Today’s fashion feature is a circa 1906-1907 afternoon or walking dress that was made by a one AH Metzner of New York City. This one is extensively photo documented and they give an extraordinarily detailed view:

And now for some closer views with the jacket:

Below is a close-up of the jacket and waist front:

This outfit consists of a skirt, jacket bodice and waist. The skirt and jacket are constructed of a green Ottoman fabric trimmed in a chartreuse silk velvet with a dark green sash running at the waist. The waist is constructed of a combination of chiffon or organza combined with some sort of underlayer (probably a white cotton) trimmed with embroidered lace. The most striking thing about the fashion fabric is the saturated green color and the highly defined ribs characteristic of the Ottoman fabric. Below is another view of the bodice-jacket front:

The jacket is essentially a bolero jacket style with open sleeves  trimmed with velvet bands. Now let’s take a look at the dress with the waist:

The waist is constructed of two layers with an outer layer of a dark green gauze-like material- most likely a chiffon or organza- trimmed with darker stripes of perhaps velvet. The front, back and neck are trimmed with pleated panels of green silk satin and white and green lace embroidery. Finally, the front has a v-neck filled with a white lace jabot. The color palette for this outfit is very striking set of analogous green colors that work together nicely. Finally, here’s two views of the waist front featuring glass buttons and froggings:

The walking suit was one of the basics of any Edwardian Era wardrobe and the above suit is a good example of how decorative this style could be. What’s also interesting is that this is a good illustration of the use of Ottoman fabric- its characteristic thick horizontal ridges have been used to maximum effect on the bias. We hope to be featuring some more examples in future posts so stay tuned. 🙂

---