Visiting Dress | c. 1850
heeeey badonk.
Dress | c. 1850
This makes me want to take a ride in a one horse open sleigh.
Day Dress | c. 1835
This transitional style indicates the aesthetic of its period. The large gigot sleeves were popular from the early 1830s through 1836 when they began to diminish to the tightly fitted sleeves of the following period. This type of sleeve was generally supported by whalebone or down filling. Another indication of its transitional disposition is the waist height and the full bell-shaped skirts. The rich color and lively pattern is engaging and in line with the mode of the day. (Met Museum)
Beadnet dress | Egyptian Old Kingdom, Dynasty 4, reign of Khufu |2551–2528 B.C.
Depictions of women in Egyptian art occasionally feature garments decorated with an overall lozenge pattern. This design is believed to represent beadwork, which was either sewn onto a linen dress or worked into a separate net worn over the linen. This beadnet dress is the earliest surviving example of such a garment. It has been painstakingly reassembled from approximately seven thousand beads found in an undisturbed burial of a female contemporary of King Khufu. Although their string had disintegrated, a few beads still lay in their original pattern on and around the mummy, permitting an accurate reconstruction. The color of the beads has faded, but the beadnet was originally blue and blue green in imitation of lapis lazuli and turquoise. (Boston MFA)
Mourning Cape | c. 1895-1900
Victorian mourning traditions were complex and circumscribed. Full mourning, with its proscribed all-black clothing, lasted a year and a day, while second mourning, which followed, lasted six to nine months and allowed for some use of trim and small jewelry. Half-mourning lasted three to six months and allowed for more elaborate fabrics and jewelry. This cape is an example of a half-mourning evening garment. It was purchased at Abraham & Straus by Brooklyn resident Florence Madden Adriance (1878-1915), who was the grandmother of the donors. (Metropolitan Museum)
Mourning Dress | c. 1894
This needs to be in my closet nownownow.
Me too. Also, mourning attire and all of the rules associated with it need to come back.
It’s not a mourning dress, a mourning dress would have been made out of matte black crape and wouldn’t have the bows and lace. Just because it’s Victorian and black doesn’t mean it’s mourning. Black was a very popular color for non-mourning clothes.
This dress was made for Marie-Louise Giffre, who went into life long mourning after the death of her son. So it is correct that this dress does not quite meet Victorian deep mourning standards. After a period of standard mourning women who chose life-long mourning did attend balls and other formal functions. They would do away with weeping veils all together and opted for more luxurious fabrics and decoration for formal attire while keeping the colors black, grays, purples and dark blues. So the dress was made for a woman who was in mourning but not neccesarily a “mourning dress”. Sorry for any confusion.
House of Worth | c. 1905
This fabric is outstanding with the celestial theme which was a favorite in the House of Worth from its inception. The textile was woven à la disposition with the stars in graduated sizes, especially to be used on a skirt. The magic of this dress is in the three different materials used to make the star pattern, woven into the textile with both a satin and velvet surface and an appliqué pattern in a slightly different color and texture. In the light the stars would twinkle as the wearer moved and the light caught the different textures of the stars. At the same time, the rhinestones would light up the bodice.
