The Dreamstress

Last week’s Rate the Dress was quite popular, although not everyone was on board with its colour. For this week’s Rate the Dress I’ve picked a very different dress, but one in the most-suggested alternate hue for last week’s frock.

Last Week:  an 1882-3 day dress in fawn brown

Last week’s dress was way, way, way more popular than I thought it would be! I just didn’t expect people to be in to fawn brown, all the pleats + lace, and the very unusual front pocket situation. But it turns out you just really, really like pockets. And some people even like fawn brown!

The Total: 9.2 out of 10

A very elegant effort.

This week:  a blue velvet robe de style by Poiret

This week’s Rate the Dress is a robe de style by Paul Poiret. While the overall shape is typical of a robe de style, in typical Poiret fashion it combines unusual and inventive elements to give a twist to the standard shape.

This take on the robe de style features multicolour embroidery on a blue-grey velvet ground, forming a pointed collar which frames the neck, and a girdle which emphasises the dropped waist and fine pleating of the skirt. The effect is medieval-esque, turning the dress into a garment that is both the princess’s robes and the jesters tunic.

The girdle of embroidery dips to an unexpected point at the back. Unless the Met really messed this one up, and put the dress on the form backwards.

The dress is both winter and spring in its colours and materials: cosy enough for cold days, but with a playfulness that suggests new flowers.

What do you think? Has the experimentation worked?

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, so I can find it!  And 0 is not on a scale of 1 to 10.  Thanks in advance!)

I missed Rate the Dress last week because I had too much on – which was not the case for the dress and spencer themselves, which you deemed almost perfectly decorated. This week I’m pushing the ‘how much can you put on a dress’ envelope – but in a surprisingly restrained way.

Last Week: an 1820s dress & spencer ensemble

A couple of you were lukewarm about the dress, but most of you loved the detailing, the pairing of blush and cream, and the wardrobe options that a dress and spencer would allow.

The Total: 9.5 out of 10

Practically perfect – the bride (if it was a bride) can feel that her dress passed the test of time

This week: an 1882-3 day dress in fawn brown

The description of this dress in my post title may make it sound like a lot. There’s pleats, on pleats, with lace trim, and overskirts, and overbodices with very interesting peplum effects, and oh-so-many buttons down the front:

But all of this (excepting the lace) is done in one fabric, in a very restrained colour.

What do you think? Still too much? Or has the drab colour scheme managed to make even all that decoration dull?

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, so I can find it!  And 0 is not on a scale of 1 to 10.  Thanks in advance!)