All posts filed under: 20th Century

The ‘Bambi & Bows’ 1929 dress

Whew! A day late, but my dress for the HSF ‘Pink’ challenge is done! Things got held up by a nasty attack of hayfever, which turned into a nasty cold. And at the same time I’ve got a massive, top-secret, super-exciting project to work on: the biggest project I’ve ever had. And it’s amazing. And due on the 28th. And in the meantime I’ve got a trip away to Napier’s Art Deco weekend, and a trip away to Auckland on the weekend of the 2nd of March. So for a while not much happened with the fabric except Felicity lying on it: But this weekend I hauled myself out of bed, and, with the help of a box of tissues, I alternated an hour on The Project and an hour on my dress, and got it done late on Sunday. As you can tell, the fabric is indeed pink, and features darling fawns with bows around their necks scattered across it. The English-language edition of ‘Bambi, A Life in the Woods‘ was published in 1928 …

Terminology: What is cire?

Published by The Dreamstress

Cire is a highly glazed wax finish applied to fabric through a process of heat and pressure, known as calendering (remember calamanco?) which is giving a wet or polished look. The name can also refer to the fabric or garment with the resultant finish. The process tends to produce a stiffer, crisper fabric per weight. It is sometimes, particularly in interior decorating, called a French wax finish. The term dates to the 1910s, when high fashion garments played with contrasts in fabric and textures, and the shiny, wet look of cire lent an edgy modern twist to combinations of chiffons and brocades and satin. Cire literally means waxed, so the first references to it are to waxed flowers. This Worth evening coat features “a collar of ruched velvet, tied with two ribbons held by a roundels of satin and wax flowers”. Cire treated fabrics were popular throughout the 20s, particularly as cire ribbons. Cire reached its zenith in the 30s, when frocks in cire taffeta, cire satin, and even cire lace (ah, a time when …

Rate the Dress: Schiaparelli’s not-shocking pink

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week’s summer suit proved difficult for many of you. You wanted it to be one thing or another, and struggled with the transitional silhouette, neither Edwardian pigeon-breast, nor Empire-Revival, nor later-teens tailoring. Or you struggled with the colour – too neutral, too drab, too boring. Or you struggled with the embroidery – too drooping, too unflattering on a large busted woman (so unfair! Not all dresses can be made for large-busted women! There has to be something for us flatties to wear!). And yet, after listing all the things you didn’t like about it, many of you gave it very high ratings, and it came in 7.4 out of 10. It was an outfit that you liked in spite of yourself. I had an incredibly difficult time picking something for this week’s ‘Rate the Dress’. My last few picks haven’t been very popular, so I didn’t want to pick something too obviously problematic, but at the same time, there isn’t much fun in showing you one of the historical costuming ‘best-sellers’ that has been …