1945
MADAME GRÈS
Evening Dress
1945
Madame Grès (Alix Barton), French, 1903–1993
Black silk jersey
Gift of Mrs. Lillian T. Farley, 1967 (C.I.67.52.1)
2005
YOHJI YAMAMOTO
Ensemble
Spring/summer 2005
Yohji Yamamoto, Japanese, born 1943
Dress and trousers of black
rayon crepe and plain weave
Courtesy Yohji Yamamoto
In 1945 Harper’s Bazaar columnist Diana Vreeland asked a colleague in Paris to send her an artificial rose as evidence that the haute couture workshops had survived World War II. Like the rose, this gown—commissioned during the owner’s first visit to Paris after the war—attested to the refined skills of the couture, and specifically the technical virtuosity of Madame Grès. The dress is constructed of panels of hand-pleated silk jersey draped around the neck and the sleeves and fitted to the bodice. The pleated fabric, worked in a diagonal pattern at the front, is secured with stitches at the waistline and released into loose folds at the skirt.
Madame Grès’s dresses inspired Yohji Yamamoto’s spring/summer 2005 collection, which featured pleated fabrics worked into imaginative new shapes. This ensemble’s triangular neckline and radiating bodice pleats recall Gres’s gown from 1945. However, Yamamoto deconstructs the original design by removing the skirt panel at the back and tacking the front panel to the hipline of a pair of trousers, creating an apron-like effect.
Madame Grès’s dresses inspired Yohji Yamamoto’s spring/summer 2005 collection, which featured pleated fabrics worked into imaginative new shapes. This ensemble’s triangular neckline and radiating bodice pleats recall Gres’s gown from 1945. However, Yamamoto deconstructs the original design by removing the skirt panel at the back and tacking the front panel to the hipline of a pair of trousers, creating an apron-like effect.