All posts filed under: Rate the dress

Rate the Dress: 1910s blue, bustling & stripes

Published by The Dreamstress

If there was a complaint about last week’s Rate the Dress, it was that it was prim, buttoned up, and while extremely fashionable, also extremely safe. This week I’ve picked a dress that is also extremely fashionable, but definitely a bit wacky. What will you make of it? Last Week: a ca. 1880 wedding dress It’s always interesting to do wedding dresses as Rate the Dress options. Do you rate them as a fashionable dress of that era, or as a wedding dress. Should a wedding dress be an excuse for extravagance and ridiculousness, or be conventional, safe and modest in its outlook towards fashion? How the ratings on last week’s dress fell depended partly on how you felt on that front – and then on whether you liked the disparate elements of that dress. The Total: 7.8 out of 10 Not really the score a bride would hope for! This week:  a early-mid teens dress in bold stripes and bold cut The Goldstein Museum of Design dates this dress to 1915-18, but I think …

Wedding dress, Silk faille, silk satin, cotton lace (machine), silk and cotton lining, ca. 1880, Musee McCord

Rate the Dress: Here Comes the Bride (ca. 1880)

Published by The Dreamstress

If last week’s patterned fabric wasn’t to your taste, never fear, there is no print to worry about this week! Or, for that matter, colour, because this week’s Rate the Dress looks at an all-white wedding dress. Last Week: a Française in chine silk Not everyone was a fan of the fabric, and the compere front didn’t win any awards, but the overall response to the française was very positive. 18th century prettiness and pattern matching are always popular! The Total: 8.7 out of 10 A definite improvement on the last few weeks.   This week:  a ca. 1880 wedding dress We don’t know the name of the bride who wore this week’s wedding dress, but we can assume she was a woman of some means (or, at least came from a wealthy family). The dress is impeccably made, beautifully fitted, very fashionable, and totally impractical. White wedding dresses had gone from fashionable, but by no means required, to practically mandatory for wealthy brides following Queen Victoria’s choice of a white wedding dress almost 50 …

Robe à la Française, 1760, Les Arts Decoratifs

Rate the Dress: Chine Française

Published by The Dreamstress

This week’s rate the dress is focused on one of my favourite fabrics, and favourite dress styles (though neither necessarily means I love this example – when it’s your favourite you get picky!) Last Week: a mid 19th-century ensemble in green florals and bows Sooo…that was a no from you on the bows then? You thought they were too twee, or too clashing (or too twee and too clashing). The fringed plaid ribbon got a somewhat better response, with at least half of you thinking the mix of florals and checks was very effective. Of course, the other half thought it was very awful. What was a win was my description of the dress’s style as ‘demure fussiness A confession: I liked the bows! I felt their hue freshened up the colours of the dress, and their non-matching-ness was so perfectly mid-Victorian, and exactly the note of levity the dress needed. Lisa, Vivian, Paula & I can be team #gobowsgo (apologies if I missed any other bow champions!) (and extra mega-bonus points if you get …