COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
MMA_.CI60.21.1ab
AMICA Library Year:
2000
Object Type:
Costume and Jewelry
Creator Name:
Dior, Christian
Creator Nationality:
European; French
Creator Role:
Designer
Creator Dates/Places:
French, 1905-1957
Creator Name-CRT:
Designed by Christian Dior
Title:
Ball gown
Title Type:
Object name
Title:
'Mai'
View:
Full View
Creation Date:
Spring/Summer 1953
Creation Start Date:
1953
Creation End Date:
1953
Materials and Techniques:
silk, horsehair
Classification Term:
Main dress-Womenswear
Dimensions:
Bodice: L. at center back 5.75 in. (14.5 cm); Skirt: L. at center back 45.5 in. (115.5 cm)
AMICA Contributor:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Owner Location:
New York, New York, USA
ID Number:
CI 60.21.1ab
Credit Line:
Gift of Mrs. David Kluger
Context:
Dior reveled in the paradox of the natural and the sophisticated. The most telling example is his frequent self-presentation, not as a man who symbolized the authority of French taste, but rather as a simple gardener, farmer, and mill owner.
In 'May,' flowering grasses and wild clover are rendered in silk floss on organza. This 'simple' patterning of meadow-gone-to-weed is composed of the tiniest French knots and the meticulously measured stitches of the hand embroiderer, suggesting that for Dior, it was not only that beauty resides in the most rustic, but also that the most successful artifice is a beguiling naivété.
Related Image Identifier Link:
MMA_.ci.60.21.1ab.R.tif
