One of my favourite things about Rate the Dress is the way it encourages me to find thematic links between different eras, and garments that seem otherwise unrelated.  This week’s 1870s Rate the Dress keeps with the theme of buttons playing peek-a-boo amongst the layers, and adds in a bold and unusual colour scheme that Poiret would have definitely approved of. Last week: Poiret plays with buttons Last week you either liked/really didn’t like the button trim, and thought the back bow ruined/made the dress, and were completely enamoured/turned off by the scalloped hem, and loved/hated the chemise effect and chiffon sleeves.  If any element of the dress was someone’s favourite, it was also someone else’s least favourite! Except for all the ones that only had favourites, and the significantly smaller group that totally disliked it.  It was a bit of a marmite dress. The Total: 7.4 out of 10 A dress where the total really doesn’t reflect the majority of individual feelings: out of 37 ratings, only one was a 7.5! This week: Bright …

Last week:  a brown & blue bustle-era dress So last week’s dress got a bit of attention and comments for something I hadn’t noticed or anticipated.  I think I’ve looked at so many 1880s dresses with centre front gathers, swags, and ruching that I hadn’t realised that at times, as with the blue & brown dress, it could be a bit…anatomical… But not everyone saw that unfortunate potential: lots of you actually saw a crisply tailored dress in a playful take on two elegantly subdued colours. And then some of you thought it was just boring The Total: 7.8 out of 10 Not bad, not great. This week: This week’s pick is a 1920s frock by Poiret, which balances the new move towards streamlined and simple with his trademark eye for details and sense of humour and whimsy. The silhouette is a simple mid-1920s sheath, but it is enlivened with elaborately scalloped hems and upper sleeves: The heavier black of the dress is lightened with frothy lower sleeves and a matching faux chemise neckline: A …

It’s always so interesting to see why people do or don’t like a dress: because it appeals to them intellectually, or on a purely aesthetic level.  Because it would look good on you, or wouldn’t.  Because you can imagine it on you, or because you can imagine it on exactly the right person who is very different to you.  Because you like the era, or don’t.  Because it reminds you of a dress you owned and loved, or something you got made to wear, and hate. So many reasons… Last week:  a 1910s dress in peach pink and cinnamon silk Last week’s dress rating was really one that lived and died on people’s associations.  It got some really high scores, and some really, really low scores.  And a lot of middling scores, which rather perfectly match the final total of… The Total: 7.3 out of 10 And the score droops and deflates like the limp drapes of the dress itself… This week: a brown & blue bustle-era dress I have a fascination with historical dresses …