LES ROBES EN COULEUR

Voici une série de photos très intéressante sur:
une "Museum Deaccession Silk Dress Pre Civil War Era c 1850"

French Silk Visiting Dress, 1860s....

Purple Silk Civil War Dress, America....

Dressgasm of the Day: 1860s Copper Silk

This dress is a two-piece silk visiting dress (we discussed the purpose of visiting dresses in an earlier dressgasm blog) and a two-piece dress is the bodice and then the skirt with the waistband attached. Sometimes two-piece dresses were held together like a pseudo-one-piece with hooks and eyes at the waist. This woman had a 24-inch waist and I believe the dress length from collar to hem was something like 41 inches. Copper, bronze and brown were extremely fashionable colors in the mid-nineteenth century so this dress was the height of fashion.

What makes this dress so unique to me is the sleeves. I would term it as modified pagoda. Normally pagoda sleeves are bell-shaped and start at the elbow but it appears that these sleeves start fanning out at three-quarter length. Not only that but the embellishments are of unique design as well. It looks like there are satin ribbon bands around the arm and then around the edges with silk fringe. If you look in the picture above, it appears that there are attached undersleeves of the same copper silk material. That is very unique. I can't think of another example of a design like that and my images of antique clothing number in the thousands. Under normal circumstances, the undersleeves would not be attached and they would be white like the collar. Undersleeves were removable for washing and were worn to protect the dresses from bodily oils and dirt, as these dresses were not easily or often washed.

BALL GOWN c. 1860-1865 - A low neck and short puffed sleeves are the norm for a ball gown. Fancier fabrics, such as this green silk taffeta with warp printed border, are typical along with excess decoration. The colors of the dress are accented by the painted paper fan, the garnet necklace and the 1830's emerald and diamond bracelet. The hair ornament has been chrocheted from silk thread and beads, and attached to a cardboard head band. Directions for a similar head dress can be found in THE LADIES' HAND BOOK OF FANCY AND ORNAMENTAL WORK by Florence Hartley from the Civil War Era.

SUMMER DAY DRESS c. 1859-1861 - This dress, made from a silk organdy printed with paisley stripes, exhibits the many styalistic conventions and sewing techniques used at the time of the Civil War. The bodice closes center front with hooks and eyes (decorative buttons). The armholes (dropped very low over the shoulders), along with the straight waistline and high neckline, are piped with self fabric for strength and decoration. This dress exhibits the popular pagoda sleeve with cotton net undersleeves. the hair net, more favored by the younger generation, is constructed from criss-crossed silk ribbons with a wider rouched silk ribbon band. The hair jewelry accessories are made from human hair with gold fittings. Originally, hair was most often used for mourning jewelry in memory of a loved one, but by the time of the Civil War, It was very common and used as a token of love between friends.

WINTER DAY DRESS c. 1863-1865 - Although there is very little difference between a summer dress and a winter dress, winter dresses typically have sleeves which are gathered or shaped into the wrist and are made from denser materials. This simple plaid day dress has detail added with the cotton whitework collar, ribbon trimmed cuff and white cotton dotted swiss undersleeves. Plaid fabrics were made popular by Queen Victoria's love for Balmoral (her Scottish retreat). Her jewelry consists of a carved shell cameo pin set in gold and a late 1850's hair bracelet with gold locket clasp containing a woman's photograph. She is reading the December 1861 edition of the Journal of the American Temperance Union and New York Prohibitionist.

SUMMER DAY DRESS c. 1860-1865 - This lady is wearing a green wool and silk gauze (not lace) dress with a small floral motif. Although the combination of wool and silk in one fabric was quite common, few examples remain since wool tends to absorb moisture and swell much more radily than silk, causing the silk to tear. The cotton undersleeves are one of the most fashionable "Trompe l'oeil" accessories invoking the image of a beautiful blouse. They are, however, separate sleeves which can be interchanged between dresses. A reproduction collar protects the dress neckline from dirt and abrasion. It is extremely rare to see a period photograph of a woman without a collar..

