Exhibitions: American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection

Gilbert Adrian: The Tigress Evening Ensemble

Gilbert Adrian (American, 1903–1959). “The Tigress” Evening Ensemble, 1949. Black, beige, and orange silk taffeta chiné; gold lamé. Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Janet Gaynor Adrian, 1963 (2009.300.1297a, b)

Gilbert Adrian’s 1949 fall collection was inspired by his trip to Africa earlier in the year. Although this dress was part of the collection, he famously joked that it was an exception, as there are no tigers in Africa. The wide-hipped silhouette adapted from dresses of the eighteenth century was a form he first worked with when designing for the 1937 film Marie Antoinette.