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Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.
Cake dress
Agatha Ruiz de la Prada (Spanish, born in 1960)
Spanish
Fall 2017
Medium/Technique
cotton velveteen; synthetic knit with integral sequins; synthetic plainweave
Dimensions
Center front: 101.6 cm (40 in.)
Center back: 101.6 cm (40 in.)
Costume (Bust x Waist): 37 × 33 in. (94 × 83.8 cm)
Center back: 101.6 cm (40 in.)
Costume (Bust x Waist): 37 × 33 in. (94 × 83.8 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Fundación Agatha Ruiz de la Prada
Accession Number2019.1953
CollectionsEurope, Contemporary Art, Fashion and Textiles
ClassificationsCostumes
Part of the Movida Madrilena movement in the 1980s that helped reinvigorate the arts in post-Franco Spain, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada makes use of vivid color, surrealist inspiration, and unconventional silhouettes to reflect the optimism associated with that moment. Designed almost forty years after the launch of her brand in 1981, Cake Dress is from her Winter 2017–18 “¡Espectacular!” collection. Its velvet and sequin-decorated tiers evoke celebration and whimsy.
DescriptionDress of white cotton velveteen stiffened with wire to form the shape of a three-tiered cake; bodice of white synthetic knit entirely covered with champagne-colored ring sequins, with high round neck, three-quarter set-in sleeves; first tier of "cake" descends from waist, with sequined fabric applied over velvet to simulate dripping icing; second tier over hips and thighs, with appliqued red knit/sequin hearts around perimeter; third tier decending to just above knee, with round balls covered with blue sequins on horizontal plane of tier, and red sequin stripe around perimeter; brown plastic zipper at CB; white synthetic plainweave lining; woven label at PL shoulder: "Agatha Ruiz de la Prada."
Provenance2019, gift of Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, Madrid, Spain, to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 25, 2019)