All posts filed under: Rate the dress

Dress, American, mid-19th century, Silk taffeta, cotton twill lining, plush velvet buttons, silk ribbon trim, whalebone, Gift of Miss Eleanor E. Barry, MFA Boston, 53.2222a-b

Rate the Dress: scalloped ruffle sleeves

Published by The Dreamstress

This week on Rate the Dress we’re looking at a ca. 1860 plaid day dress.  Just like last week’s 1780s francaise it combines a very classic silhouette of its era with a few interesting design elements. Last Week:  a 1770-80 française in green striped silk Oooh, you did like last week’s dress…   The lowest rating was an 8, and the only complaints people had was that the stripes were a little cucumber-y. In an amazing bit of synchronisity to the melon comments, a friend just learned about the Hawai’ian ae-ae banana, and sent me a photo of a stalk in just these colours. The Total: 9.8 out of 10 That is really almost perfect! This week: a ca. 1860 dress in stripey plaid This day dress is an excellent example of its time.  It shows fashion just moving from the round crinoline of the 1850s into the elliptical hoop silhouette that would dominate the 1860s. It’s a dress in two parts, with a seperate bodice and skirt.  The bodice features front buttons, a small …

Rate the Dress: Fresh green française stripes

Published by The Dreamstress

This week’s Rate the Dress may be familiar to many of you.  For others, it may be a happy (or, this being Rate the Dress, indifferent) introduction.  Whichever the case, I hope you enjoy looking at it more closely! Last Week:  an 1810s dress is very, very yellow silk There’s quite a lot that people agreed on about last week’s frock.  You agreed the dress was indeed very historically-accurate-Bridgerton-esque.  That it was most likely later than the date given by the family (which did mean it was exactly the right era to be worn by the sisters).  You almost all thought the sleeves were very nice indeed.  And that the hem treatment was clumsy and unrefined, but that the overall effect was deliciously sunny and happy. In fact, this was one of the most concensus-y dresses we’ve had in a long time.  There was two ratings for 10, and one for 6, but every other rating clusetered in the 7-9 range, with the vast majority at 8-8.5.  Which means it should be no surprise that …

Evening Dress, silk and blonde lace, 1815, said to have been worn by Miss Mary Ann Knapp and Miss Sarah Ann Knapp, who were born in 1802 and 1803, respectively, Helen Larson private collection sold by Whitakers Auctions

Rate the Dress: Yellow & Blonde late Regency

Published by The Dreamstress

I have a confession. This week’s Rate the Dress is a backup. I had the perfect thing picked out, but when I when to write up this post…the MFA Boston’s collection website was down! So I grabbed a random thing off my Rate the Dress possibilities list. And that’s what you get! Last Week a 1920s dress of voided velvet in vibrant orange Not everyone was sure that they personally could get away with wearing last week’s 20s frock. For me that’s the joy of Rate the Dress: appreciating all the things that wouldn’t suit you, but are still masters of what they are! Despite the little question about wearability, most of you loved the frock. A couple couldn’t get past that classic ’20s shape, and a few of you pointed out that it really was just a very basic 20s dress, albeit in a very nice fabric. The Total: 9.5 out of 10 Most appropriately to its colour, I think we could say this was a marmalade dress, instead of a marmite dress. Significantly …