Embellished Silk Dress

The Egungun masquerade costume from Benin — fully covered in sequins, the surface a continuous field of magenta and deep pink, blue and gold appliquéd birds and leaves worked across the body, the face constructed from alternating vertical strips — offers the clearest way of understanding what embellishment can do when it is not decorative. In that costume, the embellishment is the garment. There is no unembellished base beneath the surface. The sequin work, the applied motifs, the structural face of woven strips: these are the thing itself.

This dress does not take that principle to that extreme, but it draws from it directly. The sandwashed silk is the substrate. The beading and surface work placed across the front is not added afterward — it is part of the architecture of the piece, defining the silhouette as much as the cut does. The halter neckline frames the face and closes the neck. Full length, fitted through the body.

Edition of 20.