#evening wrap

[alwaysalwaysalwaysthesea]

Evening wrap, Balenciaga, 1949-51.

(source: Metropolitan Museum of Art)

[professorpski]

A gallant little cape of crimson velvet will make the simplest dress a thing of glamour. Use it to make a dinner dress of an evening gown or wear it as a wrap."

The cape featured in this 1934 article closes on one side with buttons down one shoulder to about several inches above the elbow then it is slit the front separated form the back. It has an envelope neckline and a slight flare to the two pieces that make up the longer back and the shorter front. The front hemline ends a few inches below the elbow while the back goes past the hips, allowing the satin lining to show. Which gives you an opportunity to enjoy your choice of liming.

It’s an interesting cape, has to possible uses. It can cover an uninteresting dress and in crimson velvet, it catches everyone’s eye. But it has another use when it covers the bare neckline and shoulders of an evening dress; it makes it into a dinner dress. I have always wondered if making dinner dresses less dramatic and less bare was meant to encourage conversation around the table. Maybe seduction wasn’t supposed to happen until later in the evening, which may underestimate the seductive appeal of a clever mind.

This was written up in an article on several evening gowns called “In Waltz Time,” Delineator, December 1934.

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

Evening wrap, 1914.

[fashionsfromhistory]

Evening Wrap

Callot Soeurs

1910

Goldstein Museum of Design

[professorpski]

The Genius of Christian Dior: Golden Evening Dress from 1953

I recently gave a talk on how France exported fashion to the United States an the amazing success of Maison Dior in both exporting and licensing. We forget how short a time Dior was there to run his house. He opened it in 1946 and died in 1957, but in that short time, he made an impression that was indelible. This evening dress and stole in ribbed silk moiré is part of the collection at the Chicago History Museum. It is strapless so the fitted fitted bodice has boning to keep it up. What is amazing is the stole which has a buttonhold over the left breast then a short sleeve on the right side and then wraps around the back of the shoulders, over the left shoulder to fall down in front and there is a hidden hook and eye to attach the stole to the bodice above the left breast. I have never seen such a stole before and it surely pleased the woman who didn’t like to play with her stole except to take it off. The skirt is long and pleated, and you can see from the last image that tiers underneath make it for the fullness you see at the hip line of the skirt. It must have made for a grand entrance

You can see this and other costumes at the Chicago History Museum website where they are putting their collection online:    http://digitalcollection.chicagohistory.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16029coll3/id/576/rec/22

[fashionsfromhistory]

Up Close: Callot Soeurs Evening Wrap, 1910 (Goldstein Museum of Design)

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

Evening wrap by Liberty & Co., 1923, England.

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

Evening wrap by House of Worth, 1925.