1912
CH. DRECOLL
Dinner Dress
Ca. 1912
Ch. Drecoll, German, 1912–37
Christoph Drecoll, German, 1851–1939
Black silk charmeuse trimmed with brown squirrel fur and clear crystals, and ivory silk tulle appliquéd with polychrome
printed silk chiffon flowers and overlaid with black cotton lace embroidered with clear crystals
Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mrs. Francis Lenygon, 1975 (2009.300.2611)
2007
RICK OWENS
Ensemble
Autumn/winter 2007–8
Rick Owens, American, born 1961
Coat of black faux leather and white wool shearling;
dress of black synthetic knit
Courtesy Rick Owens
Referred to in the 1912 fashion press as a “pannier dress,” this silhouette is an amalgam of two prevailing eighteenth-century styles: the robe à la française, which was supported by a rigid understructure called a pannier in French, and the polonaise, which featured fabric manipulated into soft puffs to create volume at the back and hips. In this dress, the designer has shaped the upper skirt with hip-enhancing folds of black silk charmeuse, integrating historical allusion with the contemporary preference for a high, narrow waistline.
Rick Owens took inspiration from drawings by SEM (the pseudonym of belle epoque caricaturist Georges Goursat) of similar fashions with exaggerated hip fullness and narrow hems. Owens translated these assertive shapes into simplified volumes, as in this ensemble, which features a slim dress softly gathered at the hips as well as a tailored, high-waisted jacket with side panels that form abstracted panniers. SEM’s depictions liken women in these styles to insects. Owens references this commentary in the jacket’s sweeping collar, which merges with the back of the garment to form a subtle cocoon-like shape.
Rick Owens took inspiration from drawings by SEM (the pseudonym of belle epoque caricaturist Georges Goursat) of similar fashions with exaggerated hip fullness and narrow hems. Owens translated these assertive shapes into simplified volumes, as in this ensemble, which features a slim dress softly gathered at the hips as well as a tailored, high-waisted jacket with side panels that form abstracted panniers. SEM’s depictions liken women in these styles to insects. Owens references this commentary in the jacket’s sweeping collar, which merges with the back of the garment to form a subtle cocoon-like shape.