All posts filed under: Rate the dress

Rate the Dress: Callot Soeurs & a quest for the source of inspiration

I swear I wasn’t thinking about a continuous theme at all when I browsed for this week’s Rate the Dress! But what do you know…it’s once again a back vs front dress, this time with a very ornamented front, and quite plain back. Last Week: an 1890s Liberty Tea Gown Although tea gowns weren’t primarily meant for tea parties, the ratings for last week’s Liberty example were rather like black tea with milk: very popular with most (at least that’s how tea goes amongst most of the people I know), and vehemently opposed by a small group (you know who you are, oh thee of ‘tea should NEVER be taken with anything but lemon’!). Those who didn’t care for the tea gown were either not a fan of the droopy sleeves, or not a fan of orange. The Total: 8.5 out of 10 Not quite as good as last week, but eminently respectable. It was quite a fun score to add up, because I put the votes in columns of 10, and add up …

Rate the Dress: Tea Gown Time

Published by The Dreamstress

Well, I appear to be on a theme roll, because once again I’ve picked a dress with front view vs back view. This one is quite intentional though: it’s a tea gown with a specific over-robe effect. Last Week: an early 1860s dress in blue floral silk Last week’s dress was the opposite of the week before’s. A fortnight ago you liked the back view but not the front, last week you loved the front, but if you had any quibbles it was that you thought the additional back tails were awkward and misplaced. The dress was also quite different to last weeks in that many of you absolutely loved it – somewhat to my surprise. The Total: 8.9 out of 10 Not quite perfection, but getting there! This week: an 1890s Liberty Tea Gown This Liberty tea gown has all the classic elements that make a tea gown: a robe effect with an unbroken line flowing past the waist, rather decadent sleeves, and elements of exoticism and romantic historicism. It’s no surprise this tea …

Dress, ca. 1863, French, silk, Purchase, Judith and Ira Sommer Gift, 1999, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999.123a—c

Rate the Dress: Blue Flowers & Big Skirts

Published by The Dreamstress

Your opinion on last week’s dress very much depended on whether it was seen from the front of the back. This week I present another dress that is quite different depending on the angle you see it from. How will it fare in comparison to last week’s pick? Last Week: a summer 1940 evening dress by Schiaparelli The verdict on last week’s dress was pretty clear for most of you: fabulous back, boring front. A few people disagreed, and thought the dress would have been overdone with a more elaborate front, and was perfection as it was. And a couple of you went looking and found the matching jacket that could be worn over the dress. I’d deliberately left it off, because the dress was clearly designed to be worn with or without the jacket, and I thought it would be interesting to see your reaction to Schiaparelli’s cutting, without the more obvious flourishes of the jacket. The Total: 7.5 out of 10 A slight improvement on last week, but still rather disappointing. This week: an …