V& A: evening dresses

Schiaparelli 1953

pale pink organza, embroidery,

underdress of Thai silk;

Balenciaga 1955

scarlet silk taffeta, wired flounces,

on a boned and padded foundation;

Jacques Heim 1959

dark rose silk organza,

underdress of silk taffeta;

evening dresses, not to be seen before eight,

which swayed and danced and circled

at parties or receptions, in rooms misty

with tobacco, rooms full of people still

finding it hard to believe the war was over,

that peace seemed to be lasting,

though maybe only just, while the Cold War

was there every morning in the headlines

like a knife held to their ribs;

dresses for which Edmundo Ros

or Stephane Grappelli were as hot as it got;

unimaginable grown up evenings which went on

while I was spending my time drawing

ladies’ dresses, only seen in films and magazines,

dresses full of the panache and serious glamour

little girls know is more real life

than the sensible skirts and tops

which pass them in school or on the street;

dresses which are now museum pieces,

their wearers lolling in wheelchairs or dead,

slender waists and arms just memories

for the middle-aged rich children

who kissed them goodnight in a valedictory cloud

of L’Air du Temps or Ma Griffe, who too

had thought they looked like princesses.