Welcome to all the new readers! Last week’s Rate the Dress must have been shared somewhere, because there was a flood of new commenters. I’m down in Christchurch this week, doing research and visiting Lynne (who you’ll recognise as a frequent commenter on Rate the Dress posts). It’s been a hectic few weeks of wrapping up school terms, and I’m tired, and was feeling quite uninspired about this week’s Rate the Dress. Nothing I could think of seemed perfect. So I pulled out all the options, and read out their basic description to Lynne. Purple floral 1880s? Rust on rust 1876? Black & white striped 1869? Yellow with rosettes 1867-8? Lynne picked the last one, on the premise that it’s spring here, and we’re enjoying a beautiful vase of daffodils, and I went for a walk in the daffodil woods in the Christchurch Botanical Gardens today. She was concerned about the rosettes though: rosettes are so often pinked, and her mothers aversion to unfinished edges has remained. She need not worry about unfinished edges, these …

This week’s Rate the Dress is an 1890s dress that’s all rosettes, puffed sleeves and swishing silk.

This week we’re going from vibrant purple to restful green, and from a almost universally popular timeperiod, to one that’s a bit less of a guaranteed crowd pleaser. Can it score a hat-trick of 9.5+ ratings (without any hats involved)? Last Week: a 1912 evening dress by Lucile So many of you loved everything about this dress, and even those who didn’t rate it a perfect 10 only had the tiniest quibbles with its design: finding the colour not quite perfect, or the beads a bit clunky. Even so, it didn’t score a single rating under 8. A real crowd pleaser! The Total: 9.6 out of 10 Just one point shy of the week before. This week: an 1830s dress in morning glory patterned silk Last week’s dress was an easy pick for popularity. Almost everyone loves the early 1910s! The 1830s though? Up until quite recently they have been one of the least favourite decades for historical fashion. However, thanks to avid championing from rockstar costumers like American Duchess (and other talented costumers), the …