Last week’s Rate the Dress was an evening dress for an event that didn’t usually call for evening wear. This week’s Rate the Dress is a morning dress for…well, presumably exactly what a morning dress was usually worn for. Last Week: a 1920s evening-dress as wedding-dress   Last week’s wedding dress may have been a very unconventional choice, but it was a successful one! Almost everyone loved it, with the few slightly lower scores (it’s a good dress when 8 is the low score!) coming from people who just don’t like the 20s, and couldn’t quite get behind the corsage. The Total: 9.6 out of 10 Resounding approval for the brides pick! This week:  a first-bustle-era morning dress in border-print cotton This week I present an 1870s morning dress in a striking border-print cotton with trompe l’oeil ruffle effect. In the 1870s a morning (not to be confused with mourning!) dress was an informal dress, usually made in less dressy fabrics, such as cotton. A morning dress was worn at home in the earlier part …

It’s the 20s again, and 1920s & 30s frocks are always what I think of when I imagine the perfect New Years outfit.* So this week’s Rate the Dress is a 20s dress for a festive event. Last Week: an 1840s dress in striped silk Last week’s rating were all over the place: a big chunk of 9s & 10s from people who loved the piecing and play of stripes; a smattering of middle ratings from those who liked it, but weren’t quite reconciled to the not-perfect pattern matching, the unusually low berthe, and the muted colours; and a few really, really low scores from people who didn’t like anything about it. The Total: 7.8 out of 10 You can’t please them all! This week: a 1920s dress I think of ’20s frocks as the perfect New Year’s attire, but this week’s Rate the Dress is actually a garment for a different kind of ‘new’: a new beginning. It’s a wedding dress, albeit an unusual blue sleeveless example that departs from the more common ’20s wedding …

After last week’s lush excess of trim and embellishment, the garment I’ve chosen for this week is simple and restrained, relying on the cut and layout of the fabric for interest. Last Week:  a natural form era dress in red silk with rosettes and roses Some of you thought last week’s dress was holiday perfection. Others thought it looked like an over-dressed Christmas tree, and not in a good way. Interestingly, one of the things that came in for a lot of criticism was the way the skirt flared out from the hips. That’s a classic dressmaking trick to create the illusion of a small waist. The Total: 8 out of 10 (I personally thought the dress was just the thing for my favourite Christmas movie. Santa’s everywhere at once, and some of him landed on the dress…) This week:  an 1840s dress in striped silk The Metropolitan Museum of Art identifies this dress as a ‘visiting dress’, but I think a more correct description would be a formal day or dinner dress. Perfectly appropriate …