Dress #113: Charles James dinner dress in golden brown Rhinoceros or the exaggerated curves and

or the exaggerated curves and nipped in waist of the Victorian era

The piece is based on an America dress from ca

and John Lillie

The original is made from laurel green moiré silk

Dress #113: Charles James dinner dress in golden brown Rhinoceros or the exaggerated curves andThis hand stitched paper dress is based on the dinner dress created by Charles James in 1952; the original is held by Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession 2009. 300. 213a, b). Charles James uses spiral draping to wrap a metacircle around a narrow underskirt. The form is maintained using the natural stiffness of the brown taffeta. Charles James is considered by the Met to be the only American to work in the true couture tradition. His dresses were