From 2019 at the Prior Attire Ball…we hope that borders open this year so we can enjoy dress up time with friends again!
Victorian (to 1901)
Looking Forward…
Some nice memories of the last time we were in Bath. We look forward to returning in 2022. 🙂
I actually finished and wore the blush silk gown, probably the last new thing for me for a while because of my wonderful client work…so no more hand sewing in hotel rooms! Taking a sewing break for two days, back to LA (and Angus!) on Monday. We truly want to live here (we’ve looked) and made so many friends. We know we act like over-enthusiastic goofy Americans, but our hearts are genuine, so we just laugh. One more day of Victorian fun, then it’s off to Heathrow…another day of sleep would be nice, too.
Designs From Maison Worth
The Master Himself
Today we take you across the ocean to Paris, the capital of fashion in the late 19th Century for a brief look at one (of many) creation by Frederick Charles Worth. Worth was one of the first “name” fashion designers who pioneered what ultimately was to become the Haute Couture system that ruled the fashion world for almost a century.
Along with creating his own dress designs, Worth also commissioned his own custom fabrics and in particular he patronized the French silk industry centered in Lyon1Unfortunately, the silk industry in Lyon has diminished since the late 19th Century and today, Prelle et Cie is one of the few silk weavers that remain. Prelle’s silks have been used to restore a wide variety of historic sites worldwide and they even recreated many of the silk fabrics used in 2006 film Marie Antoinette.. One such creation that Worth commissioned from the firm of Morel, Poeckès & Paumlin in 1889 was the Tulipes Hollandaises (“Holland Tulips). The design was intended to push the silk weaver’s art to its limits, the design has a three-foot repeat in the pattern which made it difficult to weave.
Below are two pictures of the textile’s design:
The tulips are depicted in bright colors set against a black background and some commentators have characterized it as an “aggressive” design intended to make a bold statement, especially given the size of the design repeat.
As part of the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, the products of French industry were exhibited and naturally the textile and couture industries were part of it. The above textile was put on display and it ultimately was awarded a grand prize.
The above fabric was ultimately made into an evening cape that was designed to show off the tulip design to its maximum advantage:
Front View- Evening Cape, House of Worth, 1889; Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009.300.1708)
Rear View- Evening Cape, House of Worth, 1889; Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009.300.1708)
Here’s a view that’s a bit less sterile than what is normally encountered in a museum setting.
The above evening cape shows off the silk textile to its maximum advantage. Some could argue that it’s excessive and perhaps even gauche but that was the nature of Haute Couture in the late 19th Century and given the spirit of the time, anything less would have been dismissed as banal. Less was definitely not more during the Belle Epoch. 🙂
More 1880s Style…
Fashions of the 1880s have always been a source of fashion inspiration for us and we’re constantly in search of interesting examples. We recently came across this example of a dress done in a pseudo-waistcoat and jacket style that utilizes horizontal and vertical stripes in harmonious manner. The pictures were obtained off the net and might have been on an vintage clothing auction website at one time but it’s a bit ambiguous; thus, nothing was obtainable on its provenance.1For reasons unknown, the copy associated with the dress is for a completely different dress and the confusion has been perpetuated by endless copying from one Pinterest board to another. Usually we can work out the original source of the pictures but this one completely eludes us at this time.
The dress appears to be constructed from a solid ivory-colored material combined with a medium old gold/brown and black pin-striped material. The front of the skirt combines broad horizontal ivory-colored knife-peated stripes with narrow black and old gold/brown vertical stripes. Below is a close-up of the bodice where we can see that it buttons up the front.
Here’s a better view of the striped fashion fabric and cuff. The black stripes could maybe be a black velvet on a base of old gold/brown-colored fabric, perhaps a corded silk faille. The cuff is finished with two separate layers of gold and dark brown silk satin. The cuff is then finished with a knife-pleated chiffon-like material.
Below is another close-up, this time of the rear skirting. One can see that the stripes have been carefully lined on on the seams.
And side and rear profile views:
The train is interesting in that it’s in the solid ivory fashion fabric and trimmed in gold and brown silk satin. This provides a somewhat stark contrast with the striped fashion fabric. The dress silhouette reads mid to late 1880s although the lack of proper undergarments makes for a somewhat limp rear silhouette- there would be a bit more of a train. The photo below gives a better view of the train:
This is a great example of mid to late 1880s style and we really wish that there had been background information about this. However, we can make some educated guesses in regard to style, silhouette, and materials. If, and when, we find out more, we shall up this so in the meantime, enjoy the pictures! 🙂
Conserving A Worth Evening Gown
Worth gowns are always a delight to look at but unfortunately, the years have not always been kind to these garments. Here’s a video of efforts to restore and preserve on specific 1897 evening dress that’s in the Olive Matthews Collection at the Chertsey Museum.
And here’s one view of the restored dress:
Worth, Evening Dress, 1897; The Olive Matthews Collection, Chertsey Museum (M.2017.013a–c)(Image 1897 © The Olive Matthews Collection, Chertsey Museum, Photographed by John Chase Photography)
The rear panel was reconstructed since the original was missing. This dress is an amazing dress and we can only speculate how it must have looked when it originally was created at Maison Worth. 😄