This week’s Rate the Dress goes from fish to flora, with a cornflower bedecked 1870s concoction. And concoction is really the only way to describe it… Last Week:  a 1920s day dress with ‘scale’ scallops Last week’s dress was quite popular, other than a small group that expressed strong dislike. More than 3/4 of the ratings were 8-9, which is extremely, and unusually, consistent. Very few perfect scores though: most of you weren’t quite on-board with the ‘fish tum’. The Total: 7.3 out of 10 Despite the strong showing of ratings 8 & up, the small core who really didn’t like the dress pulled the overall score down. The ratings have been creeping up over the last few weeks, but it’s been slow, and still not impressive. Maybe this week will break the 8 barrier? Or drop us down again? This week: an 1870s day dress in summer florals Today’s pick is an excellent example of an early 1870s crinoline-to-bustle era transitional garment. The sweet floral pattern and the frills are typical of the romantic 18th …

Since very patterned fabric and trim was divisive last week, this week I’ve gone for a very plain fabric, with no trim whatsoevery. But it’s definitely not boring a boring dress: whatever else it might be, all in one colour and trimless as it is, it’s distinctive. Last Week: an 1850s chine a la branche day dress There was a decided fork in the ratings branch(e) when it came to judging last week’s chine crinoline. Either you liked the fabric, or you didn’t. And either you were sure the trim must have been symmetrical, or couldn’t forgive that it wasn’t. The Total: 7.1 out of 10 Well, it’s an improvement on the week before – more jam with pips than vegemite in the universally appealing scale! This week:  a 1920s day dress with ‘scale’ scallops Since last week’s fabric was so divisive, and trim was so divisive, this week I present a dress that’s completely devoid of trim, and in a very simple, restful eu de nil silk chiffon. The dresses main design feature is …

Thank you to everyone who comment on my post on climate change and mental health. I really appreciate your support, suggestions, and empathy. I’m still working through them, and allowing myself to do just a little bit every day to cope, and even though I haven’t managed to respond yet, I really appreciate that you took the time to comment. One thing that does generally help me is having a schedule, so, although it’s a day late, here’s Rate the Dress. Last Week:  an 1890s evening dress by Mrs Cuttle Here in NZ things that people either really like, or really don’t like, are sometimes described as ‘the vegemite option’ (or, ‘the marmite option’, because using either immediately triggers a vehement argument about which is the better/true extremely weird tasting yeast spread). Vegemite is either something you like, or…isn’t (unless you’re me, and you think it’s revolting as you eat it, and then immediately want another piece of vegemite toast) Last week’s dress was vegemite. And, carrying on the analogy, only a few of you …