléphant Blanc"
Creating the trapeze silhouette for Dior, Saint Laurent has a rigid understructure veiled under a fly-away cage. A boned corset anchors the dress but allows the delusion of a free swinging cone. Seeking a shape for independence, though still tethered, the "Eléphant Blanc" dress also employs a shimmering embroidery on net that requires a finishing flourish to the thread work on a transparent surface. Thus, in both surface decoration and in structure, Saint Laurent gained the effect of ethereal, bouyant freedom while retaining the structure of the couture. From the earliest works at the house of Dior through the designer's accomplishments in his own house, Saint Laurent has practiced and perfected this modernist wielding of couture construction and proficiency to seem wholly unfettered.
Artwork Details
- Title: "L'Eléphant Blanc"
- Design House: House of Dior (French, founded 1946)
- Designer: Yves Saint Laurent (French (born Algeria) Oran 1936–2008 Paris)
- Manufacturer: Rébè
- Date: spring/summer 1958
- Culture: French
- Medium: silk, metallic thread, glass, plastic
- Credit Line: Gift of Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1977
- Object Number: 1977.329.5a, b
- Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute
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Multiple artists/makers
fall/winter 1961–62
House of Dior
Marc Bohan
1980s
House of Dior
Christian Dior
spring/summer 1955
House of Dior
Gianfranco Ferré
spring/summer 1993
House of Dior
Gianfranco Ferré
1990–97
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