Rate the Dress: Evening shades for ca. 1910
I’m always surprised by what does and what doesn’t come under criticism with a Rate the Dress. I knew the print and non-symetrical matching of last week’s credited-as-1860s-almost-certainly-early-1850s-instead frock wouldn’t be everyone’s favourite, but it didn’t occur to me that quite a few of you would castigate it for the anatomy it was meant to fit over. The lady who wore it couldn’t help her very long torsos and slope-y shoulders (and the shoulders, at least, were very fashionable at the time)! Many of you did, however, appreciated the pairing of a very busy fabric with a very simple design, which helped to give the dress a modest but respectable 7 out of 10. This frock, from the Hillwood Estate Museum, features very muted fabrics, and the transitional silhouette of 1909ish, as fashions moved from the sweeping skirts and drooping bodices of the first decade of the 20th century, to the raised waists and slim columnar shape of the second. This evening dress still features the sweeping skirts, but they are considerably restrained. The colours …
