This week’s Rate the Dress moves from orderly paisley, to a more unruly pattern that mixes shapes, textures and floral types with wild abandon. Will asymmetry, fringe, and wreaths of roses over orchid lei beat out last week’s rating?
Last week’s 1850s frock made some of you remember how disappointed you were to discover that adult life involved far too few balls (after all, what’s the point of being an adult if not tea parties and balls?), and made others think of their least favourite salad greens and dressing combination (as a farmer’s daughter, I’m very alarmed if you’re buying lettuce in that shade of green, but I have no quibble with anyone who wants to claim that mayonnaise is revolting, particularly as a salad dressing).
The Total: 8.1 out of 10
Well, it definitely beat the bustle dress of the week before!
This week:
I’m keeping with the feminine, romantic feel of last weeks dress, but in a very different era, and with a gold tinged take on feminine and romantic, rather than green.
Dinner dress, 1910—12, American, silk, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.300.1303
This early 1910s dinner dress combines a fabric with a motif of rose wreaths floating over textured satin and matte orchids and leis with lace, net, braiding, oversized faux buttons, rosettes, and a net fringe. It’s a lot, but all held together by a restrained pastel colour scheme.
Dinner dress, 1910—12, American, silk, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009.300.1303
The dress is identifiable as a dinner or reception dress because the neckline is higher than a ballgown, but lower and more revealing than a day dress. The train and luxe fabric place it firmly in formal wear territory for the early 1910s.
What do you think? Too many disparate elements, or a beautiful balance of details and subtlety?
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! Thanks in advance!)
