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Rate the Dress: Pastel Pink Over-Robes

I’ve got Regency on my mind at the moment. It’s probably because I have absolutely no events coming up for which I need a Regency frock, so my wayward mind is fixating on the most impractical thing it can think of! So, this week’s Rate the Dress is 1790s…

Last Week: A 1910s dress in devore velvet and metallic lace

I’ll let you in on a secret. I think last week’s dress is hideous. And I don’t know why, because I usually love that style of dress, and the individual elements. I’m ashamed to say it may be the presentation: I’m usually good at overlooking presentation, but somehow that too-tall mannequin and bare foot is just a bit offputting…

Luckily for the dresses final rating, you do not agree with me. Other than the big beaded element at the bust you were on-board with the dress, finding the devore divine, and the gold lace the perfect amount of gilding.

The Total: 9.3 out of 10

Just .1 point shy of the week before!

This week: a 1790s over-robe in pale pink

I spent a little bit of time browsing the Met’s website, indulging my obsession, and came across this week’s Rate the Dress pick. It’s only an open-robe, shown with what I’m 99% sure is a reproduction underpetticoat, but I think it’s fascinating enough to be worth it’s own Rate the Dress. Hopefully you’ll feel the same way!

*Robe, 1790s, American, silk, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998.269*

This pink and gold open robe is a perfect blend of ancien regime grandeur meets neoclassical simplicity, from the fabric which blends brocaded lushness with a more severe and restrained pattern, to the cut, which evokes both the classical world and a robe a la francaise.

The pale pink silk fabric features subtle textures satin stripes and delicate motifs worked in silver gilt thread.

The neckline of the robe is framed with a self fabric ruffle which nods to the tuckers of earlier fashion, and frames the full ‘buffoun’ neckerchief so fashionable in the 1780s and 90s. As is common in sleeve cuts of the era, the stripes are placed to run vertically along the top of the narrow sleeves, becoming horizontal at the crook of the elbow.

What do you think? Is this overgown exquisitely elegance, taking a simple white frock and elevating it to something spectacular? Or is it neither here nor there as a fashion piece: unwilling to commit to one aesthetic or another?

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. Phrase criticism as your opinion, rather than a flat fact. 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

Felicity the sewing cat thedreamstress.com

The Rules According to Felicity

Published by The Dreamstress

#1 Thou Shalt Not Touch the Tummy

I will show it off all I want, but your fingers and my tums better not make contact. The Leimomi-Person is allowed to kiss it, but no-one else is.

#2 Thou Wilt Be Slept With

If you take a nap in the house, I take a nap with you. At least for a little bit. No matter how exciting the other things going on are. That’s the rule.

#3 If Multiple Beds are Occupied I Sleep With the Leimomi-Person

Sometimes when the Leimomi-Person or the Man-Person is nice and warm and makes lots of annoying cough-y bark-y sounds the other one sleeps in the guest bedroom. The Leimomi-Person must be slept with, so I sleep with her no matter what bed she’s in.

#4 Guests Must Be Greeted

If you knock and stand outside the front door talking to the People you are not a guest. You are an Interloper and should be viewed with caution and suspicion from behind the safety of the Person. If you stand in the entry and talk with the Person you are a Visitor and should be inspected carefully, but not greeted. If you are asked into the lounge you are a Guest, and will be greeted with meeps and a demand to sniff you hand – preferably from a vantage point as near to your height as possible, like a couch arm or the coffee table.

#5 Thou Shalt Not Say ‘No’

The Leimomi-Person is very bad and is always breaking this rule. Particularly when I’ve found an especially nice pattern or bit of fabric to practice my scratching on.

#6 If it’s on the Floor, it’s Mine to Scratch

The Leimomi-Person does not understand this rule, and is always breaking Rule #5 in regards to it, particularly when a lovely Guest who I have properly greeted has set their lovely expensive leather handbag on the floor as an offering to The Claws.

#7 If Thou has been out of the House for more than Four Hours Thou Must Immediately Present The Lap

I have missed The Lap. I must make sure it is still there, and as good as I remember it.

#8 Thou Shalt Not Offer Me Any Fish but The Tuna

It doesn’t matter if it is fresh, tinned, or dried and flaked, I eats The Tuna. The Leimomi-Person has stopped eating all the fish, and while I don’t care about The Salmon or The Warehou or The Gurnard, I miss The Tuna.

#9 Thou Shalt Let Me Sniff-Inspect Thine Food

I don’t want to eat it, I just want to know what it is. Don’t make me have to climb up to where you are eating and pull your hand over in front of my nose with my paw, but I will if I have to.

#10 Food-Only Places are Forbidden. Sewing Places are Allowed

Sewing never goes on the kitchen benchtops, so I never go on the kitchen benchtops. Sometimes the Leimomi-Person puts sewing on the dining room table and the coffee table, so I go on the dining room table and the coffee table. The Leimomi-Person tried to break Rule #5 about this, but she’s given up.

#11 Thou Shalt Not Wear a Fluro Vest

Fluro safety vests are an abomination unto Felicity, and if I see a person in one I’ll hiss and spit at them. I’ve never told the Leimomi-Person why, but I have my reasons…

#12 Thou Shalt Not Play Animal Sounds from Thy Tappy Lap-Warming Machine

I know those meows and birdsongs aren’t real, and I’ll only give you my most withering look.

#13 The Bed Must be Entered from the Man-Person’s bedside table

It is the right and proper way. If you dump me off the bed on the Leimomi-Person’s side I’ll walk around, hop back up to the MP’s bedside table, back on to the bed from there.

#14 Bedtime is 10pm

Why do you naughty people keep staying up later, making me hang out in the hallway, reminding you with meeps, and herding you to bed? Just go to bed at the proper time!

And since it’s bedtime, I’ll end this here…

Devore velvet evening dress trimmed with metallic lace, c.1910 sold by VintageTextile.com

Rate the Dress: Second Decade Devore

Published by The Dreamstress

Everybody knows that the 1910s are my favourite decade, and it’s been a while since I featured one on Rate the Dress, so that’s this week’s theme.

But of course, while I might like the decade, I don’t love every example… Is this week’s pick one you’ll like?

Last Week: an 1860s day dress in raspberry pink

Well, when it comes to last week’s dress, you all agree with Maggie Prescott – it’s time to #thinkpink!

The Total: 9.4 out of 10

Pink perfection!

This week: A 1910s dress in devore velvet and metallic lace

Last week’s dress was big, with bold design flourishes. This week I’ve gone for the slim, sleek lines of the 1910s, with an evening dress in devore velvet and metallic lace.

The layers of different fabric, with contrasting textures of stiff lace, plush velvet, silky underlayers and glass beads, is typical of the aesthetics of the era.

Also typical is the mix of symmetry and asymmetry.

The front bodice is balanced: a shallow scoop of neck, and swooping winged sleeves of gold lace, all held with an oversized beaded embellishment.

The front beading is balanced by a large clip holding the back wrap, and more embellishment anchoring twin sashes of metallic gold.

It’s unclear if the back bodice is purposefully unbalanced, or simply mounted badly, with the back wrap off kilter.

What do you think? Is this example the epitome of late Edwardian elegance?

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