All posts tagged: 1860s

Rate the Dress: peaches and daisies in the late 1860s

Gosh, all my Rate the Dress selections have been doing so well lately! Even when I pick ensembles I think you will all hate you like them! I wasn’t sure what you would make of the 1917 golfing togs last week, but despite a few dismal ratings, it still managed a respectable 7.3 out of 10 – not bad for a difficult period and a saucepan hat! Let’s see if I can do it again this week. You often like 1860s, but this reception dress for sale on antique-frock.com is quite specific in its design details and colouring. What do you think? Is palest grey with peach and black daisy trim working for you? Do you like the neck ruffles and skirt pleats? The curtain effect on the skirt front? Will this be a smash hit, or should we bring the curtain down? Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10

Rate the Wedding Dress: 1860s cotton ruffles

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week you LOVED the 1950’s festive party frock. I’ve never seen so many 10/10 in one post! Alas, just enough of you were party poopers to make our frock miss out on a perfect belle of the ball rating, but it still managed a very popular 9.3 out of 10. Since I’m focusing on wedding dresses this week on the blog, what better way to celebrate it than by rating a wedding dress? Not one from 1911 though – we’ve done quite a few frocks from that era lately, and the focus on 1911 dresses might taint your vote. So instead I’ve picked an 1860s froock. This dress from the Met is the epitome of wedding dresses. It’s WHITE, it’s BIG, it’s RUFFLY. It’s even got a faux-pannier effect (do you remember being little and drawing wedding dresses and they always had split fronts with panniered poofs?) If ever a 1940s costume designer wanted inspiration for an 1860s wedding dress, it would have been their holy grail. It’s not all typical bridal froth though. …

More terminology: What is a pardessus?

Published by The Dreamstress

Continuing on from my post about guimpes, I’ve been noticing all sorts of costuming words that I see, and can guess what they mean, but never properly research. My latest word is pardessus. V&E posted a gorgeous 1874 pardessus pattern that started my research. Pardessus, unglamorously enough, just means ‘overcoat’, from the French ‘passed over’. We can see the term, or variants of it, used in early French fashion magazines. The notes for this fashion magazine from 1814 described the garments as 1. Robe de Levantine et fichu-canezou garni en broderie. Chapeau en Gros de Naples garni dune ruche de gaze. 2. Canezou de velours. Jape de reps garnie en rouleaux. Chapeau en velours epingle garni de plumes d’Autruche. 3. Par-dessus four-6 en merinos garni de chinchilla. Toque de velours plein garni de roses. The term pardessus gained popularity in English in the 1840s as a term to describe a mantle, along with pelisses, paletots, camails, and crespins. Mentions of pardessus are most common in English fashion magazines in the ’40s & ’50s, and American …