Evening Dress

Another 1893 Ensemble Dress From Maison Worth

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment

Here’s another ensemble dress from Maison Worth, also from circa 1893. Style-wise, it’s similar to the example that we presented in a previous post but perhaps a little more restrained. Here are a few views:

Worth 1893 Day Reception Afternoon Dress

Worth, Ensemble Dress, c. 1893; Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009.300.620a–e)

To us, this bodice reads visiting/afternoon dress, more of a formal day-oriented garment. Below, the bodice reads more of a reception dress or possibly evening dress- although that’s probably stretching things a bit.

Worth 1893 Day Reception Afternoon Dress

The Alternate Bodice

Once again, we see a jacket style for the day bodice with a filler of tulle. The skirt and jacket bodice are a pea-green silk brocade with black lace trim and accents. The night bodice with its light cinnamon colored silk velvet provides a pleasant contrast to the pea green. Compared to yesterday’s example, this dress is a bit more restrained but it’s still a nice design. The silk brocade fabric is interesting and we only wish that there were some close-up pictures of the fabric detail. It’s evident that both the dress and the one in yesterday’s post used identical or fairly similar pattern pieces. Finally, here’s an interesting part of the ensemble- matching shoes:

Worth 1893 Shoes

Matching shoes to outfit.

Stay tuned for more posts on this subject. 🙂

 

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An 1893 Evening Dress From Maison Worth

/ Adam Lid / 1 Comment

Ensemble Evening Reception Dress Worth 1893

One interesting aspect of Charles Worth’s designs was what was called the “Ensemble Dress.” This was a dress that had two bodices, typically one for day wear and one for evening wear so one could have a nice semi-formal dress for calling on friends, going into town, or attending some sort of day function. At the same time, with a change in bodices, one would have also be properly dressed for an evening function. Below is just one circa 1893 example from Worth:

Ensemble Evening Reception Dress Worth 1893

Worth, Evening Ensemble Dress, c. 1893; Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009.300.622a–c)

First, we have a day bodice that’s designed like a jacket; no doubt some wort of a waist was worn underneath even though it would have been covered by the lace strips running down the front. And then we have a night bodice that’s perhaps a little more formal:

Ensemble Evening Reception Dress Worth 1893

The Alternate Bodice

And here’s a rear view of the dress with the day bodice:

Ensemble Evening Reception Dress Worth 1893

Rear View

In terms of silhouette, this is characteristic for the early 1890s with it’s fairly restrained train arrangement- most likely a small bustle pad was worn but not much else. The fact there’s small train points to it being more of a formal dress (with day and night configurations). The fabric is a silver colored silk satin with a gold leaf pattern decoration woven in broken texture that services to provide a contrast both in texture and color. The red silk velvet lapels and sleeve trim on the day bodice and the red bodice front on the night bodice. The effect is exquisite with either bodice. Below is a close-up of the fabric.

Ensemble Evening Reception Dress Worth 1893

Detail of fabric- too bad it’s not in color.

In 1890s fashion, the skirt and bodice have a minimum of trim and Worth lets the contrasting fabrics, both in color and in texture, speak for themselves. Just one of many exquisite examples from Maison Worth.

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Project: Circa 1884 Evening Dress- Part 2

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment

With the newly-released series The Gilded Age, this post and its companions are very timely. Trust us when we say that we’ll have a lot to say about the costuming so stay tuned! 😁

In this post, we continue with the design and construction of our circa 1884-inspired evening dress.

We start by creating the hem, in this case utilizing knife pleating.

Constructing the hem pieces. This involved knife pleating combined with piping along the top.

Voila! And the hem is mounted to the underskirt. The train has been pinned to the rear to see how everything will hang. The waistband will be attached last, after the skirts have been thoroughly tested for fit and how they drape.

Fiona doesn’t approve of Mom working… 😄

To be continued…

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One of Our Latest Projects

/ Karin McKechnie-Lid / Leave a comment

Want to know more about this fabulous circa 1883-1884 evening dress that we recently made for a client? Become a Patron and find out more! We’re posting exclusive content on our projects for our Patrons. Click on the button below to find out more. 😉

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Project: Circa 1884 Evening Dress- Part 1

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment

We thought that we’d start out 2022 with a discussion about our last project: a circa 1884-inspired evening dress. This was a fabulous project for us in that we were able to utilize just about every couture sewing technique in the construction and utilizing authentic materials, and trims. The project began with the client coming to us wanting a circa 1880s ballgown that would have no train and a yellow color theme. Beyond this, the client pretty much gave us carte blanche in our design choices. So where to begin? Well, we turned to Harper’s Bazar, one of our major go-to sources for late 19th Century fashion when we need inspiration and in particular, Victorian Fashions & Costumes from Harper’s Bazar 1867-1898:

Basically, we focused on the right cover image as our starting point. As you can see, the book has gotten a lot of wear over the years and is now falling apart…

And now a little more on the inspiration image on the book cover…it’s actually based on this illustration that appeared in the February 23, 1884 issue of Harper’s Bazar:

Harper’s Bazar, February 23, 1884

Here’s the dress description (I have edited it slightly to make it easier to read):

Figure 2: EVENING DRESS: This graceful dress with a small train is made of sea-foam green silk trimmed with white lace and large clusters of roses of variegated colors- pink, cream, and deep red- held by flots of green velvet or satin ribbon. A deep flounce of ribbon crosses the front and falls upon a narrower flounce. The apron over-and skirt is caught up on each side and joins the back of the, which forms the small train; the back breadths are arranged in a large puff, and in uneven drapery below. The flowers are posed alike on each side of the skirt.

The low pointed corsage [bodice] is of silk, covered by lace put on smoothly as a transparent. A drapery of the silk begins on the right shoulder, crosses the front, and is lost under the flowers on the left side. A smaller bouquet is placed on the left of the corsage. The high coiffure has a cluster of pink and pale green ostrich tips.  Painted silk fan, silk stockings, and satin slippers the color of the dress.

As you can no doubt determine from this somewhat long-winded description and accompanying illustration, flowers play a major role in the dress design and this was a major factor in designing the client’s dress except that we used yellow flowers at the client’s request.

To be continued…

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