Evening dress

This evening dress demonstrates the fashion for exotic shapes and for bright colours on black backgrounds - trends that were established by Paul Poiret's brilliantly coloured clothes and the vivid designs for the Ballets Russes (the Russian ballet company founded in 1909 by Serge Diaghilev) by the painter and stage designer Leon Bakst (1866-1924). The garment is reminiscent of fashion illustrations by artists such as Georges Lepape and Charles Martin for the Gazette du Bon Ton.