Evening ensemble
Unknown Artist
1890–95
Medium
silk
Classification
Evening ensemble
Culture
American
Department
Costume Institute
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mrs. William E. S. Griswold, 1941
Accession Number
2009.300.1113a–c
Art Historical Context
This elegant evening ensemble, from luxurious silk between 0 and 189, captures the refined tastes American high society during Gilded Age. As part of the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute collection, it reflects an era when formal attire emphasized grace and sophistication for evening social gatherings. The choice of silk—a fabric prized for its shimmering texture and drape—allowed designers to create flowing silhouettes that moved gracefully under gaslight or early electric illumination, highlighting the wearer’s status and the garment’s technical artistry. Though created by an unknown...