Last week: An 1890s dress with a sexy silhouette and an eye-catching colour.
I try not to influence the rating with my description and analysis of the featured garment, but it’s impossible not to. Last week’s dress was the perfect example. I can’t imagine it would have gotten quite so positive a reception had I not waxed poetic about how that style of dress had influenced Hawai’ian fashion.
Even so, it was a divisive dress: some of you loved how modern and unexpected the fabric was, some of you didn’t. And no one was really a fan of the odd lace and unbalanced velvet, though some felt it was still fabulous enough for a perfect 10.
I did love Natalie’s commentary on the trims: “The saturated purple and the main fabric pattern are yummy, like a ripe plum on the tree, and that pop of green is super. Velvet ribbon trim is oh-so-1890s and early 1900s; fashionable wear used it lavishly and I have some amusing quotes about the proclivity of teen girls to trimming everything with it till they were positively fluttering.”
The Total: 7.6 out of 10
I’ll be honest, that’s better than I thought it would do!
This week: 1880s jewel tones, velvet, and lots of beading
This episode’s choice for Rate the Dress could not be less suitable for Hawai’i if it tried:
Visiting outfit, ca 1885, silk velvet & silk ottoman, sold by Tessier-Sarrou-et-Associes
Although, Hawai’i does have tall mountains that get cold, and the Hawai’ian monarchy wore some pretty spectacular 1880s fashions, so perhaps it could work after all…
Visiting outfit, ca 1885, silk velvet & silk ottoman, sold by Tessier-Sarrou-et-Associes
And the triangular repeat of the beading is very reminiscent of the type of patterns seen on kapa and in Hawai’ian woodcarving, although I very much doubt that is what the designer and maker of this garment was using as inspiration!
Visiting outfit, ca 1885, silk velvet & silk ottoman, sold by Tessier-Sarrou-et-Associes
I actually went on the opposite emotional journey with this ensemble that I did with last week’s dress. When I saw last week’s dress my first thought was ‘urgh!’, but then the unexpected fabric grew on me, and I noticed the subtlety of the torso draping, and I realised how much it was the style of garment that influenced Hawai’ian attire. In contrast, my initial reaction to this week’s visiting ensemble was delight, but the more I’ve looked at it, the less I like it. I can’t quite put my finger on why.
Visiting outfit, ca 1885, silk velvet & silk ottoman, sold by Tessier-Sarrou-et-Associes
Is it too elaborate and decorated and imposing? Too much a dress to show off in?
Or am I just crazy and is this actually the peak of all that is glorious and beautiful?
Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10
A reminder about rating — feel free to be critical if you don’t like a thing, but make sure that your comments aren’t actually insulting to those who do like a garment. Phrase criticism as your opinion, rather than a flat fact. Our different tastes are what make Rate the Dress so interesting. It’s no fun when a comment implies that anyone who doesn’t agree with it, or who would wear a garment, is totally lacking in taste.
As usual, nothing more complicated than a .5. I also hugely appreciate it if you only do one rating, and set it on a line at the very end of your comment.
I have been staring at this dress for about 30 minutes and I have had the opposite reaction to you. At first. I was unimpressed, but the more I looked, the more I liked it. The plum color is rich and the beading, while just shy of being over the top, plays nicely against the velvet. I love the play of the different textures, with the shine of the overskirt ( taffeta? satin?) balancing the heavier look of the beads and velvet. I can picture it styled with a wonderful hat perched atop the hair, gloves, and a dark fur muff, to keep the wearer’s hands warm. I would have liked the beading and velvet to have extended further down the back of the dress onto the overskirt, and perhaps a band of beading across the bottom hem of the dress just to balance it a little more, but all in all, I think it’s a very smart and sophisticated look. Clearly the woman who wore this was not afraid to draw attention. Imagine how the beading would catch the light as she went about her rounds? This is a dress for a confidant woman -regal, assured, and wealthy. I love it. 10
My reaction is similar to yours. I liked the first look of it, yes I love purple and the shape, but the more I look at it it feels frumpy. Like some worn out middle aged woman needs what she have to wear to stay fashionable, but she doesn’t really have an interest in it anymore. I think my main objection is the draping on the front. Now it might be that this gown was originally worn by a woman with enough size that it would fill out the bodice, and then it would look awesome, but now on this dressform it’s just hanging down and looking sad and heavy.
