I know that boring colour to bold colour isn’t the most novel or inventive reason to choose a Rate the Dress, but Rate the Dress doesn’t always have to break the mould: sometimes it’s just about picking an interesting dress. Hopefully my choice this week at least fits that category! As to beauty, that’s up to you. Last Week: an 1805 dress of uncertain colour Last week’s Rate the Dress really was the opposite of the dress of the week before: muted hues, simple trimmings, a very different silhouette – and where the bustle dress of all-the-stuff elicited a lengthy and detailed conversation, the restrained Regency frock garnered half the amount of comments. And the rating spread was inverted: most ratings were right in the middle, with only a few on the extremities. The Total: 6.7 out of 10 Last fortnight’s dress was one to love or loathe, last week’s frock did not inspire, but did not offend – and came out with the better rating. But some of us will still adore (or hate) …

This week Rate the Dress goes from very literal trompe l’oeil ruffles, to a dress with an abstract pattern that becomes a textile Rorschach test: what do you see in the ripples and blobs? Last Week: a first-bustle-era morning dress in border-print cotton How you rated last week’s dress really hinged on how you felt about the border print and the trompe l’oeil ruffle. Some of you really enjoyed the print, and thought it was inventive and witty. Others found it fussy, saccharine, and mismatched. And then there was a third segment who liked elements of the dress, but didn’t feel it pulled off the overall look. The Total: 7 out of 10 An unresolved rating for an unresolved dress. This week: an 1890s day dress with all the trimmings This week’s Rate the Dress is an 1890s day dress that might have been worn by the daughter of last week’s dresses owner: it’s equally decadent, impractical, and inventive in its design and use of fabric. Pingat was a top tier Parisian couturier in the …