Tea Gowns

In The Works- Tea Gowns, Part 2

/ Karin McKechnie-Lid / 1 Comment

In yesterday’s post we gave a bit of an overview of our design inspiration so today, we’re going to show theory being put into practice. 😊 The final design that we settled on is a formal circa 1881 tea gown that was intended to be worn when receiving guests at home. It perhaps would have been a step down from a formal occasion and as such intended for close friends.

To begin, we first we start with the fabrics themselves:

The fabric on the left is a red waterfall pattern silk moire that we bought in Munich and we’ll be using that for the revers. The fabric on the right will be the fashion fabric and is a light/dark red silk brocade we bought in Paris, or more specifically, in Montmartre. Below is a close-up of the Montmartre fabric:

One of the most striking features is the rough/irregular texture and when combined by the shades-of-red color spectrum, makes for a very striking fashion fabric.

Finally, we’re utilizing a large vintage lace piece that we obtained from Elizabeth Emerson Designs– Thanks Liz!! 😁

Next, utilizing our collection of vintage garments and studying some period patterns, we created our own unique design:

Essentially, we opted to go with a two-part design consisting of an outer body that opens up to reveal a plastron of ivory-colored lace back with ivory silk taffeta. The pictures above and below are of the outer body- note the silk moire revers.

And then there’s the plastron:

The lace will be hand-tacked to the silk taffeta where the pins are…there’s a lot of work ahead there. 😆

And putting it all together (although more stitching remains to be done):

Ultimately, this will be one single garment once the plastron is fully attached.

And one last view with one of our creative consultants:

The gold silk shoes will make a wonderful accompaniment- I think Fiona approves! 😉 There’s more to follow so stay tuned….


In The Works- Tea Gowns, Part 1

/ Karin McKechnie-Lid / 2 Comments

William Blake Richmond, Mrs Luke Ionides, 1882; V&A Museum (E.1062:1, 2-2003)

In recent posts, we’ve been going on about tea gowns and aesthetic dress and you’re probably beginning to wonder what it’s all about. Tea gowns have always been a big favorite with us and we’ve always wanted to explore this area more and we now that we have some free time, we’re going to act on it! 🙂 We’re looking to take the basic tea gown design and add a flair of Aesthetic style to it- more to follow on that! In the meantime, here’s some of the gowns that are inspiring us:

Worth, Tea Gown, c. 1895-1900; Modemuseum, Hasselt (2013.0075)

The fabric on the above gown is very striking and appears to be a gold-colored silk print floral pattern with a blue/lavender background and trimmed with lace. The silhouette is fairly typical of a house dress style although it’s evident that this was meant more for receiving guests at home than any practical work around the house. Interestingly enough, it appears that the bodice and skirt are separate pieces rather than the usual princess line style typical of this design. While this gown contains many Aesthetic Dress design elements, it’s still more of a mainstream style. Still, we love the fabric and clean lines (although we would be employing a one-piece princess-line style).

Tea/House Dress, c. 1905-1907; The State Hermitage Museum (ЭРТ-9473)

The above gown definitely reads Edwardian, lacking the defined curves characteristic of 1880s and 1890s tea gowns and as such, is seemingly a loose draped robe (although there is no doubt that a corset was worn underneath). What is most striking to us about this garment is the incorporation of Neo-Classical and Renaissance design elements with its straight lines and geometrical trim arrangement. In much the same vein, the tea gown below also captures many Aesthetic Dress features although it’s more structured:

Unfortunately, we’ve been unable to track down any specific information on this tea gown (the downside to Pinterest) but we believe that this either a late 1880s or early 1890s style. As with many examples of this style, the gown is designed to give the effect of an outer robe being worn over an full-length under-dress (in reality, these were actually a single garment with elements artfully arranged to give the appearance of there being two pieces).  Below is a more extreme example of the open robe effect with this circa 1888 example:

Tea Gown, c. 1888; Antiquedress.com

Finally, just to bring it home, there’s this example from circa 1890:

Tea Gown, c. 1890; Metropolitan Museum of Art (C.I.44.122)

Is it a tea gown? House dress? Something in between? Given the styling, we guess something that would have been worn to receive guests at home (and definitely not for going out). With this style, there’s not really any specific “Aesthetic Dress” style going on except to note that the basic silhouette is very similar with an emphasis on seeming ease of movement.

And of course, period artwork also inspires as with these two paintings by August Toulmouche:

August Toulmouche, Dolce Far niente, 1877, Private Collection

August Toulmouche, An Afternoon Idyll, 1874

So what’s going to be our specific design? Wait and see… 😉


Aesthetic Dress & Tea Gowns- When Design & Function Come Together

/ Adam Lid / 1 Comment

Aesthetic, or Artistic, dress was an outgrowth of the Aesthetic Movement and as such, was a fashion trend that arose out of reaction to the heavily structured and trim heavily trimmed fashions of the late Nineteenth Century. In contrast, the Aesthetic Dress movement focused on basing fashion on simplicity of design and quality materials.

