Madame Grès (French, 1903–1993). Dress, 1971. White hand-pleated silk jersey. Gift of Thomas L. Kempner, 2006 (2006.420.6).
Alix Grès was a designer of diverse tastes, but one whose work always reflected her fascination with the complexities of a garment’s cut and structure. She was most widely known for her finely pleated silk jersey dresses such as this particularly representative example. Grès began the draping of such gowns with a boned underbodice, very much like a supple corset. She manipulated and loosely tacked the tightly arranged pleats to this base by hand. Generally, the jersey was worked in parallel vertical panels running from the shoulders to the hem of the gown. In this design, the horizontal pleating at the bodice is composed of separate inserts, but the “braided” bands that extend to form shoulder straps are continuous with the skirt.
April 1, 2008 at 12:13 pm
This dress is very aestheticly pleasing for me. The shape and form of this dress are beautiful. I like how it doesn’t exactly hug the body, it is loose near the body and is tight where it needs to be. The lines are very visual the pleated effect really makes the dress stand out. The color of this dress is wonderful, I feel if it were any different color the dress wouldn’t have th same appeal. The texture seems really nice as well. The silk jersey is a nice fabric that is flowy and comfortable.
April 1, 2008 at 2:05 pm
This dress is by far my favorite. It is absolutly gorgeous and stunning.
April 1, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I do adore this dress
April 2, 2008 at 10:23 am
this is beautiful
its my prom dress
April 2, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I love this!
April 2, 2008 at 7:59 pm
It reminds me of a Grecian gown,very flowing,simple & elegant..
April 3, 2008 at 9:16 am
This is just so pretty. One can tell Gres had excellent taste for fashion. I want to see more of his work and I want to take home some of his work and put the art into my walk-in closet. Dead center. He crafted this piece and made it simple and yet so sweet. I love this. When I look at the picture it’s as though as if I could reach out and touch the silk!
I think this is a mix of Russian and Grecian. It looks like Audery Hepburn could of have worn on Sabrina and looks like Marliyn Manroe would have had each person in the room looking at her. This dress is love by all.
April 4, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I think the display was really good and interesting to look at. Reading about the different things was also fun. It is really fun and worth looking at.
April 4, 2008 at 7:30 pm
I’m fascinated that these articulate Grecian folds got their start on a boned underbodice–does that stay as part of the structure of the dress, or is it only a temporary prop? It’s hard to put together flowing goddess-like draperies with a corset, although I’m sure there’s mythological precedent.
April 5, 2008 at 12:41 pm
i really love the grecian inspired feel of this dress. very classy and goddess-like
April 5, 2008 at 2:55 pm
i think that the dress ais very fashionable like the ones in old fashion movies.
April 5, 2008 at 3:15 pm
This dress is so pretty. I wish that everyone could dress like that everyday. Sometimes i wish that i could go back in time to wear this.
April 5, 2008 at 6:11 pm
I think the entire exhibit is fascinating, but especially the elaborate dresses from the time of Marie Antoinnette. They were obviously excessively expensive. The cost of one of them was probably enough to fund the Revolution!
April 5, 2008 at 7:34 pm
ohemgeez i totez luv diz. it was thuper ky00t. Yo Julia ur mah gur now cuz u no how i feel babiiboo.
id wear diz wit ky00t bag and glued heerrr/
lotz of luv. <333
April 6, 2008 at 1:21 pm
this dress okay i didn’t think it was my favorite
April 6, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Tout le charme et savoir faire Francais reuni dans cette robe si pure et elegante.
April 9, 2008 at 11:57 am
This dress is reminiscent of Venus, the goddess of beauty and translates wonderfully into the modern fashion world
April 10, 2008 at 6:34 pm
I hate to see this exhibition come to an end. It was directly downstairs from the Ancient Egyptian galleries and if you look at Egyptian dress and style, you can see its influence reaching through 3000 years to a dress like this. I thought there were many outfits that reflected Egyptian influence, including “Tucked in Red” and “Pretty in Pink” with all its draping. I liked the introduction to this exhibit — that fashion is an immediate expression of our zeitgeist (good vocab word — “spirit of the time”) and is completely integrated with our lives. It speaks of dreams, desires, memories and experiences. I wonder what ancient Egyptian fashion says for the ancient Egyptians sleeping in the galleries upstairs? They were an incredibly stylish people. What were their dreams?
April 12, 2008 at 10:25 am
iT IS SO PRETTY
April 12, 2008 at 10:29 am
I think this dress is very elegant. The flairs really make it stand out then all the other dresses. If I could choose a prom dress mine would be this elegant one.
April 12, 2008 at 10:30 am
This is what I call elegant!!
April 12, 2008 at 2:32 pm
gorgeous…great way to start in exhibit…reminds me of that pleating/draping guy on project runway;)…but way better!
April 12, 2008 at 2:48 pm
totally rad,fer sure
(:
April 12, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Winged Victory