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 …

I’d intended this week’s pick for Christmas week, but it felt so right for this week you’re getting it early. I guess I’ll have to find something different and fun for next week! Last Week:  a blue velvet robe de style by Poiret There was much discussion about last week’s dress and whether it was back to front on the mannequin, with most people leaning towards a high likelyhood that it was indeed on backwards. So, the dress was backwards, and the ratings were divided: if I broke the high scores and low scores in half at 6, We’d have two ratings: one of 9, and one of 4. But since I do a mean rating…. The Total: 7.7 out of 10 Sometimes the mean does not reflect the mode! This week:  a natural form era in red silk with rosettes and roses Last week’s dress was all about simplicity and innovation. This week’s dress is anything but simple: It is, however, from another era that was all about experimentation and invention. The late 1870s …