APPLIED ART : COSTUME

Object Name: 3-piece Evening Gown
Maker: [Beer] (Primary maker)
[Beer] ([maker / retailer])
Date Made: 1920's (mid)
1920's (mid)
Description: design : Three piece evening dress worn one piece over the other. Underdress of mid blue crepe - bodice section has been cut off. Hem is trimmed with an applied band of blue net covered with overlapping rows of silver grey mat sequins. Middledress is sleeveless, with low round neck, slightly lower at front, of blue net covered with sequins as above. The lower edge is fringed as above and as above an unsequinned section of width of one sequin row runs from top of fringe vertically upward. The bottom 21 cm are of shiny slightly more blue sequins. Topdress is sleeveless, with very low V neckline at front and even lower V neck at back, which drapes slightly in wear. As all three sections are, it is unshaped and the low waist is demarcated only by sequins applied horizontally in band 4.5 cm broad, instead of vertically. In the mid twenties, dresses had simplified and shortened into fashions which best suited the young and slim. The three layers of this dress - slip with visible hem, short dress and overtunic are each covered with sequins of slightly different shape and sheen. Their full effect would have been best seen in the frantic fashionable dances of the time such as the Charleston. Beer was the first couturier to open on the Place Vendome in Paris, in 1905, and although now forgotten, his name was very well known in the early twentieth century, especially to foreign visitors to Paris. From exhibition label, 'Reflections: Costume 1730-2013' Label text: This dress is made up of three separate layers, all decorated with alternative matte and shiny blue sequins. With the introduction of radio broadcasts in 1922, jazz music became popular and the 'Roaring Twenties' were born. Fashionable dresses became shorter to allow women to kick up their heels while dancing the Charleston and other new dance crazes. The sequinned layers of this dress would have reflected light beautifully while the wearer was moving. Exhibition text early 2000s: Sequinned evening dress, c.1925 The fashion house of Beer By the mid 1920S, dress has simplified and shortedn into fashions which best suited the young and the slim. The three layers of this dress - slip with visible hem, short dress and overtunic are each covered with sequins of slightly different shape and sheen. Their full effect would have been best seen in the movements of the frantic fashionable dances of the time, such as the Charleston. Beer was the first couturier to open on the Place Vendome in Paris in 1905, and although now forgotten, his name was very well known in the early 20th century, especially to foreign visitors to Paris.
Materials: net
sequins
crepe
Catalogue Number: BELUM.T2750
Copyright: National Museums NI

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