Beaded Bow Dress
Brief Item Record
Title: Beaded Bow Dress
Date: 1920-1929
Description: Black chiffon dress with beaded bow at dropped waist. Sheer black silk crepe chiffon, round white glass beads, mother of pearl, silver bugle beads, metal snaps, black grosgrain ribbon inner waistband with metal hooks and eyes.
Full Item Record
Dublin Core
Identifier
VC1992015
Title
Beaded Bow Dress
Description
Black chiffon dress with beaded bow at dropped waist. Sheer black silk crepe chiffon, round white glass beads, mother of pearl, silver bugle beads, metal snaps, black grosgrain ribbon inner waistband with metal hooks and eyes.
Date
1920-1929
Subject
Clothing and dress
Extent
32 inches (chest), 38 inches (waist), 48.5 inches (center front length), 50 inches (center back length), 98 inches (hem circumference), 10.5 inches (underarm to waist).
Type
Physical Object
Temporal Coverage
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/
Rights Holder
© Vassar College Costume Collection. Images in this collection may be used for teaching, classroom presentation, and research purposes only. For other reuse, reproduction and publication of these images, contact costumeshop@vassar.edu.
Costume Item Type Metadata
Color Main
Chest
32
Waist
38
Center Front Length
48.5
Center Back Length
50
Hem Circumference
98
Underarm to Waist
10.5
All Measurements
32 inches (chest), 38 inches (waist), 48.5 inches (center front length), 50 inches (center back length), 98 inches (hem circumference), 10.5 inches (underarm to waist).
References
malonoff, p. 79-80moore, p. 175
Date Earliest
1920
Date Latest
1929
Gender
Classification
costume
clothing
Category
Function
Exhibitions
Vassar Girls and Other Women
Public Information
By the time we arrive at this black silk crepe chiffon dress with a trompe 1'oeil beaded bow along the dropped waist, straight lines have almost completely replaced the curves of the nineteenth century. With the drama of the strengthening of line comes a certain drama of color:'Art Nouveau and abstract art, aided by photography, were able to create a new set of visual possibilities for black clothing in the twentieth century that could take new account of its purely visual appeal. At that time, about the end of the First World War, conventional sober black for feminine costume [popularized by the wearing of mourning by Queen Victoria for at least twenty years after the death of Prince Albert] had largely given way to pale colors, as feminine freedom of self expression advanced and became a commonplace, along with feminine employment. Black could again rely more on its visual impact than on its symbolic social impact, (Anne Hollander, Seeing Through Clothes New York: Penguin Books, 1975. p. 381-2).Here we find a dress whose focus on the design elements of line and color powerfully emphasizes the motion of the body wearing it.
Condition Term
very good
Condition Description
Beading missing on right shoulder strap; some beading missing on trim of left should strap.
Mannequin
size 10 1972
Storage Location
C4
Holding Institution
Exhibition Notes
19black crepe chiffon evening dress with beaded bow, 1920's1992.15By the time we arrive at this black silk crepe chiffon dress with a trompe 1'oeil beaded bow along the dropped waist, straight lines have almost completely replaced the curves of the nineteenth century. With the drama of the strengthening of line comes a certain drama of color:'Art Nouveau and abstract art, aided by photography, were able to create a new set of visual possibilities for black clothing in the twentieth century that could take new account of its purely visual appeal. At that time, about the end of the First World War, conventional sober black for feminine costume [popularized by the wearing of mourning by Queen Victoria for at least twenty years after the death of Prince Albert] had largely given way to pale colors, as feminine freedom of self expression advanced and became a commonplace, along with feminine employment. Black could again rely more on its visual impact than on its symbolic social impact, (Anne Hollander, Seeing Through Clothes New York: Penguin Books, 1975. p. 381-2).Here we find a dress whose focus on the design elements of line and color powerfully emphasizes the motion of the body wearing it.
Work Type
Citation
“Beaded Bow Dress,” Vassar College Costume Collection, accessed September 26, 2023, https://vccc.vassarspaces.net/items/show/687.