V&A

Black Silk Crêpe Evening Jacket with Tree Motif

1980s · 1980s · British

Designer

Ian & Marcel

Production

ready-to-wear

Material

silk crêpe

Culture

British

Movement

New Romanticism

Influences

Japanese kimono draping · Art Nouveau botanical motifs

A dramatic black evening jacket featuring an asymmetrical draped overlay with intricate branch-like rubberized decorations creating a tree motif across the semi-transparent fabric. The garment displays a loose, flowing silhouette with wide sleeves that taper toward the wrists. Beneath the black overlay, a golden yellow dress or lining is visible, creating striking color contrast. The decorative elements appear to be applied using rubberized techniques, forming organic branching patterns that extend across the garment's surface. The construction combines the power dressing era's bold statement-making with artistic, nature-inspired motifs typical of 1980s avant-garde fashion.

dressstraightround neckknee length

Connected To

Black Radiata Snakeskin Cape and Shorts Ensemble

Black Radiata Snakeskin Cape and Shorts Ensemble

69%

Black Silk Crêpe Evening Jacket with Tree Motif

Influences·Japanese kimono drapingTechnique·couture-constructionTechnique·draping

Echoes Across Time

Burgundy Silk Velvet Liturgical Burse with Gold Cross

Elizabethan → 1980s · 380yr43%

SHARED

Technique·appliqueTechnique·couture-construction

Black Silver Metallic Silk Chiffon Trumpet Gown

2010s → 1980s · 40yr39%

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Pull the Thread→

Follow this garment wherever the graph leads

These two pieces reveal how the kimono's architectural draping migrated from 1980s art-to-wear into 1990s luxury sportswear, maintaining the same generous sleeve geometry but swapping mediums entirely. The earlier silk jacket uses translucent crêpe and delicate tree branches to create ethereal volume, while the snakeskin ensemble translates that same wing-like silhouette into something predatory and body-conscious.

Ivory Lace Waspie Corset Belt

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Black Silk Crêpe Evening Jacket with Tree Motif

Worn with·evening dressTechnique·couture-construction

SHARED30 years · cross-culture

That ivory lace waspie from the 1950s and this sheer black evening jacket from the 1980s both understand that the most seductive garment is the one that promises to disappear. The French corset belt cinches the waist into nothingness while revealing everything else, while the British jacket's gossamer crêpe and delicate tree branches create the illusion that you're wearing shadows and air.

Text64%

Image72%

Entity28%

Black Felt Hat with Ostrich Feathers and Flowers

Black Felt Hat with Ostrich Feathers and Flowers

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Black Silk Crêpe Evening Jacket with Tree Motif

Movement·New RomanticismTechnique·applique

SHARED10 years · cross-culture · cross-category

Both pieces pulse with the theatrical DNA of 1980s New Romanticism, where fashion borrowed from every century except its own. The hat's riot of ostrich plumes and silk roses channels the same magpie maximalism as the jacket's appliquéd tree branches sprawling across sheer black silk—both treating the body as a stage set for nature-inspired drama.

Text64%

Image73%

Entity24%