&quot;Eventail&quot;&nbsp;Cocktail Dress
Christian Dior
Autumn/Winter 1956&ndash;57
This piece is unarguably the 1950s moderne of the cocktail hour. With a strapless neckline, a rather ostentatious constructive line, and a colorful surface print, the dress would have been rejected for the early evening prior to the 1950s, as its various components belonged (respectively) to late evening or daytime dressing. By mid-century, Parisian couturiers were going to great lengths to enforce an exaggerated formality in