Diorama, cocktail dress
1959 {Longue collection, spring-summer 1959}
Medium
silk (faille, tulle), metal (fastenings)
Measurements
(a) 99.0 cm (centre back) 32.0 cm (waist, flat)
(b) 9.0 × 86.5 cm (belt)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM and Family through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gift Program, 2023
Gallery location
Level 3, NGV International
About this work
Yves Saint Laurent’s Longue line examined the natural silhouette. Committed to designing for a younger clientele, the designer described the collection as ‘deliberately young, cheerful, typically 1959’. Building on Saint Laurent’s simplified triangular silhouettes, the collection was intended to appear simple at first glance, its details and complex construction revealing themselves only upon closer inspection. This emerald-green cocktail dress features faux selvedge (self-finished) trims that imply the dress is simply a single piece of fabric wrapping around the body.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Paris, France
Inscription
(a) label, centre front neckline, woven in black on white silk: PRINTEMPS-ETE 1359 / Christian Dior / PARIS (stamped in ink) 98005
label, centre front neckline, woven in red on white silk: MADE IN FRANCE
Accession Number
2023.181.a-b
Department
International Fashion and Textiles