We have arrived in Chicago safe and sound and we got up bright and early to get a good place in line for the John Singer Sargent exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. We’ll have more soon but we’ll leave you with this in the meantime: 🙂
And We’re Off To Chicago!
Today we’re taking off to Chicago for a quick weekend visit. The prime objective? To take in the John Singer Sargent exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. While it will be a quick trip, we think it will be enlightening and provide further design inspiration. Stay tuned for more! 🙂
A Little Fall Style…
Living in Southern California, the changing of the seasons is not always obvious and sometimes, it seems that the only sign is the change in the time when the sun rises. However, we’re not completely immune to Fall’s influence… in the course of researching another topic, we came across a series of dresses in shades of plum, violet, and lavender as suggested in this palette:
And here’s the dress- a day dress from circa 1893:
Bourdereau Veron & Cie, Place de la Bourse, Paris, Day Dress, c. 1893; Kent State University Museum (1983.1.207 ab)
Rear View
Although lighting and computer monitors can influence colors, it’s still evident that the bodice and over-skirt are constructed of a lighter shade of a rose color while the underskirt and bodice front are more of a burgundy/brown. Also, the use of black beading on the front also further darken the dress front.
Side Profile
Close-up of front bodice (not sure why it was cropped this way).
Close-up of bodice back.
The bodice back shows off interesting floral pattern that’s on the bodice back, sleeves, and over-skirt; note how it’s been precisely pieced together on the center back so that the pattern is uninterrupted. That’s our take for now on Fall colors for 2018 but we’ll be back with more in the future. 🙂
In The UK- Part 4
Today’s adventure involved another fabric safari, this time to Goldhawk Road in the west of London. Like Soho, Goldhawk Road is known for having a high concentration of fabric stores although more moderately priced that then ones found in Soho. We really didn’t have specific locations in mind, rather we were just going to explore and see what popped up. 🙂 softer a short bus ride and walk past Shepherd’s Bush, we were finally ready to dig in. One note before beginning: if you want to shop here, it’s highly recommended that you take a sum of cash- many places only take cash and even if they take cards, you can usually get a better deal paying cash.
The first place we stopped at was Misan West which offers a wide variety of silks and cotton prints. The variety was a bit overwhelming and there was a lot to choose from…here’s just one that we found there, a blue/lavender cotton brocade:
There’s definitely a dress in there…. 🙂
After all the fabric buying, we were definitely in the mood for a break so we repaired to the local Brewdog Pub for a late lunch:
All and all, it was a productive day and we picked up some amazing fabrics that will hopefully soon be turned into the beautiful items. 🙂
And For Some Style From Maison Rouff
Recently, we came across this interesting evening dress style that was offered by Maison Rouff from circa 1895:
Maison Rouff, Evening Dress, c. 1895; Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009.300.2339a, b)
Three-Quarter Rear View
The interesting thing about this style is incorporation of a short sleeve jacket/vest into the bodice, reminiscent of an 18th Century waist coat. This is a feature that’s not usually encountered in evening dress styles of the 1890s (at least what we’ve come across so far). Here’s a close-up of the back of the bodice:
Close-up detail of bodice back.
The dress and under-bodice look like a fairly conventional silk chiffon with a silk underskirt but where the jacket/vest definitely gives this a unique look. We would love to know more about this imaginative dress. 🙂