Contrived in France

House of Worth
Evening Gown
ca. 1882
silk satin and silk chiffon
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

House of Worth
Evening Cloak
1889
embroidered silk with dyed and beaded lace
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

House of Worth
Evening Gown
ca. 1893
silk satin, silk chiffon and silk velvet
National Museum of American History, Washington DC

Maison Goupy
Day Dress
1919
printed cotton and silk velvet
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Callot Soeurs
Evening Gown
1922
beaded and embroidered silk
National Museum of American History
Washington DC

Callot Soeurs
Evening Gown
ca. 1923-26
printed and beaded silk velvet and lace
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Christian Dior
Wedding Gown
1956
silk taffeta, silk tulle and lace
National Museum of American History, Washington DC

Cristóbal Balenciaga
Cocktail Coat
1956
silk gros-de-Naples
Museo Cristóbal Balenciaga, Getaria, Spain

Cristóbal Balenciaga
Ensemble (Sweater and Skirt)
1957
wool knit
Museo Cristóbal Balenciaga, Getaria, Spain

Cristóbal Balenciaga
Coat
1960
wool
Museo Cristóbal Balenciaga, Getaria, Spain

Cristóbal Balenciaga
Evening Gown
1960
embroidered silk gros-de-Naples
Museo Cristóbal Balenciaga, Getaria, Spain

Cristóbal Balenciaga
Ensemble (Blouse and Skirt)
1961
silk crepe
Museo Cristóbal Balenciaga, Getaria, Spain

Cristóbal Balenciaga
Day Dress
1968
wool crepe
Museo Cristóbal Balenciaga, Getaria, Spain

Hubert de Givenchy
Evening Gown
1982
cotton knit with nylon tulle and plastic sequins
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Emanuel Ungaro
Evening Ensemble
1989
jacket: silk-cotton twill and rayon velvet
skirt: embroidered silk satin
Philadelphia Museum of Art

John Galliano for Dior
Suit
1998
wool and silk, with wool faux-fur
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Giambattista Valli
Two-Piece Dress
2014
silk taffeta and silk tulle
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

    They which forewent us did leave a room for us, and should we grieve to do the same to those which should come after us?  Who, being admitted to see the exquisite rarities of some antiquary's cabinet, is grieved, all viewed, to have the curtain drawn, and give place to new pilgrims?  And when the Lord of this universe hath showed us the various wonders of his amazing frame, should we take it to heart when he thinketh time to dislodge?  This is his unalterable and unevitable decree: as we had no part of our will in our entrance into this life, we should not presume of any on our leaving it, but soberly learn to will that which he wills, whose very willing giveth being to all that it wills; and adoring the Orderer, not repine at the order and laws, which all-where and all-ways are so perfectly established that who would essay to alter and amend any of them, he should either make them worse or desire things beyond the level of possibility.  All that is necessary and convenient for us they have bestowed upon us and freely granted; and what they have not bestowed nor granted us, neither is it necessary nor convenient that we should have it. 

– William Drummond of Hawthornden, from A Cypress Grove (London: Hawthornden Press, 1919, reprinting the original edition of 1623)

Fabricators of Reputation

Martin Margiela
Jacket
2000
wool and rayon
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

Charles James
Ballgown
1949
silk taffeta and silk satin
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona

 Lucile, Lady Duff-Gordon
"Happiness" Dinner Dress
1916
silk taffeta, satin, tulle and chiffon
trimmed with ribbons, flowers and lace
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Norman Hartnell
State Gown for Queen Elizabeth
(consort of George VI)
1939
silk satin, lace, gold tissue
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

Vivienne Westwood
 Wedding Ensemble
1993
silk
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Callot Soeurs, Paris
Afternoon Dress
ca. 1900
printed silk, appliquéd with ribbon and lace
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Alexandre Benois for Ballets-Russes
Stage Costume - Cloak for Harpist
ca. 1909
cotton embroidered with metallic thread
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Manish Malhotra
Evening Gown
2016
pieced cottons and silks
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Emilio Schuberth
Cocktail Dress
ca. 1961
silk faille
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Kansai Yamamoto
Ensemble
(dress and jacket)
1973
wool with punch-needle embroidery
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Iris van Herpen
"Frozen Falls" Evening Gown
2019
silk organza, silk tulle, cotton, polyester
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Norman Norell
Afternoon Ensemble
1968
silk taffeta (dress) and wool twill (jacket)
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Ralph Rucci
Evening Ensemble
2005
beaded and embroidered silk (blouse)
silk satin (skirt)
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Miss Foley
Evening Gown
ca. 1890
silk satin, silk brocade, cotton net
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona

Madame Judith
Opera Coat
ca. 1895
cut silk velvet and ostrich feathers
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona

Carolina Herrera
Wedding Gown
2012
silk satin
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Parable of the Trellis

A clematis grew at the foot of a great trellis.

Despite being

modeled on a tree, the trellis

was a human invention; every year, in May,

the green wires of the struggling vine

climbed the straightforward

trellis, and after many years 

white flowers burst from the brittle wood, like

a star shower from the heart of the garden.

