Balenciaga was an exceptional couturier in many ways, one being his ability to work outside of the dominant 1950s “hourglass” silhouette with great success. Balenciaga’s creations from the late 1950s were not only distinctive, but also prescient: his lace “baby doll” dress, first presented in 1957, foreshadowed the youthful, loose-fitting fashions of the 1960s.

Its basic design consisted of a body-skimming slip worn beneath a loose lace outer dress, sometimes cinched at the waist with a ribbon. Worn without the ribbon, the triangular-shaped outer dress may have provided inspiration for Saint Laurent’s “Trapeze” silhouette, which he introduced for the spring 1958 collection at the House of Dior.