Time to go kick up a little dust in a few weeks. 🙂
Hollywood Victorian
What’s On…
Tis the season for something brown…guess I can always wear this to Helldorado if I don’t finish a (secret) new dress. HMMMMMM…
From the Atelier…
Designer’s ramblings after five days indoors: worrying about a neighbor’s fire abatement, meal prep that interests, social media avoidance, making lists of lists, no makeup/hair, dog fur clothes, obsessing over unfinished gowns (but still starting new ones), talking to Angus and Fi, expecting them to answer (they do), questioning design choices (repeatedly), staring with horror at my sun-fried roses, getting bored having to construct yet another brown gown, doing costume breakdowns for next year, and trying to be grateful for it all. Finished nothing. Time to put on some eyeliner and get out of the house. Promise.
Back in LA…
After a long, but uneventful, drive home, we’re back in LA and it’s time to buckle down- there’s a lot of projects that await us. Judging the costume contest in Tombstone was pretty fun and we got to catch up with some old friends. We’ll be back in a month-ish with work, more work, and a bit of Helldorado-ing. Not necessarily in that order.
Mid-1890s Style – One Dress
Mid 1890s styles are very easy to spot with their gigot sleeves and multi-gore skirts. We came across this circa 1895 dinner dress dress on the Augusta Auctions website, one of our go-to dress source outside of museums.
Augusta Auctions
This is an interesting dress in that it utilizes a two-tone color effect, pairing a pea green (medium green) colored skirt and bodice trim with gold-colored sleeves and under-bodice. There’s a definite floral theme running through this with floral embroidery on the skirt as well part of the front bodice. Here’s some more views:
Here are some closer views of the bodice and sleeves. The sleeves are interesting in that the gold-colored fabric has a subtle floral pattern that complements the other floral elements found on the skirt and bodice.
The pea green fashion fabric appears to be made of a silk taffeta with a dull finish that acts as a nice contrasting texture to the gold silk sating of the sleeves.
The sleeve fabric appears to be a silk satin with an embroidered floral design.
And finally, here’s the decorative effect on the skirt itself:
The skirt is also finished off by a back of ruching running along the hemline.
Overall, this dinner dress is elegant but not overdone and definitely sets a level of elegance that might not be on the level worn by one of the 400 but is still up there. Interestingly enough, this dress was made in Boston and while it borrows many French design elements, it’s also restrained. We love the dress!
