Crillon Dress

Though they were gone when he came into the room, they were at once everywhere, evidenced in the dressing of use—the familiar marks made from materials rearranged. A dark green tea cup, left with one or two sips of coffee on a room-service tray; a linen, bell-shaped jacket, purchased on a lucky whim, draped over the desk chair; a toothbrush with damp bristles; one pillow on the rug; the brass window handle to the courtyard, invitingly tilted slightly to the right. Was it from last night or this morning? These remnants, as familiar as a body, formed their own kind of corporeal knowledge—the kind people usually remember after death, in the emptiness of a house without the leftover traces of someone’s routines, now exposed, in absentia, as sacred. He himself was in the business of mark-making, but knew, if only for a few seconds, in the silence before the door opened, that even with infinite effort, no feats of intention could make marks as exquisite as these. The Crillon Dress textile reproduces and multiplies a photograph taken at Hôtel de Crillon in Paris, prior to the hotel’s renovation. The silk fabric, produced in Italy, has two faces, each recreating the image in differing ways: one side of the material is gridded with black stitching—like the grids used for perspective in Renaissance painting—echoing the weave of the material; the other side, a burnout technique, leaves remnant black diamonds of fabric through which to view the image, like looking through a gate or blown-up scrim. Assembled in panels, outlined by French seam-binding in charmeuse, the construction stutters the dress into film-like frames. The Crillon Dress is made-to-order. Please allow six-weeks from the time order is place for construction. The dress has a v-neck, a looser fit in the body, and a sailor collar. Silk Dry Clean Only Calle, Sophie. The Hotel. 1981–1983. Chanel, Coco. Early Dress Designs. Paris, c. 1910s–1920s. Derrida, Jacques. Of Grammatology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976. Krauss, Rosalind. “Grids.” October 9 (1979): 50–64. Long Distance Phone Call. Martin, Agnes. Grids. Paintings. 1960s–1970s. Room Service. Sick at a Hotel. Slimane, Hedi. Interview by John Roberts. The Travel Almanac.