6,5 out 10 from me.
There are too many things that are draped in too many different ways! Those lappets (?) at the front in particular mess up the lines which I do like. It certainly looks warm? The beading may have been fun to do?
6.5/10
i can’t get too excited one way or the other about this dress. i don’t hate it, but it’s not appealing to me, either. i like the colour more than anything else about it. for a dress that clearly was meant to be impressive and eye-catching and elegant, it underwhelms me. but there is nothing off-putting, either?
rating: 7/10
Ahhh. Now, y’see, to my inexpert eye this looks like a skirt and a wrap, not a skirt and a bodice. It’s that armscye-down-to-there aspect, really. If this is the case, then two things are true: one, I’d love to see the actual bodice with the skirt, and two, this woman had Money to have such an elaborate wrap to wear only with the one dress. Unless this was her Color (which it might have been, as I think this *might* qualify as some type of long term
and somewhat fabulous mourning), I don’t see this being worn with versatility.
I love these colors and I love the drape-ron style. Leaving the bodice to my imagination, I imagine a lovely dress with complimentary beading. I’m curious about those rectangular side panels, since I can’t make out the join due to the hands-primly-folded sleeve situation. Such sumptuous beading display, but part of the wrap or the skirt, do you think? I’m leaning toward the wrap, but I’m uncertain.
I shall call her the Dowager Lady Wotsname (in hushed and trembling tones), and not dare rate her below
10
Well! The ensemble *is* a contrast to last week’s dress, which I loved, as you could tell 🙂
A visiting gown with wrap? It was a Visit of Consequence, then, most likely by a mature woman with a taste for being noticed. I like Nur’s thought that it could be part of the wardrobe of someone in late mourning, though maybe it’stoo rich. It certainly is a color that might be prescribed for older women.
The Bordeaux wine color of the velvet will have looked wonderful in sunshine and candlelight, but I am unsure of it under gaslight. The beading reminds me of gemmed chainmail, if there ever was such a thing. The 1880s usually strike me as armored, except for summer dress, and this is especially so here, despite the lighter-colored, oddly feminine back action.
The beading pattern reminds me of the patterning on a wooden surfboard made by a well-known native Hawaiian woodworker, Leleo Kinimaka, featured in the New York Times recently, but maybe I am off.
I find the wrap quashes the dress, and the rear puffery is too much of a contrast with the formal Potentate of a wrap, but the effect was meant to be dominating, I believe, and from the front, I think it succeeds.
So, mission accomplished: 8 of 10
I like the back and side view alot more than the front view. The colour is sumptious and the beading is extravagant. Somehow the parts are greater than the whole.
7/10
Lovely. A ten
I like the beading, and the bustle, and the velvet.
But.
The dangling triangles, forgive me for being indelicate, put me in mind of a milking goat’s udder.
I want to love it anyway, but I just cannot put that out of my thoughts.
6/10
I have weakness for beading… and this example looks regal. Just a minor gripe, the side-panels are a bit heavy, less would be more in this particular case.
9.5/10
I love the texture and color of the materials on this dress. In particular, the velvet with the silk/satin is my favorite. However, I do agree that the shape of the front of the bodice in particular can seem a little frumpy. Maybe if I saw an actual woman wearing it with a period hairstyle, it would look less so? Nevertheless, my rating is
7.5 out of 10
Too fussy, I’m afraid, though I love the colour.
Sadly
6/10
The color scheme is marvelous, the beaded trim beautiful. The side pieces that hang down over the skirt look awkward, and interfere with seeing the skirt properly. 8.5 from me.