Gabriella Crespi for Christian Dior Brushed Steel Picture Frame, 1970
About the Item
- Creator:Christian Dior (Retailer),Gabriella Crespi (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 10.63 in (27 cm)Width: 5.52 in (14 cm)Depth: 2.76 in (7 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1970
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Paris, FR
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU3020332359262
Gabriella Crespi
Bronze discs that open up like clamshells for storage and fold back in to become side tables. Sleek cubes barely suspended off the ground that transform into full-size dining tables. Clean-lined boxes that contain multilevel shelving. Looking at the work of Italian designer Gabriella Crespi, born in 1922 and who still produced furniture in her Milan studio until her death in 2017, it’s hard to believe that many of these highly functional pieces — modernist Rubik’s Cubes of materials, colors and ergonomics — were created decades ago.
Among her best-known creations, the bronze Ellisse table, 1976, and her bronze-and-lacquer Yang-Yin bar, 1979, encapsulate a designer who had a strong dualism in her vision, mixing humble and precious materials, for instance, or creating geometric shapes that were softened by sensual surfaces. Crespi began studying architecture in 1944 at the Politecnico, in Milan, where she was among just a handful of women, and became profoundly influenced by the work of Charles-Édouard "Le Corbusier" Jeanneret and Frank Lloyd Wright. After getting married and having children, she launched her own collections, from jewelry to furniture, and soon gained a loyal following, with design houses such as Maison Dior snapping pieces up for their own lines.
She began work on her most iconic collection, Plurimi, in the late 1960s, and the series — including her Dama table, which plays on the themes of volume, light and adaptability that Crespi has explored throughout her career — flourished through the 1970s and early ’80s. Then there is her famed Z desk, from a mid-1970s series, which manages to be both stylish and humorous, looking like it’s ready to leap off the floor at any moment. Well-born and beautiful, Crespi garnered attention among the jet set. She was a muse to Valentino, and her pieces appeared in the homes of Princess Grace of Monaco, the Shah of Iran and Greek shipping magnate George Livanos.
In 1987, with her children now adults, the designer surprised everyone when she moved to the foot of the Indian Himalayas to study with the guru Sri Muniraj. This turned into a 20-year self-imposed exile that, if anything, made her pieces even more sought-after by collectors.
Christian Dior
When Christian Dior launched his couture house, in 1946, he wanted nothing less than to make “an elegant woman more beautiful and a beautiful woman more elegant.” He succeeded, and in doing so the visionary designer altered the landscape of 20th century fashion.
Dior was born in Granville, on the Normandy coast, in 1905. His prosperous haute bourgeois parents wanted him to become a diplomat despite his interest in art and architecture. However, they agreed to bankroll an art gallery, which Dior opened in 1928 in Paris with a friend.
This was the start of Dior’s rise in the city’s creative milieu, where he befriended Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau. After seven years as an art dealer, Dior retrained as a fashion illustrator, eventually landing a job as a fashion designer for Robert Piguet, and in 1941, following a year of military service, he joined the house of Lucien Lelong. Just five years later, with the backing of industrialist Marcel Boussac, the ascendant Dior established his own fashion house, at 30 avenue Montaigne in Paris.
Just two years after the end of World War II, the fashion crowd and the moribund haute couture industry were yearning, comme tout Paris, for security and prosperity, desperate to discard the drab, sexless, utilitarian garb imposed by wartime deprivation. They needed to dream anew.
And Dior delivered: He designed a collection for a bright, optimistic future. “It’s quite a revolution, dear Christian!” exclaimed Carmel Snow, the prescient American editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, famously proclaiming, “Your dresses have such a new look.” The press ran with the description, christening Dior’s debut Spring/Summer haute couture collection the New Look. “God help those who bought before they saw Dior,” said Snow. “This changes everything.”
Dior’s collection definitively declared that opulence, luxury and femininity were in. His skirts could have 40-meter-circumference hems, and outfits could weigh up to 60 pounds. They were cut and shaped like architecture, on strong foundations that molded women and “freed them from nature,” Dior said. Rather than rationing, his ladies wanted reams of fabric and 19-inch waists enforced by wire corsets, and the fashion world concurred. The debut got a standing ovation.
In the subsequent decade, Paris ruled as the undisputed fashion capital of the world, and Christian Dior reigned as its king. With the luxuriously full skirts of his New Look, suits and his drop-dead gorgeous evening dresses and ball gowns worthy of any princess, Dior gave women the gift of glamour they’d lost in the miserable years of war.
