IMPORTANT: Some of the comments on this post (now deleted) were so out of hand I’m putting an extra warning up here. Your rating can be very poor numerically, but your comment still has to be kind. If your comment ventures into body-shaming or slut-shaming it will be deleted. If it’s marginal it will be edited to comply with basic standards of taste and kindness. If you think that being super negative and coming up with insulting analogies makes you clever 1) you’re wrong, it makes me think exactly the opposite (default negativity is lazy and based on the mistaken belief that disliking things makes you look smart – a position only held by not very smart people) and 2) I’ll delete your comment. The goal of Rate the Dress is to spread historical knowledge and to give us all a chance to look at the details of garments, and to think about why they were used, and were considered fashionable and attractive, in an entertaining way. To those who contribute to this goal: hooray! …

This week’s Rate the Dress moves from orderly paisley, to a more unruly pattern that mixes shapes, textures and floral types with wild abandon.  Will asymmetry, fringe, and wreaths of roses over orchid lei beat out last week’s rating? Last week: a green paisley 1850s dress   Last week’s 1850s frock made some of you remember how disappointed you were to discover that adult life involved far too few balls (after all, what’s the point of being an adult if not tea parties and balls?), and made others think of their least favourite salad greens and dressing combination (as a farmer’s daughter, I’m very alarmed if you’re buying lettuce in that shade of green, but I have no quibble with anyone who wants to claim that mayonnaise is revolting, particularly as a salad dressing). The Total: 8.1 out of 10 Well, it definitely beat the bustle dress of the week before! This week: I’m keeping with the feminine, romantic feel of last weeks dress, but in a very different era, and with a gold tinged …