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Rate the Dress: Edwardian pink and Lace

Wearing History and I are hosting Edwardian & the Great War March on Instagram: (TagL  #greatwarmarch)  for all of March, carrying on from American Duchesses’ Victorian February and Dames a la Modes Georgian January.

If you’re on IG you can join us by sharing anything relevant to the daily theme from between 1900-1924 and tagging @wearinghistory and I (@thedreamstress)

Edwardian & Great War March #greatwarmarch hosted by @wearinghistory and @thedreamstress

To celebrate, March’s Rate the Dresses will be themed to those years. There is a ton of variations in fashion from between 1900-1924, so I don’t think you’ll get bored!

Last week:  a beaded ca. 1810 dress

No one could deny that the beading on last week’s dress was exceptional.  Some of you found the dress itself a little nightgown-y.  That beading definitely wouldn’t have been fun to sleep on!

The Total: 8 out of 10

Mostly I think for the beading!  Without it the dress wouldn’t be anything.

This week: a late Edwardian dress in pink velvet and lace

Dress, 1910’s From the collection of Alexandre Vassiliev

Dress, ca. 1910, From the collection of Alexandre VassilievThis afternoon or restrained evening dress combines the lush romanticism of the early Edwardian era with the vivid hues and more streamlined silhouette made popular by the Ballet Russes and other modernist and exotic influences.

The layering of fabrics and textures is typical of ca. 1910 fashion.  Delicate, sheer tulle mutes the lush cyclamen pink silk velvet.  The circular and floral lace applied to the tulle appears to be an earlier 19th century lace – possibly from the 1860s.  The final layer of lace is a lush metallic lace, which adds visual weight to the hem and borders, and carries out the progression of textures from light to heavy.

What do you think?  Do the materials work together?  Does the saturated pink keep it from being too sweet?

Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10

(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!)

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Labyrinth with Wearing History Nanette Blouse thedreamstress.com01

The Nanette Blouse goes geeky

What do you do if you realise that if you add a wig, grey leggings and a vest to the Wearing History Nanette Blouse, you have a perfect Jareth from Labyrinth costume?

Obviously you have a Labyrinth photoshoot!

Labyrinth with Wearing History Nanette Blouse thedreamstress.com

And what do you do when your friend’s 11 month old looks exactly like Toby from Labyrinth had a twin sister?

Obviously you make little Tobie a red & white striped top and leggings, and steal her for your photoshoot!

Labyrinth with Wearing History Nanette Blouse thedreamstress.com

Don’t worry, I gave her back before the 13 hours was up!

Labyrinth with Wearing History Nanette Blouse thedreamstress.com

It turns out that Labyrinth is a great theme for a kiddie photoshoot, because you get to use fun sparkly props.  They are perfect for keeping the wee one distracted and looking in the right direction.   My sparkle is a Czech glass necklace and the prism top from a decanter – I was improvising!

Labyrinth with Wearing History Nanette Blouse thedreamstress.com

Labyrinth with Wearing History Nanette Blouse thedreamstress.com

My makeup is another improvisation.  It was all done with a single $5 eyeshadow palette!  I’m not a makeup expert (to put it mildly), so I was really pleased with the outcome.

Labyrinth with Wearing History Nanette Blouse thedreamstress.com

I’m not so pleased with the wig.   It’s a wee bit too sticky-upy, and a wee bit black and white. I had to order it weeks in advance and there wasn’t time to find an alternative once I realised I didn’t love it.

Those familiar with New Zealand plants will notice that these photos were taken a few months ago – it just took me a while to process them.

Labyrinth with Wearing History Nanette Blouse thedreamstress.com

The photos were taken by little Tobie’s mum (on my camera) and dad (using theirs).  Mr D came along and played background support and interference.

Tobie loves Mr D, and loved being the centre of attention, with me dangling pretties, and mum and dad and Mr D all cooing at her, so for a long time we had an extremely happy, cooperative baby.

Labyrinth with Wearing History Nanette Blouse thedreamstress.com

Eventually though, she got tired, and hungry, and all the smiles stopped.

Labyrinth with Wearing History Nanette Blouse thedreamstress.com

The perils of working with small children!

You can see a more serious version of me in my Nanette Blouse here.

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Rate the Dress: brief bodices and beads, ca 1810

Sometimes I know exactly what I want to post for Rate the Dress, and that it is the perfect theme. Other times, like this week, I have no idea. What I finally settled on this week wasn’t my first choice, or my second, or even my third.  Sometimes settling is a good thing, because if I hadn’t, I might not have looked at it up close, and found out that it was so much more interesting than I had thought.

How so?  Scroll down to find out!

Last week:  A Wedding Ensemble from 1887

Well, Louise Carnegie picked well, both when it came to men, and to fashion, because her choice of wedding ensemble was very well received.  A few of you didn’t care for the red-trimmed bodice variation (but then, some of you did), and not all of you were entirely sold on the colours.  Interestingly, most of you saw the dress as sort of a khaki or light olive colour.  Personally I thought it was a grey, with just the tiniest hint of brown.

The Total: 9.6 out of 10

Well, it was a nice day for a non-white wedding!  Fully two-thirds of the ratings were 10, and only two of them were under 9, so the total score should come as no surprise.

This week: a beaded ca. 1810 dress

I’ve looked at this ca. 1810 dress a number of times over the years, and thought that the elaborate coloured decorations, combined with the otherwise extreme simplicity of the dress, set it aside from the usual ‘white Regency frock’ category, and made it a good candidate for Rate the Dress.

It wasn’t until I settled on it this week, and looked at the detail images that I realised the decorative motifs are not, as I’d always assumed, embroidery, but are instead beading.

There are just a few touches of embroidery around the beads.

The beadwork makes the dress so much more interesting (although not necessarily more attractive) in my mind.  The beads would help weigh down the hem of the dress, so it would swing and swish around the wearer.  They would also catch the light and sparkle in the evening, lending depth and dimensionality to the dress.

Though largely intact, there are a few places where some beads have clearly come loose, making the design not quite as symmetrical and complete as it once was.

If the beading looks slightly similar to Native American beadwork in places, that’s probably because this exact type of bead was used as trading beads in the Americas.

Other than the beading, this dress is extremely simple in cut, with a slightly darted bodice, and a back-opening that fastens with drawstring ties.

Dress, 1804—15, Austrian, cotton & glass, Metropolitan Museum of Art, C.I.39.13.52

Dress, 1804—15, Austrian, cotton & glass, Metropolitan Museum of Art, C.I.39.13.52

The too-long sleeves, by the way, are a typically 1810s feature.  They were both intentional and fashionable.

What do you think? Is it a beaded beauty?  Or a combination of bland and bizarre?

Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10

(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!)