On 1stDibs, find an exquisite range of vintage Christian Dior clothing, jewelry, handbags and other items.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, France
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 14 days of delivery.
- Mid-Century Italian Brass Fossil Stone Picture Frame 1970Located in Paris, IDFBeautiful Mid-Century picture frame made in Italy in the late 1970s. This brass frame is covered by fossil stone and brass marquetry, with brown velvet on the back. The mix of brass ...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Picture Frames
MaterialsBrass
- Mid-Century Italian brass horn marquetry picture frame 1970Located in Paris, IDFBeautiful Mid-Century picture frame made in Italy in the late 1970s. This frame is covered by horn marquetry, with brass feet, and burlwood veneer on the back. The mix of brass and h...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Picture Frames
MaterialsBrass
- Romeo Rega Italian brass chrome set of two picture frames 1970By Romeo RegaLocated in Paris, IDFBeautiful set of two Mid-Century picture frames made in Italy in the late 1970s by Romeo Rega. These brass and chrome frames are very graphic and decorative, and covered with brown v...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Picture Frames
MaterialsBrass, Chrome
- Desk table Patrice Maffei for Kappa brushed steel smoked glass 1970By Patrice Maffei, KappaLocated in Paris, IDFA rare brushed stainless steel desk table designed by French designer Patrice Maffei for Kappa editor in the 1970s, it features two locki...Category
Vintage 1970s French Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsSteel
- French Christian Dior Faux Malachite Folding Tray Table, 1970sBy Christian DiorLocated in Paris, IDFThis folding tray table is a rare and unique piece from Christian Dior’s, 1970s line of furniture. For both the tray and the legs, wood is painted a smooth black. While the structure...Category
Vintage 1970s French Hollywood Regency Tray Tables
MaterialsLapis Lazuli, Malachite
- Giacomo Sinopoli brushed brass stainless steel coffee tables 1970sBy Giacomo Sinopoli, Liwan's RomeLocated in Paris, IDFSimple lines and strong presence point to this pair of Italian coffee tables. Designed by Giacomo Sinopoli and produced by Liwan’s Rome in the late 1970s, they feature a massive brus...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass, Steel
- Gabriella Crespi Brass Picture Frame, SignedBy Gabriella CrespiLocated in Brooklyn, NYSmall, handsome brass frame from the illustrious Italian designer. Signed.Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Picture Frames
MaterialsBrass
- Gabriella Crespi Brass and Chrome Picture Frame, signed.By Gabriella CrespiLocated in New York, NYA Gabriella Crespi very rare large picture frame with alternating bands of brass and chrome, with a 6" x 6" centered picture frame. The triangular frame in the middle creates a fant...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Picture Frames
MaterialsBrass, Chrome
- Gabriella Crespi Rare Large Signed Bamboo and Brass Picture Frame, Italy, 1970sBy Gabriella CrespiLocated in New York, NYGabriella Crespi rare large round picture frame from the iconic Rising Sun series in bamboo and brass, Italy, 1970s. This elegant bamboo frame is a striking example of Crespi’s deft...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Picture Frames
MaterialsBrass
- Elegant Gabriella Crespi Circular Photo Frame, Italy, 1970sBy Gabriella CrespiLocated in Brescia , BresciaElegant Gabriella Crespi Circular Photo Frame, Italy, 1970s Renowned for her elegant and sculptural designs, Gabriella Crespi has excelled yet again with this sophisticated piece....Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Picture Frames
MaterialsNickel
- Gabriella Crespi Half Moon Picture Frames MirrorsBy Gabriella CrespiLocated in West Palm Beach, FLA nice pair of brushed Steel picture frames (or mirrors) Designed by Gabriella Crespi, engraved signature Left and right. Price is for the pairCategory
Vintage 1970s Italian Picture Frames
MaterialsSteel
- Gabriella Crespi Style Photo Frame in Lucite Tortoiseshell, Italy, 1970sBy Gabriella CrespiLocated in Roma, ITGorgeous photo frame in lucite with a stunning tortoiseshell effect. This elegant piece was produced in Italy in the 1970s and attributable to Gabriella Crespi. This stunning piec...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Picture Frames
MaterialsLucite, Plexiglass
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Too Soon for the Return of ’90s Fashion? As If
There's a renewed appreciation for the era's aesthetic, perhaps most notably among millennials seeking authentic, easy style.
14 Iconic Luxury Handbags and the Stories behind Them
When the name of a bag is as well-known as its brand, you know it's a classic.