Evening gown from the Maison Margaine-Lacroix, circa 1913

From the Metropolitan Museum:

"This rare and sumptuous gown of pale pink satin reflects the subtle move toward a slender, more naturalistic figure prior to WWI and foreshadows the dramatic shifts that would occur in fashion during the following decade. The elegant symbiosis between the placement of metallic lace, silk net, incandescent sequins, and beaded black passementerie is both typical of the period and emblematic of the refinement and skill of the couture house."

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Maison Margaine-Lacroix (French, active 1868–1929), was founded - as Maison Margaine - by Armandine Fresnais-Margaine (1835-1899), and, following her death, continued by her daughter Jeanne Victorine Margaine-Lacroix (1868–1930). Although frequently overlooked by fashion historians, the house's innovations were quite influential during the early twentieth century. Most notable were their ideas about undergarments. They introduced their robe Tanagréenne, a gown worn with its own modified corset, in 1899 and, a few years later, their robe Sylphide, advertising that the dress removes the corset which "it makes up for with an ingenious combination of lining." The house patented several versions of the robe Sylphide and corset Sylphide, and produced other groundbreaking designs, all in the service of producing and promoting a more natural look, using soft, stretchy knitted silk fabrics to help shape the figure - some of them closely resembling modern "body shapers" like Spanx - and doing away with the rigid lines of the period's corset. As expressed by Jeanne Margaine-Lacroix, “Suppleness is demanded by women, because that alone gives ‘line.’ Stiff, hard bands cannot meet their wishes.”