Aesthetic Dress drew many of its ideas from the Reform/Rational Dress Movement and at their core, both movements sought to create more simple utilitarian garments that would give women freedom of movement, free from the restrictions of tight-lacing corsetry and elaborate undergarments such as bustles and the like.

William Blake Richmond, Mrs Luke Ionides, 1882; V&A Museum (E.1062:1, 2-2003)

Many Aesthetic Dress styles drew inspiration from the loosely flowing robes characteristic of the late Middle Ages and were based off of the artwork of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, an artistic movement that sought a return to the artistic styles of the abundant detail, intense colors and complex compositions of Quattrocento Italian art . It was almost natural that the influence of the Aesthetic Dress Movement would be reflected in tea gowns such as this example from circa 1897 made by Liberty London:

Liberty of London, Tea Gown c. 1897; Kerry Taylor Auctions

The  tea  gown  consists  of  two parts, a peach/light orange silk  outer dress  trimmed in peach/red-orange colored silk with floral pattern embroidery running along the front edges and back collar. On the front, the outer dress mimics an open robe with an inner dress made of an ivory colored linen or cotton material. The outer dress is sleeveless, the inner dress providing the sleeves. Overall, this dress reads late Medieval/early Renaissance and definitely succeeds in capturing that aesthetic.     

In this view, one can see a Watteau style back running down the length of the dress. Below is an earlier example from circa 1883 example from Liberty. During the late Nineteenth Century, Liberty London positioned itself as the leading supplier of Aesthetic style garments and there are a a number of extant garments from the era. Stay tuned for future postings on this interesting sub-fashion genre of the late Nineteenth Century.


Tea Gowns- Some Notes

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment

Image result for tea gowns 1890s

Perhaps the extreme hot weather we’re dealing with in Southern California or simply the aesthetics but tea gowns have been an object of interest for us lately. As noted in a prior post, the tea gown was an informal garment that was meant to be worn without a corset (in practice, this was not always the case) although many tea gowns were boned in the bodice area to provide a little structure.

Image result for tea gowns 1890s

There was certainly a wide variety of tea gown styles that were available ranging from ones mass-produced  for the middle class market to the haute couture varieties aimed at a more upscale clientele. Below is one example from 1894, complete with gigot sleeves, offered by Maison Worth:

Worth Tea Gown 1894

Worth, Tea Gown, 1894; Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009.300.637)

Worth Tea Gown 1894

Rear View

And here’s another offering from Worth, circa 1900 – 1901:

Tea Gown Worth c. 1900 - 1901

Worth, Tea Gown, c. 1900 – 1901; Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009.300.2498)

Tea Gown Worth c. 1900 - 1901

Rear View

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And if one could not afford to buy a ready-made tea gown, they could make their own:

The tea gown offered another alternative for women’s wear and it’s interesting to see how the varieties that were out there. Stay tuned for more in the future. 🙂

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And Now For A Tea Gown From Maison Worth

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment

Today’s video feature is a tea gown from circa 1893 that was made by Maison Worth and worn by either Helen Olivia Brice (1871–1950) or Margaret Katherine Brice (1873–1911):

Here’s are a few stills of the dress:

Worth, Tea Gown, c. 1893; Museum of the City of New York (MCNY 42.146.10).

As expected with a tea gown, it has a relatively unstructured silhouette and appears to be one-piece with no distinct waist. It’s unclear whether the gown is a princess line but given the nature of the tea gown style, probably so. While the sleeves are gigot or leg-of-mutton, they’re relatively muted fitting in perfectly with the 1893 time frame. The fashion fabric is a voided velvet with a dark blue silk velvet pile combined with a lighter purple silk satin to create a floral pattern. The bodice top is cut on a curve, reminiscent of early 16th Century Renaissance styles, and the area between above is filled in with guipure lace going all the way to the neck. Similar lace is also used on the lower sleeves to create a glove-like appearance. The close-up of the bodice below gives a better idea of the fabric:

The fashion fabric takes on a very fluorescent appearance, no doubt designed to make maximum use of the gaslight or early electrical lighting typical of interior lighting during this period.1There are a number of examples of Maison Worth’s work that utilize this fluorescent design effect with the fashion fabric- The Madame Greffuhle tea gown is a good example. The bodice top is trimmed with a strip of gold bullion and above it is the guipure lace insert.

And the interior of the bodice. The bodice is lightly boned and appears to have been flatlined in a pink silk satin combined with an ivory (it looks like a pistachio color but that’s probably the lighting) petersham and bone casings. This tea gown when worn must have been been amazing sight and it’s clear that this was intended for a more formal in-home affair than simply taking tea. 🙂