Trigère cashmere evening cape, c.1960-70
Pauline Trigère had a unique mastery of draping wool fabrics. Her hands-on method of cutting directly from bolts of fabric enabled her to bring out the fluid drape in even the stiffest tweed. She was the first designer to champion the use of wool for evening wear. From the "master of cut," this incredibly smart-looking cape has an uncluttered architectural style in a sensual, luxe fabric. It is all about simplicity and clean lines.
What could be more luxurious than an evening cape of buttery soft cashmere that gently drapes over your body, hinting at womanly curves underneath? I love the futuristic, padded shoulder detail. The color is deep midnight blue—almost black. The cape is lined only over the shoulders, allowing it to fall in softly draped folds. It closes at the neckline with hooks.
Pauline Trigère rose to the top through the unbeatable combination of great design talent and incredibly hard work, born of necessity, starting as a very young girl. She was born to Russian émigré parents in Paris in 1912 and learned the trade from her tailor father and her dressmaker mother. At 13, not having the money to buy a dress for a dance, she made her first dress, a frock of plaid taffeta. (In 1971, for fun, the famous designer made that same frock with its three layers of organdy edged with red, green, and blue piping.)
Pauline was using a sewing machine and working as a clothing cutter by age 10. At 15, she was apprenticed to the couture house of Martial et Armand. This is the intensive, painstaking early training that almost every major artist had when very young. Superior technique and craftsmanship are necessary, but not sufficient, for great artistry, whatever the field, e.g., Mozart in music and Trigère and Vionnet in design.
