Dorian Leigh in Piguet evening dress, Paris, August 1949. Photograph Richard Avedon. Courtesy The Richard Avedon Foundation. Copyright © 1956 The Richard Aveden Foundation

LONDON.-The V&A’s autumn exhibition, The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957, will explore one of the most glamorous and remarkable decades in fashion history. Starting with the impact of Christian Dior’s New Look after the Second World War, it will look at the work of Dior and his contemporaries during the period when haute couture was at its height.
Coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the launch of the New Look in 1947, the exhibition will show how Dior’s ballerina-skirted dresses signalled the return to luxury and elegance after wartime austerity. It will examine the world of couture, highlighting the work of Dior, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Hubert de Givenchy and Pierre Balmain in Paris and their London counterparts Norman Hartnell and Hardy Amies.

The V&A has tracked down and purchased several couture gowns for the exhibition. One is a Givenchy blue cape (1957), identical to the one worn by Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face. Another is a Givenchy black wool dress suit (1955) worn by Leslie Caron. An exciting find is a red version of Dior’s glamorous Zemire (1954), a full length skirt, bodice and long jacket discovered in a cellar near the Seine in Paris, and previously known only through archive photographs. Other purchases include a red silk Dior Ecarlate cocktail dress (Autumn/Winter 1955-56), a Givenchy two-piece print day dress (1956) and a rare Jacques Griffe halter-neck evening dress (1950). New research has been carried out on many of the dresses for the exhibition, and around 70 have been especially conserved.

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Golden Age of Couture Catalogue Cover. V&A Publications Illustration created for the V&A by David Downton © David Downton