All posts tagged: 1880s

Rate the Dress: Damask and lace for dinner, ca. 1886

Last week I showed you an evening gown worn my Marjorie Merriweather Post, in muted shades of blue and green. Ratings were divided into those of you who thought it was the epitome of muted elegance, those of you who thought it pretty, but not a stand-out dress, and those of you who found all the soft half-tones too dull and drab, and gave it very poor ratings indeed (and one vote that I disqualified for not rating on a scale of 1 to 10, because that’s cheating 😉 ) . I’m halfway through tallying the ratings, but it’s bedtime, so I’ll finish those up first thing tomorrow! UPDATE: MMP’s 1910ish evening dress came out at 8.1 out of 10, which seems like the perfect rating for restrained rather than sensational elegance. This dinner dress from the Metropolitan Museum of Art features a design feature that has always been slightly problematic for you raters: a laced front bodice. While you can choose to dislike the feature in and of itself, I am 99.8% sure that …

Rate the Dress: ca. 1888 Flight of Fancy

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week I showed you a lady of 1660s as an allegory of…something. Her vivid teal-y blue and golden orange colour scheme met with general approval, as did the overall silhouette, balancing out the lower ratings from those of you who felt she was a little too generic mid-17th century, and her allegory a little too obvious, giving her a rating of a perfect 8 out of 10. It’s been said more than once in the comments on Rate the Dress that ‘Worth can do no wrong’ or ‘It’s a Worth – automatic 10’. The is, I think, utter rubbish. Every designer has a bad day, or a client who insists on design features the designer isn’t thrilled about. And the House of Worth was pumping out so many frocks in the last quarter of the 19th century that they had to have the occasional not-quite on to it garment. On the other hand, past ratings make it very clear that the design works of Jean-Phillipe Worth aren’t quite as warmly received as that …

Rate the Dress: Walking in the pink, 1878-80

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week I showed you a dress that transitioned between the 1830s and 40s. Based on your historical preferences, some of you wanted it to be more 1830s, or more 1840s, but most of you said “Oooooh!” and gave it a 10. Which is why it managed a 9.2 out of 10, despite few ‘Meh’s. Looks like we’re on a winning streak! Can we keep it up? Much to my surprise, last weeks dress actually received some criticism for NOT having enough trim. Some of you wanted trim on the skirt too. So this week, I’ve gone all out on trim: This afternoon dress, in lilac pink and puce silk taffeta, is trimless only in the sense that there are no added fabrics. When it comes to self fabric trim, Madame Grazini went all out. The bodice features fishbone pleating up the centre front, framed by a faux jacket in the puce, with self fabric buttons. The real tour de force is the skirt though: ruching, fishbone pleating, tiny pressed pleats, rosette ruffles, bows, shirring, …