To continue the late 1870s theme, we’ll now take a look at some late 1870s evening wear. 🙂 “Evening wear” is a somewhat generic catch-all term for dresses that were intended for wear at various formal events held in the evening, whether they be balls, dinners, or receptions. To start, we have this circa 1877 evening dress:
Evening Dress, c. 1877; Museo de Historia Mexicana
Unfortunately, not a lot is known about this dress, at least from what we could gather from the Museo de Historia Mexicana except to say that that was possibly made by Worth based on the style. In any event, it does have the distinct “Natural Form” silhouette from the late 1870s and has any characteristics of the princess line dress. Like many dresses of this era, this dress emphasizes vertical lines, aided by the use of a gold-striped ivory-colored silk taffeta. Framing the front skirt are two rows of ivory silk satin pleated trim that run somewhat asymmetrical. Somewhat jarringly, at the top of the bodice front below the neckline is a strip of what appears to be a gold-striped white silk with thin horizontal strips of a darker shade of gold. Design-wise, it’s hard to understand its purpose. Finally, the neck is trimmed in white ruching.
Next is this circa 1877-1878 reception dress from Worth:
Worth, Ensemble-Reception Dress/Evening Bodice, c. 1877-1878; Cincinnati Art Museum (1986.1200a-c)
This is an interesting dress that we’ve posted previously, pointing out that this dress is an ensemble dress that had two bodices for daytime and evening wear. The overskirt is constructed of a dark blue silk satin while the underskirt is actually two layers consisting of a solid ivory-colored pleated inner layer constructed of silk satin and a fringed floral pattern outer later that’s swagged. Below is a closer view of the skirts:
Next, we have this circa 1877 dinner dress from Worth:
Worth, Dinner Dress, c. 1877; Metropolitan Museum of Art (C.I.69.33.3a, b)
This is another brilliant illustration of the late 1870s silhouette. The bodice and overskirt are constructed of a gold-colored silk jacquard in a floral pattern combined with a pistachio-green front underskirt that appears to be made of silk taffeta. Below is a closer view of the silk jacquard:
Close-up of fashion fabric.
Below are views of the rear train. The train has an underlayer of the same green pistachio used in the front underskirt and it’s shown off through a series of folds. It’s an interesting design effect. Below are some more pictures that show off the train:
Rear View
Close-up of rear
The above pictures give a really dramatic view of the train, especially with the rear bow giving the illusion of being the only support for the gold jacquard train. The dresses shown above are only a small sampling of what was out there as illustrated in this fashion plate from the January 1878 issue of Peterson’s Magazine and for those wishing to recreate the era, there’s a wide variety of choices available. Enjoy!
From the January 1878 issue of Peterson’s Magazine.