Enough of that ruse. We both know

how the vine grows without

the trellis, how it sneaks

along the ground; we have both seen it

flower there, the white blossoms

like headlights growing out of a snake.

This isn't what the vine wants.

Remember, to the vine, the trellis

was never an image of confinement:

this is not

diminishment or tragedy.

The vine has a dream of light:

what is life in the dirt

with its dark freedoms

compared to supported ascent?

And for a time, 

every summer we could see the vine

relive this decision, thus 

obscuring the wood, structure

beautiful in itself, like 

a harbor or willow tree.

– Louise Glück (1996)

Thin Lines

Norman Hartnell
Court Presentation Dress and Jacket
1939
bias-cut silk-satin with embroidery 
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Madame Grès
Evening Gown
1945
silk jersey
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Adrian
(Adrian Adolph Greenburg)
Evening Gown
1945
printed rayon crepe
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona

Emilio Pucci
Ensemble
1965
printed cashmere-nylon knit (dress)
printed nylon knit (tights)
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Gérard Pipart for Nina Ricci
Dress
1968
printed silk, silk-chiffon, ostrich feathers
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Manuel Pertegaz
Evening Gown
ca. 1968-69
screenprinted silk jersey
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

Emilio Pucci
Dress
ca. 1970
printed silk knit
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Gaston Berthelot for House of Chanel
Suit
1972
wool will
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Patrick-Kelly
Dress
1985
wool knit
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Patrick-Kelly
Dress
1986
wool-spandex knit, plastic buttons
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Jean-Paul Gaultier
Bodysuit
1988
cotton knit
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Calvin Klein
Pantsuit
1988
wool crepe
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Calvin Klein
Dress
1992
cotton knit
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Issey Miyake
Dress
1994
polyester taffeta
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Giambattista Valli for Emanuel Ungaro
Pantsuit
2004
wool blend (jacket), printed silk chiffon (blouse)
printed silk twill (trousers)
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Yohji Yamamoto
 Dress
2007
printed silk crepe
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Parable of the Hostages

The Greeks are sitting on the beach

wondering what to do when the war ends. No one

wants to go home, back

to that bony island; everyone wants a little more

of what there is in Troy, more

life on the edge, that sense of every day as being

packed with surprises. But how to explain this

to the ones at home to whom

fighting a war is a plausible

excuse for absence, whereas

exploring one's capacity for diversion

is not. Well, this can be faced

later; these

are men of action, ready to leave 

insight to the women and children.

Thinking things over in the hot sun, pleased

by a new strength in their forearms, which seem

more golden than they did at home, some

begin to miss their families a little,

to miss their wives, to want to see

if the war has aged them. And a few grow 

slightly uneasy: what if war

is just a male version of dressing up,

a game devised to avoid

profound spiritual questions? Ah,

but it wasn't only the war. The world had begun

calling them, an opera beginning with the war's

loud chords and ending with the floating aria of the sirens.

There on the beach, discussing the various

timetables for getting home, no one believed

it could take ten years to get back to Ithaca;

no one foresaw that decade of insoluble dilemmas – oh unanswerable

affliction of the human heart: how to divide

the world's beauty into acceptable

and unacceptable loves! On the shores of Troy,

how could the Greeks know

they were hostage already: who once

delays the journey is

already enthralled; how could they know

that of their small number

some would be held forever by the dreams of pleasure,

some by sleep, some by music?

– Louise Glück (1996)

Passing Silhouettes

Anonymous English Makers
Dress
ca. 1760
printed taffeta of Spitalfields silk
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona

Anonymous English Makers
Robe à l'anglaise
(with fichu and apron in cotton gauze)
ca. 1780
cotton chintz imported from India
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

Anonymous American Makers
Hoop
"Bradley's Patent Duplex Elliptic Spring Skirt"
ca. 1867-68
steel and cotton
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Anonymous English Makers
Dolman Jacket
ca. 1887
embroidered and beaded silk faille
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

Anonymous Burmese Makers
Court Costume
ca. 1890-1915
cotton embroidered with sequins and glass
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

Marie-Louise Bruyère (Paris)
Evening Gown
1947
silk
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Antonio del Castillo for House of Lanvin
Hat
ca. 1960
wool felt and silk faille
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Norman Norell
Evening Gown
1971
silk-satin, silk-chiffon, plastic sequins, fox fur
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Kansai Yamamoto
Ensemble
(cape, blouse, culottes)
1971
synthetic satin and wool-knit
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Laura Ashley
Dress
1974
cotton
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Roberto Capucci
"Fumo" Evening Gown
1985
slubbed silk
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Christian Lacroix
Dress
1988
silk and cotton
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Jacqueline de Ribes
Evening Gown
1990
silk satin
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Jean-Paul Gaultier
Kilt Trousers
1993
wool tartans
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Comme des Garçons (Japan)
Dress
1996
cotton and polyester
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Iris van Herpen
"Alchemy of Light" Dress
2016
silk tulle, thermoplastic polymer, transparent liquid polyurethane
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

Telemachus' Detachment

When I was a child looking
at my parents' lives, you know
what I thought? I thought
heartbreaking. Now I think
heartbreaking, but also

insane. Also

very funny.

– Louise Glück (1996)