All posts filed under: Rate the dress

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

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 …

Evening ensemble, Elsa Schiaparelli, summer 1940; silk, metal, wool; French. The Metropolitan Museum of Art 2009.300.3165a,b. (1)

Rate the Dress: Schiaparelli Stripes

Sorry for another run of Rate-the-Dresses in a row, with no posts between them. Unfortunately I’m down with a cold, so haven’t been up to much else. Last Week: a late 1880s evening dress A few of you liked last week’s Ludinart dress, but most of you weren’t enthused: you didn’t like the tacked on hem frill, or the abrupt difference between the front and the back. Opinions were divided on the bow sleeves: were they fabulous or terrible? Daniel pointed out that it looked like a dress to get your portrait done in. I’ve been looking at a lot of Sargent this week, and I can definitely see one of his sitters wearing it. The portrait reviews would probably have been a lot better than the dress: Sargent makes everything look good. The Total: 6.9 out of 10 Definitely not a Worth! This week:   This week I’m going from a relatively unknown dressmaker, to a couturier who was an absolute acknowledged master of her craft. Love her work or hate her work, there …

Rate the Dress: 1880s evening pastels

I’m feeling a little sad that I missed so many of the amazing creations at Gala Night at Costume College, and a little sad that I couldn’t ever have taken a heavier, more elaborate dress as a Gala outfit anyway (luggage allowance woes), combined with a bit of peace that I won’t be going again anyway. So I’ve been dream Gala dress browsing: enjoying all the heavy Victorian creations that I could never fit into a 23 kilo suitcase. This week’s dress reminds me a little of my Juno gown. Once you assembled all the accessories and undergarments they would need either would be too much of a space and weight hog to take. So we’ll just have to enjoy them online! Last Week: a 1900s suit in ruby red wool Last week’s red suit was clearly a bit costume-y, but in the right way, because so many of you wanted to dress your favourite heroine (or anti-heroine) in it, from Carmen Sandiego to Irene Adler. The one bit that some of you weren’t convinced …