Women’s Dress for a Masked Ball

The design of this dress is accredited to Josef Hoffmann, co-founder of the Wiener Werkstätte. It was produced by the dressmakers of the Wiener Werkstätte. Hoffmann was an architect but was also interested in fashion, also reform dresses. He designed this dress for Johanna Wittgenstein. The Wittgenstein family was one of the most important patrons of the arts in Vienna around 1900. It was most likely made for a onetime event, a masked ball. Accordingly, the condition of the object is very fragile. Nonetheless, it is one of the most important works of Viennese Art Nouveau in its field.