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Dress and overskirt ensemble. The pale-green gros de Naples dress is complemented with a draped, machine-made tulle transparency and decorated with polka dots. The bodice is fitted, strapless, reinforced with boning and padding at the chest. In the same tulle as the transparency, a piece sewn at the front of the neckline can be used as a stole. Decorated with black silk satin bows at the base of the skirt and at the front of the neckline. The pale green gros de Naples overskirt can be worn in two ways, either at the waist as an overskirt, or fitting it to the neck, like a puffed cape.

The dress, made in the workshops of Paris and presented in the 1956 winter collection, has all the characteristics of the typical 1950s silhouette: a corset to mould the waist, deep neckline and full skirt. Without a doubt, the novelty of this garment lies in the multipurpose outer piece. Whether worn as a cape or an overskirt, it gives the dress a regal presence.

Details

  • Title: Dress
  • Creator: Cristóbal Balenciaga
  • Creator Birth Date: 1895
  • Creator Death Date: 1972
  • Fashion House: Balenciaga
  • Date Created: 1956
  • Location Created: San Sebastián, Spain
  • Provenance: Worn by Mrs Bouilloux-Laffont.
  • Type: Dress
  • Photographer: Manuel Outumuro
  • Original Source: CBM 2000.89 ab
  • Rights: Cristóbal Balenciaga Museoa
  • Medium: Green gros de Naples with transparent machine-made tulle
  • Bibliographic references: Catalogue of the exhibition Balenciaga Paris. Paris: Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 2006.

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