Thanks to Mrs C, the Laurel Dress was both done, and beyond beautiful.

And the way the dress trails on the ground!

And her neck! And hair! And profile!

Last week you looked at a real 1880s dress, all sweetness, softness and femininity.

Many of you wholeheartedly approved of it, but some found it either too saccharine, or too extreme in it’s hourglass shaping. Though some of you felt it would only be acceptable if worn by a headless woman, together you gave it a rating of 8 out of 10.

How will you feel about this weeks choice of a dress depicted by Watteau. He is all about sweet, soft, muted and feminine, right?

Ah, Watteau, painter of languid ladies in muted pastel frocks, master of the subtle, icon of the 18th century.

Also, apparently, occasional recorder of young ladies in red and green striped dresses with canary yellow hats and matching yellow lace trimmed aprons.

Antoine Watteau, The Dance, 1710-1720, Neues Palais

I’m not sure if this is a costume. I’m not sure how old the girl and the red and green and gold dress is. But I do know that you will have lots of things to say about it. So please do!

Rate the Dress on a scale of 1 to 10

Madame Ornata is a bad, bad influence on me.

It is very fine autumn weight grey wool with a border based on early paisley shawls on one end and a narrower border based on the same pattern along one edge.

See! It reminds me of this painting:

And this 18th century cashmere shawl:

Mmmm…I love it! I only wish it came in more colours. Grey and red tones aren’t my usual pick.

In other fabric news, I also picked up three beautiful pieces of vintage fabric to use in my pret a porter line. From left to right they are a summer weight white wool gabardine, a white jacket wool, and a darling lining fabric.