Evening dress

This long, sleeveless evening dress is made of saxe-blue silk, completely covered with small matching sequins. It has a wide V-neck in the front, which dips to the waist at the back. A large bow of matching material is applied to the front bust, and another below the waist at the back. The skirt is gored to flare from the knees in front and from the waist at the back. During the first half of the 1930s, evening dresses were designed to wrap women in luxurious, body-hugging sheaths, replacing the short, flat square gowns of the 1920s. Evening gowns were mostly sleeveless, often displaying a bare back or a low neckline and inevitably touching the floor. White or pastel colours, fashionable in

Evening dress · Paris · ca. 1932. Silk tulle, sequins, machine-sewn and hand-sewn, embroidered. By Chanel. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.