Terms and Conditions
The artist, title and date of the work must be listed anywhere the image is reproduced:
Paul Poiret, Paris (couture house)
Paul Poiret (designer)
Afternoon dress 1922
silk (velvet, chiffon, lining), glass (beads), metallic thread, metal (sequins and fastenings)
111.0 cm (centre back) 42.0 cm (waist, flat)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM and Family through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gift Program, 2025
Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Where possible, the image must be reproduced in full (no cropping or over-printing). If you wish to use a detail of the work, a full reproduction of the work must also be reproduced elsewhere in the publication.
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Afternoon dress
1922
Medium
silk (velvet, chiffon, lining), glass (beads), metallic thread, metal (sequins and fastenings)
Measurements
111.0 cm (centre back) 42.0 cm (waist, flat)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM and Family through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gift Program, 2025
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work
Designer Paul Poiret led the fashion world in the first decade of the twentieth century. Working first as a private dressmaker, then for Jacques Doucet from 1898 and the House of Worth in 1901–3, Poiret opened his own maison de couture in 1905. He became known for his loosely draped and uncorseted dresses as well as his Orientalist designs. The loose chemise style of this dress sees Poiret echoing richly embroidered Byzantine garments with a fine network of gold thread over velvet.