All posts tagged: Edwardian

An Edwardian Evening Gown Interlude, with complications

Theresa came to Wellington last weekend, and as usual, we did a photoshoot!* This photoshoot was our trickiest yet. The weather had been beautiful for weeks. It was, in fact, way too beautiful. It was so hot I cancelled my 18th century plans. Even with icepacks in the paniers (yep, I tried that!), silk franÃ§aise were just too hot. Instead I decided to go with 1910s Edwardian evening gowns: Theresa in the Laurel & me in Cobwebs. Slightly lighter. Also, as it turns out, slightly tighter. Theresa is slim, but I was really slim when I made the Laurel. And, thanks to the Fortnight in 1916 and the amazing weight-loss properties of a 1916 lifestyle, I was slightly slimmer when I made Cobwebs. Things were…snug. The weather had been beautiful for weeks. It was beautiful all day. And then, just when we finished dressing, masses of clouds rolled in and wiped out the late afternoon sunshine. So the lighting was terrible, and fading fast. We’d planned to go to the Botanical Gardens, but there was …

Rate the Dress: Moss Green Edwardian Velvet

Published by The Dreamstress

It’s been so hot in Wellington for the past month, and I long for walks in cool green forests, and mossy swathes under pine trees, and babbling brooks. Meanwhile, I know that some of you in the Northern Hemisphere are dealing with unusually cold temperatures. So for this week’s Rate the Dress I chose a moss green velvet Edwardian dress that would hopefully appeal to all of us: cozy enough for winter, in a colour that makes us think of cool things in the summer heat! Last week: a pink and gold and so-many-florals franÃ§aise Well, for once you were totally unanimous about one aspect of a garment: the silver-trimmed stomacher that the MFA Boston had paired with the pink floral franÃ§aise was just terrible. Daniel dubbed it a ‘Brillo pad’ and now I’ll never unsee that… (also his comment included a truly terrible pun, and I always adore those!). Other comments were mixed between loving and not loving the trim, and loving the pleats, but not the very square paniers (always a hangup with …

Rate the Dress: Doucet goes for gold

Published by The Dreamstress

Happy New Years! To celebrate the holiday, I’ve picked a Rate the Dress suitable for wearing to a grand New Years event: a glimmering gold number by Doucet. Last week: a ca. 1821 afternoon dress in red & green I really wondered how last week’s zig-zagged 1820s dress would go. The 1820s have not exactly been popular in Rate the Dress. And that fabric was, by any stretch of the imagination, obnoxious. (I should point out that I sometimes love obnoxious!). The fabric definitely lost the dress some points. But other raters felt that the obnoxious fabric somehow balanced the weird 1820s details perfectly – gaining it points. One thing most could agree on was that the hem ruffles weren’t working. The Total: 8.1 out of 10. Respectable, but not fabulous. Better than the 1910s dress of the week before. It’s not often 1820s beats 1910s! This week: a Doucet evening dress in glittering gold organza: This Doucet evening dress might have been worn to a New Years eve ball. Perhaps in 1900! It’s just …