The week before last I showed you quite a challenging garment: a Schiaparelli dress. Last week’s offering of a 15th century Florentine ensemble in pink was perhaps not challenging enough: everyone loved it, but not enough to start any really interesting discussions around it. I think it was just pretty, with not much to say, or as Daniel noted “pleasant, with no punch.” Still, it came out in a rash of 9s & 10s, with only two 8s, for a total of 9.5 out of 10, which is pretty much a perfect score these days.
I’ve shown a few weeks of fairly restrained, muted garments, so I wanted to show you something with lots of colour this week. Hence this dress in rich, vibrant peacock blue, paired with a russet, orange and gold brocade on more peacock blue:
Afternoon ensemble, 1885—88, American, silk, metal, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.300.2033a-e
This dress is classic mid-late 1880s: saturated colour, bold patterning, asymmetry, a mix of draping and pleating, and a nod to the aesthetic movement with the ruching/smocking across the bodice and on the skirt panel. Oh, and a MASSIVE bustle, which I did not expect from the front view.
Afternoon ensemble, 1885—88, American, silk, metal, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.300.2033a-e
And it comes with it’s own matching paletot out of the brocade fabric:
Afternoon ensemble, 1885—88, American, silk, metal, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.300.2033a-e
Asymmetry is often unpopular on Rate the Dress, as are extremely striking, off the wall colour combinations. This dress is definitely punchy. How will it fare?
Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10.
Seems like I’m the odd one out on this one, but for some reason this dress doesn’t look cohesive to me! I like the blue and all the smocking detail, but the contrasting brocade seems a little jarring. It doesn’t blend with the design as much as it seems tacked on, like an afterthought. Maybe because the brocade is in stripes on the underskirt and a stripe as the waistband, it seems to break up the fluidity of the rest of the dress- they are a little too harsh for all that smocking and draping.
So for me… 4/10.
What amazing and wonderful colors. Imagine a raven-haired lady with beautiful posture wearing this! 10/10
I love the color and the lines. I think it “wants” a pendant necklace to unify it.
9.5/10
Another odd one out.
What bothers me about the dress is that it looks like it’s trying too hard. It has the brocade turn back collar lapels but also is high necked – which might look alright if the center front and high neck were brocaded as well. Instead, it looks like the seamstress/tailor was using scraps of brocade which doesn’t fit with the yards upon yards of blue silk.
If there was more of the brocade in the dress, I think it would work better. As is, it looks like someone spent a lot of time on the blue silk and then added the brocade at the last minute because it’s what s/he had in the stash that matched.
5/10
the asymmetry is unusual to my modern eyes, but it has some interesting elements. the deep blue contrasted with the orange embroidery is fantastic. 9/10
I’ve never done this before…
I love it.
10/10.
I love it. Or at least, I love the colours and the composition from the front view. The bustle unbalances it rather I think, so I’d give it 9/10.
I want one 10/10
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! I’m not such a fan of the side view, but I’m going to ignore that. 10/10
love it. gorgeous colours
10/10
Love the colour (love love love this shade of blue!!), trim, and neck line…don’t love the bustle in the back.
7/10