This micro mini dress is made from chain-linked plastic metal coated square and rectangular plates. It has a square neckline, wide straps, and flared skirt.
Private collection, Paris
Eve auction, Lot 481, Drouot, Paris - May 4, 2017
Acquired from the above by the present owner
A version of this exact dress was worn by French New Wave actress Geneviève Thénier
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - Gift of Jane Holzer, 1974 (same dress)
A similar metallic dresses from the 1960s are part of the collections of:
- Palais Galliera, Paris ["Robe", 1967]
- Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris ["Robe mini", 1968]
- Kyoto Costume Institute, Kyoto ["Metal Worker", 1967]
- Victoria & Albert Museum, London ["Mini dress", 1968]
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam ["Dress", 1967]
Mexico City, Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, "Language of Costume," July 29 – November 30, 1975.
Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, "Fabulous Fashion (1907–67)," May 26 – July 5, 1981.
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Dance: A Very Social History," December 17, 1986 – September 6, 1987.
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Haute Couture," December 7, 1995 – March 24, 1996.
Similar dress exhibited:
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion," May 6–August 9, 2009.
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, “Items: Is Fashion Modern?”, October 1, 2017 - January 28, 2018.
S. Blum, R. Clark, and L. Hamer, “Fabulous Fashion 1907-67”, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1981. (p. 96)
C. McD. Wallace D. McDonagh, J. L. Druesedow, L. Libin, and C. Old, “Dace: A Very Social History”, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rizzoli, 1986 (p. 102, not illustrated)
Similar dresses were also published in:
L. Kamitsis, “Paco Rabanne, le sens de la recherche”, Paris: Michael Lafon Publisher, 1996, pp. 56 & 59 (similar dresses)
J. Eastoe, and S. Gristwood, Fabulous Frocks, London: Pavilion, 2008, p. 31
H. Koda, and Y. Kohle, The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.
A. Dreyfus, Defining Dresses: A Century of Fashion, Paris: Flammarion and Les Arts Decoratifs, 2015, pp. 128, 129
A. Bolton, Magnus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016, p. 62
Maybe: P. Antonelli, M. Fisher, L. Baker, A. Burckhardt, S. Kramer, M.M. Rado, and J. Tobias, Items: Is Fashion Modern?, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2017
Materials: metal rings and plastic metal coated plates
Size 36-38
Measurements taken flat
Bust: about 82 cm; 32 in
Waist: about 74 cm; 29 in
Hips: about 90 cm; 35 in
Length from shoulder to hem: about 77 cm; 30 in
Paco Rabanne sticker written in silver on black, attached to the inside of the dress under one of the rectangles.
Part of the greatest moment of Paco's revolutionary early career, this pioneering piece is an iconic example of his genius and vision for fashion in a new age. This piece may be decades old and yet it is still far ahead of its time.
