We missed last week’s Rate the Dress because I was down sick.  Sorry 🙁 The week before, most of you were quite taken with Toulmouche’s blue dress.  There was only one dissenting view, and not that many 10s (there have been many dresses with lower overall scores but more 10/10s) but with a whole swathe of 8 & 9s, the outfit came in at 8.6 out of 10. This week I’m combining the just-finished HSF theme of ‘Art‘, with the just-started HSF theme of ‘The Politics of Fashion.’  This portrait of Count Giovanni Battista Vailetti is a beautiful piece of art, but his garments  also gives us a glimpse into societal changes in the early 18th century. The Count’s waistcoat and banyan are made of exuberantly patterned ‘bizarre’ silks.  As the Age of Enlightenment progressed, patterns became smaller and more naturalistic, reflecting the 18th century obsession with botany. His banyan also shows the increased exposure between the West and India, and the influence that India would have on fashion, and through the demand for Indian …

Last week I showcased a VERY pink, VERY 18th century influenced Worth gown.  Some of you were sure it was a fancy dress gown, and some of you were equally sure it wasn’t.  Some of you loved it, and some of you thought it was so dreadful it couldn’t possibly be a Worth.  Very mixed reactions!  The ratings evened out at 6.6 out of 10 – not terrible, but certainly not a glowing commendation of the House of Worth. This week’s Rate the Dress is a dance-off: these two lovely ladies each posed as a dancer in almost the same outfit, but with slightly different details.  Your job is to rate each dancer’s outfit, giving each of them a different rating (even if one is, for example, a 6 and the other a 6.5) Which will you find the prettier dancing frock? The first model has the advantage of youth.  She paired the  dun and pink frock with a lace border around the neck and sleeves, self fabric sleeves, a rose-trimmed hat with matching palest …

In case you’ve noticed that I haven’t posted anything for 5 days, it’s due to WordPress problems – I haven’t been able to start or edit posts.  After a desperate bit of ‘throwing away tons of stuff and clearing the cache and updating all the software’ I think I have it working again!  (I hope!)  So here is your slightly belated Rate the Dress… Last week’s Victorian Fairy Godmother dress might have impressed you a lot more if it was better displayed (once again, I’m still impressed at how good the auction house managed to display it at all – unlike a museum, they don’t have a finite collection and infinite amount of time to stye and document a garment), and if it wasn’t such a strange green-gold colour.  Many of you acknowledged that for the event, and for the person and age, it was probably a fantastic choice.  The ratings evened out at 6.8 out of 10 – reasonable, but certainly not a rave rating. This week’s Rate the Dress is inspired by the …