#2337 $2,850 Reserved
Henri Bendel beaded Deco evening coat, c.1925
This magnificent Deco coat pairs an understated but luxe monochromatic palette with bold geometric embellishment in a stylish, sophisticated modernism. The fresco-like high palette creates a look as streamlined today as when new. Indeed, great design—from 1550, 1925, or today—is timeless.
The coat is fashioned from substantial weight ecru silk faille and is lined with the same. The tone-on-tone beading design is richly textured with large iridescent round beads, faux pearls, opaque white glass beads, and silver-lined crystal beads.
The simple straight silhouette is augmented only by a dramatic cape-like panel at the back. The minimalist collar is rolled and softly gathered in back.
With roomy armholes, this superb coat is as comfortable as it is luxurious. It is open in front with no closures. See the bottom picture of the Bendel label. You would have found a garment like this in the wardrobe of Mrs. Hope... Here is a coat for a woman of impeccable taste and high status.
Art Deco reached its peak in the decorative arts in 1925. The exemplary Deco design (3rd picture down) shows off the style in all its self-confident glory: elegant, lavish, and opulent. The use of ideal geometric shapes (concentric circles with tangential parallel lines) is an inspired and exemplary Deco motif.
Art historians have been ambivalent about an aesthetic focus on geometric motifs, even by the greatest artists, like Leonardo da Vinci (d.1519) and Piero della Francesca (d. 1492). Their efforts were sometimes deprecated as being "too mathematical, geometric, too chilly."
In the 20th century, however, Art Deco proved that art had no reason to apologize for its embrace of geometry. This was true especially in Deco architecture and fashion. Deco triumphantly placed geometry at the heart of its aesthetic program.
Henri Bendel opened his store in New York City in 1896 and dressed society's luminaries, including the Astors and the Vanderbilts. He was the first to bring over Chanel's designs, and he staged the first fashion show in New York City. The store remains to this day at the cutting edge of high style fashion.
The condition is almost excellent. There are a few pale smudges. I do not recommend cleaning, as the smudges barely show; they do not spoil the appearance of the coat.
It measures: 46" bust and waist, 48" hip, 21" sleeve length, and 50" from the shoulder to the hem.
