1948
CHRISTIAN DIOR
“Diamant Noir” Evening Dress
Autumn/winter 1948–49 haute couture
Christian Dior, French, 1905–1957
Black wool broadcloth and black silk taffeta
Gift of Mrs. Phyllis Lambert, 1954 (C.I.54.6.4a–c)
1977
NORMA KAMALI
Dress
Autumn/winter 1977–78
Norma Kamali, American, born 1945
Black silk-synthetic jersey, black nylon rip-stop, and black synthetic cord
Gift of Anne Byrne, 1980 (1980.336.3)
Christian Dior’s “Diamant Noir” (Black Diamond) dress has a wool understructure fitted to the bodice and flared from waist to hem, overlaid with elaborately gathered taffeta. Harper’s Bazaar praised the fabric for its “airy parachute texture [that] blows easily into the proper drapings and flouncings and puffings.” Symbolic of the postwar context in which Dior’s fantastical luxury creations thrived, the parachute reference also resonated with the couturier himself, who recalled that “the silhouette had achieved its peak youth and flightiness.” Part of his “Ligne Ailée” (Winged Line) collection, which featured draping as well as sleek, “winged” pleats, collars, and cuffs, the design cites a wartime past while symbolically advancing a promising future.
Norma Kamali’s designs from the 1970s were characterized by their innovative and unorthodox materials, including sweatshirt fabric and sleeping-bag quilting. This dress of parachute cloth is a late twentieth-century adaptation of Dior’s “Diamant Noir.” In a witty gesture typical of her work, Kamali marries form and materiality by using internal parachute cords to pull the skirt up into a rounded puff.
Norma Kamali’s designs from the 1970s were characterized by their innovative and unorthodox materials, including sweatshirt fabric and sleeping-bag quilting. This dress of parachute cloth is a late twentieth-century adaptation of Dior’s “Diamant Noir.” In a witty gesture typical of her work, Kamali marries form and materiality by using internal parachute cords to pull the skirt up into a rounded puff.