Evening clothes were shown in cut velvet, handpainted silks and chiffon.

Another, made of 19th-century Italian cut velvet, displays majestic plum-colored griffins poised like statues surrounded by geometric bands.

Their tops were of cut velvet, dark red like old Burgundy, and each bore as decoration a Chinese character surrounded by a design of pomegranate blossoms.

And this is pink cut velvet, for Mamie Eisenhower.

Even simple chemises and sheaths are in rich fabrics, like gold-flecked cut velvet, brocade or lace.

Jamie's kilt was bright even amid the gorgeous cut velvets and stiffened silk.

The Grecian styles, mostly for the evening, were in fabrics like cut velvet and chiffon.

For a curtain in her Upper East Side apartment, she bought a delicate length of cut velvet with pink, turquoise, purple, yellow and ocher flowers.

And without going anywhere near ball gowns, he achieves a special look for evening in fin de siecle fabrics like cut velvet and silk fringe.

Heavy cut velvets and brocades were further ornamented with applied bobbin lace, gold and silver embroidery, and jewels.