Out On Display #8: a subversive love-letter


Furniture, Textiles & Fashion
October 20, 2014

 

CIS:T.274-1974

 

 

 

 

 

Evening dress 

Charles James

France (Paris), printed silk, 1938

T.274-1974

On display in room 40

 

 

At first glance, the playful print on this vivid evening gown is merely a collection of disembodied faces, tumbling over the fabric in the Surrealist style so popular in 1930s couture. In fact, the faces are portraits: of the French writer and artist Jean Cocteau, and his lover and muse Jean Marais.

 

2006BK4723
Detail of the fabric

The fabric was designed by Cocteau himself; a multi-talented man whose activities spanned the theatre, film, poetry and the visual arts. Marais starred in many of Cocteau’s films including La Belle et La Bêteand they remained close friends until Cocteau’s death in 1963. Charles James, the gown’s Anglo-American designer, used this fabric to create a subversive and witty love letter to his friends.

 

Cocteau, Marais and James all moved in the same cosmopolitan, tolerant and sexually liberated artistic circles of period – as did the photographer and costume designer Cecil Beaton, who donated this gown to the V&A.

About the author


Furniture, Textiles & Fashion
October 20, 2014

I am an Assistant Curator working on the development of the new Europe 1600-1800 Galleries. My interests are wide-ranging but subjects I have particularly enjoyed exploring for this project include:...

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