1870s

The Princess Line, Redux

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment

Our previous post on the Mid-Bustle Period, and the princess line dress in particular got such a favorable response that we decided to follow up on with some more examples.

Le Moniteur De La Mode, 1876

One of the dramatic and interesting styles is the one above utilizing an open redingote combined with an underskirt in two complementary colors and contrasting ruffles. The train also employs several layers of the same complementary colors. Also, the use of revers is taken to an extreme, especially towards the bottom when the revers open out to create the illusion of turn-backs. Overall, the effect is very reminiscent of the 1780s and 90s, an era something that often influences mid-1870s styles.

Le Moniteur De La Mode, 1878

This style is a bit more “conventional” in that it stays with one color, taking its decorative effect from the various ruffles, pleating, and trim. Also, while it’s impossible to tell just what the illustrator had in mind with the fashion fabric, one could easily imagine silk brocade or similar.  🙂

The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, June 1878

Here we see a couple variations with the trains with various degrees of pleating, bows, and contrast colors. In many respects, the only limits are one’s imagination. Also, it must be noted that the illustrator has used a bit of artistic license portraying two ladies’ dressed with trains that are clearly not optimal for trekking through the woods. 🙂

Looking past the sheer beauty of these designs (and making allowances for the fact that these are fashion plates), one can see that there’s a few different design options here when recreating this style. First is the train- trains varied in length ranging from a full train for the most formal of occasions to the demi-train which was pretty standard for the majority of formal occasions (and a lot more practical to maneuver in). For day wear, the train was either short or non-existent. Moreover, with the train, one could choose to leave it relatively unadorned, with maybe a small row of knife-pleating or one could go all out, adding rows of pleating, ribbons, and other lace trim.

Turning to the overall style, while upright sculpted silhouette set the basic shape, one  sees a variety of variations to include a straight skirt all the way to the feet or the skirt is draped and gathered towards the bottom. Also, the entire dress could be styled as an open redingote with revers that opens up to reveal an underskirt that could be in a complementary color with ruching or a similar style. This style could also be done in either a single color or with complementary colors. In short, there was a wide variety of style choices available and designers/dressmakers/individual sewers utilized them all. Below are a few original dresses that help illustrate this point:

Day Dress, Swiss, 1880; Metropolitan Museum of Art (C.I.55.40.5)

With the above dress, we see a simple arrangement of shapes and lines in blue and ivory  combined with contrasts in the fabrics’ textures as well as the use of ruching.

Day Dress, Princess Line, c. 1878; National Museum, Prague (H2-193316)

With this dress, we see the fashion fabrics have similar textures but with contrasting steel gray and ivory. Pleating and trim are kept to a minimum and the style relies more on colors and fabrics to make its statement.

For this dress, while it utilizes complementary colors, it relies more on contrasts in textures: the ruching and pleating on the dress’s front panel are combined with a silk brocade covered by netting.

Afternoon Dress, c. 1878-1880; Manchester Art Gallery ( 1947.4118)

Rear View

This final example utilizes two fashion fabrics in complementary colors combined with contrasting fabric textures: a pale blue flat textured silk combined with a lighter blue silk satin. To further add interest, floral embroidery has been added to the bodice front and train. Also, while the bodice has a fairly simple shape, the lower skirt incorporates a series of ruffles and pleats to give a draped appearance.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this brief excursion through the the world of the Mid-Bustle Era princess line dress and we want to emphasize that while we may have deluged you with a wide a variety of style variations, our intent was to show that one has a wide range of choices when it comes to recreating this style and perhaps provide a bit of inspiration. 🙂


Christmas Came Early…. Adding To The Collection

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment

Christmas came a bit early for us this year- yesterday we received a number of original garments from several auctions and right now, we’re in the process of sorting through them. Below is just a small glimpse of the treasures we received; when we get everything sorted out, we’ll be posting more. 🙂

This is a bodice that we date to circa 1878-1880. The bodice is relatively narrow with an inset pseudo vest that closes with hooks and eyes. The outside bodice closed with laces and each edge is bones, just beyond the eyelets. The boning is roughly 1/2 inch across and we believe that the boning is thin baleen.

Upon closer examination, the bodice is constructed from what appears to be an ivory silk brocade covered by a thin lace net that appears to have yellowed over the years.

Below is an interior view of the bodice, it’s lines with in a light yellow cotton (it doesn’t appear to have been white that’s yellowed) and the seam finish is very precise.

Overall, this is a very interesting study piece. It’s condition is fairly good although the silk fashion fabric has shattered in a number of places, especially where it’s not directly supported by the lining. This will make an interesting addition to our study collection.

