Adapted from the description on the V&A website:
An evening gown in rippled crêpe, with contrasting taffeta ribbon bows which punctuate and secure the sleeves and shoulder seams, while giving a glimpse of the bare arms beneath; a similar effect is produced by the revealing back opening. The full-length gown is ingeniously cut and requires a minimal amount of fastening, merely a single hook and eye at the back of the neck. The front skirt, sides, and midriff are cut in one, while a curved central back panel forms the main part of a small train.*
All but forgotten today, Eva Luytens was a much admired
couturière in the 1930s. She was born Eva Lubrzynska in Russia in about 1894. Through connection with her uncle, the internationally renowned research chemist Chaim Weizmann, she went on to receive a degree in chemistry from Manchester University in Great Britain. And in 1911, she joined Marie Curie's research team at the University of Paris and published several research articles on biochemistry. She returned to Russia in 1917 and began an affair with Vladimir Nabokov; they came close to marriage, but she returned to Britain in 1920. There she was introduced to Robert Lutyens, son of the famous architect Sir Edward Lutyens, and a talented interior designer and painter in his own right. They were married that same year and became known as one of London's most fashionable couples. They had one son, David, who would become a published writer, but suffered from mental illness. It isn't clear exactly when she turned to fashion design, but by 1932 she had established herself at 28 Buckingham Gate, Westminster, the prestigious address being the home of her mother-in-law, the writer and theosophist Lady Emily Lutyens née Bulwer-Lytton. Having married into such a prominent family, her many clients were drawn from the most wealthy and aristocratic circles; she designed the gown Wallis Simpson wore to meet Queen Mary in 1934. Her business began to falter with the approach of WWII, when austerity was understandably the spirit of the day though, apparently, she had a resurgence in the 1950s. She divorced her philandering husband in 1948 and died in 1963.
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| Portrait by Glyn Philpot, circa 1935-36. |
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Beautiful. I would have preferred it without the bows, but that's probably because, having been born in 1960, I have a late-20th-century eye. Interesting that she introduced grey in the bows above the elbows, but I can see that she used the grey trim on the bows along the slit down to the pink bows. I wonder if this was made for a particular person or event. I've been youtubing videos on Luytens and Jekyll, so your post was particularly interesting to me. Thanks Stephen!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment, Michael. I find the color choices of the ribbon and bows intriguing; both the pink and the burgundy, to my mind, would seem to rather clash with the color of the gown. And, yes, why just the grey - which I read as blue - there at the elbow? But it all somehow works for me.
DeleteAnd I may have been born only two years before you, but MY eye is late-18th century, so I say... bring on the bows! ; )