All posts tagged: 1870s

Rate the Dress: Bright blue & burgundy 1870s

One of my favourite things about Rate the Dress is the way it encourages me to find thematic links between different eras, and garments that seem otherwise unrelated. This week’s 1870s Rate the Dress keeps with the theme of buttons playing peek-a-boo amongst the layers, and adds in a bold and unusual colour scheme that Poiret would have definitely approved of. Last week: Poiret plays with buttons Last week you either liked/really didn’t like the button trim, and thought the back bow ruined/made the dress, and were completely enamoured/turned off by the scalloped hem, and loved/hated the chemise effect and chiffon sleeves. If any element of the dress was someone’s favourite, it was also someone else’s least favourite! Except for all the ones that only had favourites, and the significantly smaller group that totally disliked it. It was a bit of a marmite dress. The Total: 7.4 out of 10 A dress where the total really doesn’t reflect the majority of individual feelings: out of 37 ratings, only one was a 7.5! This week: Bright …

Rate the Dress: Crinoline to First Bustle Era transitions

Published by The Dreamstress

It’s Rate the Dress time! Every week I post a historical garment, or a portrait, and we rate the garment in the context of it’s time. This week’s pick is a 1868-70 dress that features the full skirts of the elliptical crinoline era, topped by the bustled skirts of the first bustle era. Last week: a Doucet evening dress in glittering gold organza: Last week’s gold evening gown proved that Doucet the Midas Touch when it comes to fashion, because you loved it. No one was the least bit worried by the implied lingerie-ness of the dress. It did lose a half point here or there for the extra back bows (you just can’t get behind those, can you?), and some of you thought there was a disconnect between the skirt and upper bodice. Points were both gained and lost for fungus-y embroidery. Mould that breaks the mould? A few of you saw a face in the bodice, and took points off for that. Apparently we like garments that have personality, not a personality! The …

Rate the Dress: Nadezhda in old fashioned fringe

Published by The Dreamstress

I never thought I’d see the day when a yellow 1820s frock would beat a blue 1910s one in rate the dress ratings, but last week’s historical+classical+paisley number far eclipsed the blue grecian from the week before, with a score of 9.1 out of 10 to the blue’s 8.7 out of 10 – and those last few decimal points to break the 9 point barrier are the hardest to earn! This week we’re borrowing the two elements that lost the most points for last week’s frock: the sleeves and hem ruffle, and seeing if they can win the day in a totally different frock. This early 1870s portrait shows Russian heiress Nadezhda Polovtseva in a luxurious evening dress (probably for a court occasion) with definite elements of historicism. Her sleeves, like those of last week’s dress, have a Renaissance inspired ‘slashed’ effect, and her tabbed bodice looks back to the 17th and 18th centuries. Her bustling and folding back of her train is also a nod to 17th and 18th century mantua and court trains, …