Dinner dress
Mainbocher · ca. 1948
Mainbocher
- Haute couture
- Silk eveningwear
Mainbocher developed a couture practice in Paris before moving his business to New York during the Second World War. The Met describes clothes made with close attention to occasion and client.
Five looks to know
Collection selection
Dinner dress
ca. 1948
Mainbocher's yellow silk dinner dress uses short sleeves and a defined waist above a long, relatively narrow skirt. The museum dates the garment to about 1948. Studied beside his green dress from the same year, it shows how color and skirt fullness could vary within the designer's approach to dressed-up elegance.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Collection selection
Evening dress
1950
Mainbocher made this evening dress from Indian sari silks for Millicent Rogers. The Met connects his frequent use of these textiles with Rogers's interest in garments and materials from outside the Western fashion system. The photograph shows a fitted, strapless bodice above a full skirt, with patterned borders providing much of the decoration.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Collection selection
Ensemble
ca. 1935 · V&A collection
Printed silk crêpe de Chine.
©Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Mainbocher
Collection selection
Evening dress
1938 · V&A collection
Silk tulle, sequin embroidery.
© Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Collection selection
Evening dress
1936 · V&A collection
Net, embroidered with sequins.
© Victoria and Albert Museum, LondonArchive pieces, grouped by date
3 piecesca. 1948
1 piece · Season not recorded
1948
1 piece · Season not recorded
Dress
Mainbocher · 1948
1950
1 piece · Season not recorded
Evening dress
Mainbocher · 1950
About Mainbocher
Alongside innovative uses of everyday fabrics, he became known for evening designs in Indian sari silks, including garments created for the collector and patron Millicent Rogers.