Artwork Details
A) jacket: center back 23 in., center front 19-1/2 in., bust 29 in., waist 26 in., hips 36 in., sleeve 23-1/2 in., shoulders 16 in. B) skirt: center back 28-1/2 in., center front 28-1/2 in., waist 26 in., hips 36 in.
Mark DescriptionA) jacket: Label, sewn: MAINBOCHER / INC.
Accession NumberGift of Eleanore R. Carruth from the collection of the late Ruth Kresge Nugent-Head
CopyrightCollection of Ruth Kresge Nugent-Head; Eleanore R. Carruth, Indianapolis, Indiana; given to the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1989.
Mainbocher was the first American designer to break into the Paris fashion world. In 1930 he opened his own shop in Paris and catered to an American upperclass clientele who lived in or traveled to Europe. One of his more famous clients was Mrs. Wallis Simpson, for whom he designed a wedding gown and trousseau when she married the former King of England in 1937.
About 1940, before the outbreak of the war, Mainbocher moved to New York, where he established his couture house and ran a successful business until his retirement in 1971. He was the most expensive American couturier, and his elegant clothes were considered classics.
Mainbocher is credited with several important innovations, among them the first strapless evening dress, which he introduced in 1934. He is also famous for elegant and simple suits, an example of which is in the exhibition. The suit features a knee-length skirt with a sculpted, double-breasted short jacket in soft, lightweight wool. The suit, with its padded shoulders and its constructed look, has the characteristic silhouette of the 1940s.
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