{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1435930"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1435930/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2018KT2338/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2018KT2338/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2018KT2338","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KT2339","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KT2343","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1435930","accessionNumber":"T.17-2018","objectType":"Opera Coat","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This tube-shaped coat, with set-in sleeves and a dramatic cape collar, is typical of Balenciaga’s work in the 1950s, as he experimented with volume and abstract shapes. He manipulated heavy silks in a range of dramatic and deep colours, such as this plain midnight blue, to create garments with minimal seams. The collar would have revealed the nape of the neck, a feature of Balenciaga’s designs, often thought to be adapted from Japanese kabuki coats or kimono.\n\nThe enigmatic Spanish couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895-1972) is a legendary figure in the history of twentieth-century fashion, his name a byword for clothes executed the highest standards and characterised by their sculptural quality, the deft manipulation of textiles and the dramatic use of colour. He opened his couture house in Paris in 1937, and by the 1950s was the most important couturier in the city, his rival Christian Dior noting that he was the ‘Master of us all’.  The House closed in 1968, Balenciaga never having considered moving into ready-t0-wear production and thus retaining a reputation as the most exclusive and highest class house in the couture tradition. His clients included women from international elite circles, as well as retailers and wholesalers who copied his designs for individual clients or for batch production.","physicalDescription":"The coat is formed in a basic tube shape with side seams and set-in sleeves. It is shaped at the neck with two small darts on the back shoulders and two longer darts on the front shoulders, all hidden by a dramatic cape collar. The collar is made of a long rectangle of fabric, cut on the grain, doubled over and gathered into the rounded neckline. Inside the collar is a similarly gathered support of fine starched calico. Oblong ties on each side of the neck make a generous bow. There is a pocket in each side seam and the garment is lined throughout in the same heavy, plain silk. The only signs of stitching are hand stitches attaching lining and outer layer.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Balenciaga","id":"A2011"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silk (textile)","id":"AAT243428"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Silk, lined with silk with muslin interfacing at the collar.","categories":[{"text":"Clothing","id":"THES48975"},{"text":"Couture","id":"THES280830"},{"text":"Womenswear","id":"THES49044"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2018KT2338","2018KT2339","2018KT2343"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES308107"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Coat","id":"AAT46143"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"c. 1954","earliest":"1949-01-01","latest":"1958-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The couture no. 51354, sewn inside the coat, indicates that the coat dates from around 1954.  It is similar in design to the iconic orange opera coat featured in a photograph by Mark Shaw, also from 1954.\r\n\r\nThe coat was probably purchased from Balenciaga by his devoted client Pauline de Rothschild (1908-76), and later given to her friend Angelica Garnett, daughter of painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant and niece of Virginia Woolf.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Cristóbal Balenciaga, opera coat, navy blue silk and muslin interfacing, Paris, c. 1954","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.17-2018"],"accessionNumberNum":"17","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":2018,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"RF number","id":"THES57673"},"number":"2018/196"},{"type":{"text":"Couture number","id":"THES52257"},"number":"51354"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-11","recordCreationDate":"2018-03-15","availableToBook":true}}