This 1956 ball gown by Jean Desses, was made from twenty-eight yards of Lurex (aluminum foil coated on both sides with plastic). The fabric was intended to have the look and draping quality of chiffon. The gown was the first object commissioned for Alcoa’s advertising campaign, the Forecast Program. Over the next few years, as the price of aluminum yarn fell from about $17 to $6 a yard, it was widely used in clothing, particularly in bathing suits and cocktail dresses.

Jean Desses Greek, b. Egypt, 1904–1970 Stole, 1956 Lurex, silk, and mink Brooklyn Museum of Art