Last week’s Rate the Dress was very spring-y, and extremely popular. This week’s puffs and polka dots Rate the Dress looks towards winter, and the coming holidays (because November 20 is my arbitrary date for Christmas-y stuff not being disgustingly early). Will it be equally popular?
Last week: an 1770s-80s pink gown
Well, strawberry ice cream is everyones favourite flavour of dress, because no one disliked last week’s dress. In fact, every score but one was a 9 or above. And most were 10s.
The Total: 9.9 out of 10
In Rate the Dress terms, that is a PERFECT score!
This week: an 1890s dress in dark green ribbed velvet and chiffon, with appliqued polka dots, puffed sleeves and more
Jeanne Hallee isn’t the most famous of late 19th century label, and unlike her better known contemporaries (Worth, Pingat et al), she is considered a dressmaker, rather than a couturier. Nonetheless her creations were very high end in their own time, and certainly came with a fair bit of cachet.
Her extent garments all show the unmistakable signs of being extremely well made, and generally have a very distinct character, almost a quirkyness.
This week’s dress is no exception. The soft, draping ribbed velvet (almost a silk corduroy), blouson bodice, and full, sloping sleeves lean towards the aesthetic movement. Their swish and slight droop setting them apart in an era of stiff fabrics and aggressively padded sleeves.
Dinner dress, Jeanne Hallee (French, 1880—1914), 1894—96, French, cotton, silk, metal, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.300.374a, b
The dress is made more unusual, even amongst its aesthetic counterparts, by the touch of vivid crimson at the neck, boldly contrasting with the moss green velvet and chiffon, and by the playful polka-dotted appliques which adorn the chiffon of the upper bodice and skirt stripes.
Dinner dress, Jeanne Hallee (French, 1880—1914), 1894—96, French, cotton, silk, metal, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.300.374a, b
The dots are so similar in hue to the chiffon that from a distance they would be very subtle: visible only by the way the light caught the ridges of the velvet.
Dinner dress, Jeanne Hallee (French, 1880—1914), 1894—96, French, cotton, silk, metal, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.300.374a, b
Up close they are a bold, distinct, and integral part of the dress design.
Dinner dress, Jeanne Hallee (French, 1880—1914), 1894—96, French, cotton, silk, metal, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.300.374a, b
In contrast to the almost graphic simplicity of the skirt, the bodice yoke and sleeves are elaborately detailed and ruffled.
The fine pleating of the chiffon echoes the ridges of the corduroy, and the metallic banding, now sadly tarnished, is used to form trompe l’oeil bracelets and necklaces at wrist and yoke.
This is definitely a very distinctive garment – one for someone with a strong personal sense of style.
What do you think of it?
Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10
A reminder about rating — feel free to be critical if you don’t like a thing, but make sure that your comments aren’t actually insulting to those who do like a garment. Our different tastes are what make Rate the Dress so interesting. It’s no fun when a comment implies that anyone who doesn’t agree with it, or who would wear a garment, is totally lacking in taste.
(as usual, nothing more complicated than a .5. I also hugely appreciate it if you only do one rating, and set it on a line at the very end of your comment, so I can find it! And 0 is not on a scale of 1 to 10. Thanks in advance!)
