All posts tagged: 1845

Rate the Dress – Rose Atherton’s 1845 fantasty

Last week Wallis Simpson’s Yves Saint Laurent frock showed us that while the question of whether you can ever be too rich or too thin is still up for debate, having too many bows will drop your score in ‘Rate the Dress’.  The dress just missed out on a 7 out of 10 – coming in at 6.94 out of 10. I wonder if knowing that Wallis wore the dress coloured it in your mind, so this week, we look at a frock that doesn’t belong to a particular person. Rose Atherton isn’t a woman – it’s a song about a woman.  In 1845 the songsheet was illustrated by a most interesting sketch of artist A. Newsam’s idea of a ‘Rose Atherton’. Newman depicts his Rose in a simple dark skirt, and an off-the-shoulder military inspired bodice and an off-the-head straw hat. You can see a larger, mirror image, of the same drawing here. I find the mix of mid-Victorian fashion and fantasy fascinating.  But attractive? That part is up to you to decide. Rate …