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 …

Either we’re all a bit argumentative (entirely possible) or I’ve been posting a lot of very divisive Rate the Dresses. They have certainly been distinctive, and I haven’t been going for obvious crowd pleasers. Perhaps this week’s dress will be more universally popular? Or perhaps not! Last Week: a tailored walking dress in plaid I recorded a fashion history lecture for the Costume Construction students at Toi Whakaari today, and one of the things I talked about was the perception of taste in the Victorian era: how they were obsessed with what was good taste and what wasn’t, and how different elements of the Victorian era have subsequently been judged very attractive or unattractive, all per the taste of the era judging them. The point is that good taste is very subjective, and last week’s dress certainly proved that. You all agreed that the outfit showed a great deal of skill on the part of the maker. And that was the only thing you agreed on. Spectacular, hideous, dazzling, nauseating – all options were there! …