Beautifully tailored Asian inspired 1960's Mid Century Modern mock neck Shantung Silk dress in electric lime with appliquéd MCM salvaged black velvet painting medallion adorned in an outline of sequins and feathers.
Painting features Asian waterside landscape in electric lime, orange & yellow with other colors that pop against black. Black velvet is underlined with airy feathers and over-lined with shimmering black sequins iridized in dark purples and blues like light on night water.
A.E. 1960's. Size 16.5C 17W 18H
Maker unknown- custom tailored or handmade by original wearer. Beautiful original construction.
Size
16.5" C x 17" W x 18"H
One-of-a-kind Betty DoWright revival!
This dress had strangely proportioned elements, very very tiny wrist openings (less than 3 inches/child like) combined with a large chest (woman size), making it very specifically sized and difficult to find a fitting new wearer. In order for it to be more wearable I removed the sleeves & fused the asian inspired style dress with the asian inspired damaged painting from the same era to keep the fusion akin and 1960's centered. The black velvet painting of an Asian night waterscape uses electric lime green, orange, yellows and others that pop against that black velvet backdrop. Black feathers line the bottom to echo the concept of floating on water, giving it an airiness while the above lining echos shimmering light on night water, a recapturing of the painting itself and the dress together shifts us to the 1960's and the Asian nightscape on water.
This piece is a landscape within a landscape. The black painting a vortex or portal to the interior space of the figure, an alter unknown suggested interior spaces we never see from the outside as a viewer seeing someone in a garment. It's not that there is just something more to the dress, there is something more to the person that wears it, and something more to the person seeing someone else in the dress. The green dress holds another landscape all together when worn in the true and living landscape of life.
What I hoped in the revival was to hold commentary to the concept that clothes are escapism, creating alters or possibilities of self or others and that- we can through clothing be "becoming" or "being" of anything we can imagine.