This week’s Rate the Dress is very on-theme for the seasons here in New Zealand. Spring is in full swing, daffodils abound, and the first butterflies are out. So I’ve picked a frock with daffodils and butterflies, perfect for frolicking through meadows of blossoming bulbs. Maybe next week I’ll pick something very autumnal, for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere! Last Week: a ca. 1880 afternoon ensemble The ratings for last week’s dress were pretty clearly divided into three camps. Quite a lot of you thought the muted colours and single tonal range balanced the excessive details nicely, resulting in a good, but not great dress. And some of you thought that more is more is more is fabulous, and gave it a perfect (or nearly so) score. And then, there were those who thought the dress was just awful, resulting in an extremely unusual proportion of 3s and 4s! The end result? The Total: 6.9 out of 10 An average which accurately represents the opinion of exactly one of the raters! This week: a …

I honestly didn’t mean to repeat last week’s random button theme this week! I was a bit at a loss as to what to pick for Rate the Dress, and just went browsing. It wasn’t until I’d selected this dress, because I thought it was an interesting play in monochrome textures that I realised that it relies heavily on lots of button-ness for its decoration (and isn’t even monochrome – it’s patterned!). But it’s an interesting garment, so hopefully you’ll enjoy discussing and rating it. Last Week: a 1910s suit with all the (button) trimmings Quite a lot of you really liked last week’s suit (9/10 liked), but only a few of you loved it. And enough of you didn’t care for either the fabric, or the jacket closure, to pull the rating down just a little bit more. The Total: 8.6 out of 10 Very nice, but not spectacular. This week:  When I first saw this dress, I assumed it was monochrome: an experiment in what you could do with one fabric, a bit of …

Last week’s steel buttons and hat trim weren’t popular with most of you, and I know that this week’s buttons, and buttons, and buttons won’t be popular with at least one of you! So apologies to anyone with koumpounophobia. However, if you are a fan of buttons, maybe you’ll enjoy this week’s Rate the Dress. Last Week: a 1780s redingote in purple silk Alas, as fun as I find fashion plates, you don’t find them very fun to rate – there . There were things to like about the ensemble though: the rich colour, and jaunty collar. No one was a fan of the long torso and the scalloped peplums of the redingote, just like no-one liked them on the yellow 1780s number we looked at a few months back. And the hat definitely wasn’t winning friends and influencing the rating in a positive manner. The Total: 7.8 out of 10 Not terrible…but certainly not great. This week: a 1910s suit with all the (button) trimmings This week we’re going from a late 18th century suit, …