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c. 1866-1868

Woman's Evening Dress: Bodice and Skirt

Charles Frederick Worth described his designs as "modernity inspired by history." For this evening dress, he found inspiration in the decorative arts and fashions of eighteenth-century France: the pink of Sèvres porcelain and the period's signature open robe with matching petticoat. Couturier to Empress Eugénie, Worth expressed the Second French Empire's desire to link itself to the court of Louis XVI. Empress Eugénie identified with the king's wife, Marie-Antoinette, and was a passionate collector of objects and memorabilia associated with her. She even posed as the queen in a portrait by Franz Xaver Winterhalter in 1854.

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Woman's Evening Dress: Bodice and Skirt, c. 1866-1868 | Philadelphia Museum of Art