All posts filed under: 19th Century

Rate the dress: Cabanel’s young lady

I don’t know what you thought of last week’s Rate the Dress, because I’ve been focusing on camping, not blogging (yay!), so I hope I capture your attention by continuing the theme of patterned fabric, but moving from a red dress to a redhead. Alexandre Cabanel is most noted for his rather melodramatic fantasy and mythological paintings, but for a brief period in the 1880s he did a lovely series of portraits. This one depicts an unknown young woman in a very fitted dress of flowered peach brocade and ice blue duchesse satin trimmed with lace. We don’t know who she is. We don’t know exactly when or why the portrait was done. We can, however, still discuss the dress. What do you think? Too mature? Too fussy? Odd colour combination? Or sublime? Rate the dress on a scale of 1 to 10.

Pretty picnic photographs

Published by The Dreamstress

So, I was planning to show you picnic photographs from the 1860s and 70s. But it turns out there aren’t many picnic photographs from these decades. There are lots from the very advent of photography, and then lots again starting in the 1890s, but 1860-1890 is a no-picnic-photograph zone. So you are going to have to settle for two images of lovely ladies in picnic suitable ensembles. A nice simple dress and hat, perfect for a pastoral picnic. I like that the dress is worn without hoops. Her not-quite-a-bonnet not-quite-a-bergere hat is adorable. And the slightly worn shoe peeping out at the hem is a great touch. The Comtesse de Castiglione did a series of photographs of herself in the different stages of the day. For midday she is dressed for a picnic, with parasol, wrap, floral bonnet, plates and bottles of refreshments. She looks much more staged and less natural than the lady above. The bottles are cool though. And the scalloped hem is a nice touch. ETA: need more picnic ideas for …

Picnic ensembles for 1871

Published by The Dreamstress

Now that we have seen how artists interpreted outdoor clothes in the early 1870s, lets take a look at some real outfits that might have been worn to picnics in 1871. For the ladies, dresses would most likely be of plain, unpatterned fabric, trimmed with fringe, braid, and bias strips in either matching or contrasting tones. The silhouette and would demonstrate the change from the back heavy, oval hoops of the 1860s to the bustled 1870s silhouette. Fabrics would be of wool, silk, or cotton depending on the weather, and how fashionable and up-to-date the wearer was. Four silk dresses: If the weather was relatively cool, very fashionable ladies might wear highly trimmed silk dresses, such as this one: The design and trim of this dress are very similar to the one shown in Monet’s painting on Monday. In warmer weather, light cotton dresses similar to the ones shown in Monet’s Women in the Garden would be ideal. These dresses are quite easily soiled and torn, but also easily put together. They seem to have …