Evening dress

A one-of-a-kind piece from a master of fabric manipulation; garments with the "Alix" label are fairly rare. The designer worked under that label in the early 1930s, before taking on the name "Alix Grès." The stiff glazed cotton is idiosyncratic for Gres--silk jersey was her signature fabric--but the bodice treatment foreshadows her work with draping and gathering. The inventive, but labor-intensive, construction of the skirt also presages her later work in its predilection for perfectionism and eye for detail.