All posts tagged: 1850s

Hoopskirts in the Park

Our first photo location for last week’s hoopskirt photoshoot with Theresa was a big park on the edge of the green belt in Wellington – the same park I used for the pet-en-l’aire photoshoot. I’ve long thought that the park, with it’s long, sloping green lawn interspersed with pohutakawa and eucalyptus trees, had distinct English pastoral possibilities. If Capability Brown had had access to pohutakawa he would have planted in them. They are the perfect representation of 19th century New Zealand’s complicated relationship with identity. For 11 months of the year they are elegant faux English oak trees, and then for one month of the year they break out in flaming red SOUTH PACIFIC WONDERLAND! colours. This is pretty much how New Zealand was for a good century: torn between being more English than the English, immensely proud of not being English and their new national culture, and not sure what to do with the Polynesian culture they were living side by side with. In any case, the pohutakawa lawn was perfect for a hoopskirt …

Rate the Dress: Embroidered tulle tiers and lacing

Published by The Dreamstress

Oooh la la! Last week I posted an unusual interpretation of lace – oriental inspired silver metal lace from the 1920s, more sexy than the usual sweet lace image and you liked it. You really, really liked it! There were some tiny reservations about the table-cloth-y ness of the whole look, and the extremely low neckline, but they were teeny-tiny reservations, and the frock still managed a 9.6 out of 10 – that’s pretty much as close to a perfect score as it’s possible to get! (personally, you can have that dress. I thought it was fussy and over-done, and that neckline was scary!) I was rather stuck with this week’s Rate the Dress, and spent hours searching for a garment that inspired me. I finally settled on something, and hope the garment I have picked inspires an opinion in you, whether good or bad! This late 1850s evening gown, with its tiers of embroidered tulle, polychrome fringed sleeves and and fichu-robings, and laced front, is certainly striking – definitely more blooming rose than shrinking …

Rate the dress: Tiers of rectangles in 1855

Published by The Dreamstress

I’m always reluctant to post ‘Rate the Dress’ images which feature very well known people as I’m afraid that our pre-concieved attitudes towards historical notables sometimes colour our assessment of their clothes. I’m not sure how much of that played into the rating of Marie Antoinette in hunting attire last week, because the most overwhelming response was the one I didn’t expect: total and utter boredom. Sure, it rated a 7.3 out of 10, but most of you couldn’t even be bothered to rate the dress. I do think I should start subtracting a point from any Rate the Dress that collects less than 25 votes, because 6.3 is probably a better reflection of total indifference! Anyway, onwards, and upwards, hopefully to much more interesting frocks! This dress has fascinated me ever since I first came across it, and I thought that the Historical Sew Fortnightly ‘Squares, Rectangles, & Triangles‘ challenge was the perfect opportunity to rate it. For all its elaborateness, the tiers of ruffles in the skirt are just rectangles, and the stripes …