The frocks of the 1920s were a far cry from the elaborate evening gowns in which Élisabeth Greffulhe had once astonished Parisian society. Yet memories of fashions past inevitably occur. For example, Proust once described the Duchesse de Guermantes wearing a gown ornamented with “innumerable spangles.” He wrote, “I did not believe that any other woman could usurp that spangled bodice, any more than the flashing aegis of Minerva.”

Evening dress (no label), circa 1925
Ivory tulle, embroidered with beads and sequins, silk muslin
GAL1964.20.20, gift of the Gramont family to the Palais Galliera

Proust’s Muse, The Countess Greffulhe runs through January 7, 2016 at The Museum at FIT in NYC.