Its etymology does not allude to it, but the brilliance of the lamé evening dresses worn by the stars of the show must not be foreign to the fact that they are called “stars”. From the 1920s, dressed by the first big names in haute couture, socialites, flappers, cabaret artists, silent glories or rising stars of talking cinema adorned themselves with these golden or silver fabrics and exorcised the traumas of war in the world. Parisian night.
This fabric woven with metallic threads long reserved for queens and kings, enters the second part of the 20th century.e century by the door of science fiction.
In Hollywood, from Louise Brooks to Jane Fonda, from Elizabeth Taylor to Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly, forty years of sparkling glamor shine on the world. Until the 1960s, the most sensual actresses all had, at some point in their careers, a ball or cabaret scene or a “mermaid moment” to shoot in a lamé sheath.
This fabric woven with metallic threads (gold and silver, in exceptional cases), long reserved for queens and kings, enters the second part of the 20th century.e century by the door of science fiction. Propelled by a futuristic music, whose mirror ball illuminates the night like a new moon, the silver lamé pushes the door of the cosmos and knows a second golden age. From Dalida to the Bee Gees, via Diana Ross, Sheila and Patrick Juvet, the night is an infinite space. It was the era of the Palace and the exuberances of a young designer going against the grain, responding to the name of Thierry Mugler.
Lyrical and shimmering
Theatrical, the lamé of the 1980s ends up boring – except Kate Moss, who still sports it in the 1990s – then returns to the favor of a new elite generated by the meeting of the Internet and reality TV. In the 2000s, half-naked, Paris Hilton made her birthday a planetary event and her every move into information to relay. In silver lamé, it strikes its seal on the aesthetic of the moment and opens the way to other phenomena such as Kim Kardashian, Rihanna or Lady Gaga. Years later, from Isabel Marant to Burberry, passing obviously by Paco Rabanne, all the creators reconnect with the lyricism and the shimmering qualities of lamé. The dance floors are empty but it still shines brightly.
