I‘ll be able to have a little sit with my samovar tomorrow, but wearing the 1880s tea gown of my dreams that I’ve been secretly working on! Currently finishing the new silk and passamenterie draperies for the violet parlor and packing. See you tomorrow, Tombstone!
Because nothing says “violet parlor” like old silk pompoms and silk wrapped wooden drops. I may never leave that room once these are hung up!
Lately it seems to be all about tea gowns here at the Atelier but when you’re on a roll… 😊 Today we feature this circa 1885 tea gown that was made by Liberty:
Liberty & Co., Tea Gown, c. 1885; Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009.300.3384)
This gown is constructed of pink and ivory silk, most likely taffeta, and is cut to give the appearance of an open robe draped over an underdress. The pink silk fashion fabric composing the outer layer is a solid color and appears to be of one piece with minimal three-quarter length sleeves. Also, although the staging is not the best, one can make out a gathered train. For the undergarment, the fashion fabric is decorated with a floral design on the skirt fore-part and it appears to have been embroidered. And just to finish everything off nicely, the neck and cuffs are of gauze/lace.
Rear View
In many respects, this tea gown incorporates the basic Aesthetic Dress style elements of a seemingly unstructured flowing silhouette, simple ornamentation, and an emphasis on practicality (although that can be a relative term). Clearly this gown was far too elegant for a simple “at-home” dress and it’s definitely meant as something more. At the same time, the gown builds on basic morning/house dress styles (the terms tend to be used interchangeably). Overall, this is a nice example of a mid-1880s tea gown and will definitely serve as a source of inspiration.
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….
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… 😉