Anything Goes - Celebrating the 20s

Callot Soeurs (French, active 1895–1937) evening dress c. 1923, designed by Madame Marie Gerber (French)

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mark Mooring, 1957

Pulling together material on Orientalism, and I’ve been intrigued to find just how strong the influence of Middle Eastern textiles is at the Callot Soeurs house. My initial observation is that the actual construction of the garments doesn’t seem to them as much as it did, say, Babani (where you often get a fairly authentic approximation of, say, a North African style gown), but the actual prints and embroidery work are very influenced by that region. As is often the case in Orientalism, though, it’s not too region specific, and you’ll get a few cultural influences referenced in the one piece.