Trending For The Late 1870s- A Look At The Princess Line Dress

/ Adam Lid / 3 Comments

As many of you might have figured out already, we at Lily Absinthe have a love for the Mid-Bustle period and we’re always returning to it for commentary. Don’t get us wrong, we love all the styles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries but the silhouette of the Mid-Bustle period of the late 1870s continues to draw our attention. Maybe it’s the upright sculpted lines or perhaps the various fabrics and colors, it’s hard to say. And then, there’s the subset of the princess line style, the focus of today’s post- executed correctly, it’s an aesthetic joy to behold. So without further adieu, here we are… Enjoy!

Today we return to the Mid-Bustle Era to take a look at some interesting examples of the princess line style. With its long horizontal lines and lack of a waist seam, the princess line style was especially suited for the “natural form” aesthetic, especially with its low train and lack of a bustle. First up is this example from circa 1876:

Dinner Dress c. 1876

Dinner Dress, c. 1876; Metropolitan Museum of Art (1975.227.3)

Here’s a close-up of the bodice:

Dinner Dress c. 1876

Dinner Dress c. 1876

Side Profile

Dinner Dress c. 1876

Rear View

And here’s a view of the upper hem:

Dinner Dress c. 1876

Close-up of hem.

Here we see knife pleating combined with bow attached to what appears to be beaded cables. It’s hard to determine just what exactly the bow are made of. Above the upper hem line, we also catch a glimpse of the silk brocade fashion fabric. Here’s a close-up of the fashion fabric which appears to be a silk brocade composed of a combination of French blue and gold:

Dinner Dress c. 1876

Close-up of fashion fabric.

Overall, it’s an incredible dress with a luminescent color combination and very clean princess lines. Next, for a little contrast, we have this example from circa 1876-1880 (although the original auction site had this labeled at 1874, we believe that date is too early):

Side Profile

Rear View

In terms of silhouette, this example is somewhat less “sculpted” (although this may be due to poor staging) and features a more conventional two-color combination of a dark teal silk velvet combined with a light mint green/celedon silk and incorporating lace trim on the front and lower hem to frame the velvet. The low train is typical of the Mid-Bustle style, characterized by a low demi-train. Below is a close-up of the train:

The train is fairly standard with one row of knife pleating running along the hem accented by a strip of teal piping running along the tip. Below are some views of the skirt:

Finally, here are some views of the bodice:

Although the colors are faded and the velvet has worn down, it’s still an interesting color combination. Based on the use of a two-color scheme for the fabric, we would be inclined to date this a bit towards 1876-1877. We hope you have enjoyed this little excursion in the princess line style of the Mid-Bustle Era and we’ll be featuring more in future posts. 🙂


A Little Colonial Revival…

/ Karin McKechnie-Lid / Leave a comment

Alittle “Colonial Revival” for an 1876 ballgown, blush dyed to match American Duchess “Pompadours” are making my heart beat faster. ♡

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Sapphire…

/ Karin McKechnie-Lid / Leave a comment

Image result for sapphire color

Fall colors traditionally focus on earth tones but for us here at Lily Absinthe, we take a broader view… Recently, jewel tones have caught our eye and especially in Sapphire as with this circa 1880s evening dress from Maison Worth: 🙂

Whittaker Auctions1 Evening Gown c. 1880s

Front Three-Quarter View

Whittaker Auctions1 Evening Gown c. 1880s

Rear View

The dress appears to be constructed from a sapphire-colored silk satin trimmed with metallic beading and black lace. This is very similar to a Worth evening dress in our collection and as such, the metal trim gives the dress significant weight. Here’s a close-up of the hem detail:

Whittaker Auctions1 Evening Gown c. 1880s

Unfortunately, there’s not much information on this dress since the pictures were derived from Pinterest and it was not possible to find the original website that they came from except for a note that this dress was originally on an auction website. Also, the staging is poor so without a physical examination, there’s no real way to tell narrow down the date. However, that said, judging from the dress silhouette, the odds are good that it’s from the early to mid 1880s.

Just for interest, below are pictures of some of the bodice interior:

Whittaker Auctions1 Evening Gown c. 1880sWhittaker Auctions1 Evening Gown c. 1880s

As with most evening dress bodices from the era, it was boned (although some of the bones are now missing) and lined with what appears to be a white silk satin. The finishing work is amazing, even with the wear and tear and shattered silk. Inspiration comes to us from many sources and this one will definitely be at the top of our list. 🙂