dress, 1-piece
Object Details
- Date made
- 1973 - 197400
- 1973 - 1974
- 1973-1974
- maker
- Stephen Burrows
- designer
- Stephen Burrows
- maker
- Stephen Burrows
- Description
- Evening; multicolored jersey with green predominanting; white oval at center front waist; bands of red, rose, blue, and yellow, seamed in intricate design around oval; the yellow extends into the skirt at back; skirt slit; halter neck.
- Stephen Burrows designed this colorful dress in 1973. Its bright, formfitting design was perfect for New York disco clubs, where Burrows both found inspiration and started fashion trends. The curling hem of this dress, known as the “lettuce effect,” was one of Burrows’s signature design features and added to the movement of his looks on the dancefloor.
- In 1973, Burrows became the first Black designer to win a Coty award. He was also invited to participate in the “Battle of Versailles,” a fundraiser and show which pitted top American fashion designers against French ones. At this show, Burrows presented his uniquely American designs, which built upon the Black and queer aesthetics he encountered in the New York disco and pop art scenes. These designs, alongside those of Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein, and Halston, further established American fashion as a force to be reckoned with – and won them the competition, in what was considered a major upset.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- place made
- United States: New York, New York City
- made in
- United States: New York, New York City
- See more items in
- Home and Community Life: Costume
- Credit Line
- Gift of Stephen Burrows
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- ID Number
- CS.312915.001
- catalog number
- 312915.001
- accession number
- 312915
- Object Name
- Dress, 1-Piece
- Other Terms
- Dress, 1-Piece; Entire Body; Main Dress; Female
- Record ID
- nmah_360801