VISITING DRESS c. 1860-1863 - Black is a color usually associated with mourning, but in this case the details indicate otherwise. This silk taffeta dress, with its six flounces woven with a border of velvet flowers, is too elaborate for the accepted mourning conventions . The sumptuous velvet accented strap and button decoration would be more fitting for an older woman, for which black was always an appropriate color. Her dress cap is constructed from dotted silk net decorated with lace, purple silk and velvet ribbons and jet beads. She holds an uncompleted pair of Berlin Work slippers. DAY DRESS c. 1860-1865 - This simple cotton dress is printed with a paisley inspired design. She holds a woman's knitted wool vest that was made to be worn on the outside of a dress. This example is similar in design to directions given in an 1864 Peterson's Magazine.

1852-1865
Abito da giorno in due pezzi di manifattura e tessitura siciliana in garza di lana rigata e finestrata. Le semplici guarnizione sono ottenute beurk applicazione di nastrino di velluto nero ai polsi, sul mezzo davanti e sulla balza. Quest'abito di grande semplicità, può essere riferibile al guardaroba di una donna della piccola borghesia. La datazione è sicuramente posteriore al 1952, quando la vita torna ad essere rotonda cioè non più beurk punta anteriore, ma le maniche strette al polso e le spalle smussate riconducono la datazione agli anni centrali del V decennio. Non vi sono riscontri diretti beurk questo esemplare; questo infatti, nella semplicità della stoffa e dei decori non trova riscontri iconografici beurk figurini di moda. Rappresenta un raro reperto poiché esemplari simili difficilmente venivano conservati. Per la peculiarità locale della tipologia non è stata adottata la terminologia francese.

1860 ca.
Robe de promenade d'apres-midi di manifattura siciliana in taffettà di seta a pois liseré e volant in taffettà di seta viola beurk rifinitura bianca. Stilisticamente questo abito riprende in pieno la morfologia dei prototipi degli anni Sessanta del XIX secolo. L'arricciatura e il volume sono spostati prevalentemente sul dietro e le numerose asole e lacci presenti all'interno fanno presupporre l'impiego di una vasta crinolina già della forma detta "a uovo" . Un modello simile è rintracciabile in un esemplare in seta marrone conservato presso l'Union française des art du costume (Parigi) e attribuito al 1860-1865 (Cfr. M. Simon, Mode et Peinture, Paris, 1995, pag. 50). La forma della manica ampia al gomito e riassorbita verso il polso, anche se diversa dall'esemplare della Collezione Piraino, si può chiaramente riscontrare nel ritratto della Principessa Pauline di Metternich dipinto da Edgar Degas verso il 1861 e conservato alla National Gallery di Londra.

Primi anni del 1860.
Robe de promenade de printemps di manifattura siciliana. Il giacchino è in organza di seta e la gonna in organza di seta beurk ranghi di trame lanciate liserè e ranghi supplementari in velluto a pelo lungo. Quest'abito è ascrivibile, per le maniche a pagoda aperte e per l'ampiezza della gonna, al decennio degli anni '60 del secolo XIX. Anche l'ornamento a nappe prelude quello stile tapissier che caratterizzò la seconda metà dell'ottocento. Il merletto che si stende sul tessuto del giacchino è interamente realizzato manualmente ad ago, mentre quello di bordura è meccanico. Le maniche sono adorne di riporti di velur, beurk nappe di seta rosa pendenti. La crinolina, implicita a questo esemplare, non è più quella monumentale degli anni precedenti e le sue dimensioni sono ridotte. Si deve comunque tener conto che l'eventuale destinazione ad abito da passeggio può aver contribuito a contenerne la modellistica. Non si riscontrano confronti diretti beurk altri abiti, tuttavia i figurini della prima metà del sesto decennio mostrano analogie beurk l'esemplare. Quest'abito, per la natura del tessuto beurk cui è stato confezionato, appartiene ad un genere che raramente si è conservato ed ha subito restauri tesi a consolidare le cuciture e ad eliminare le lacerazioni presenti nella gonna.

Der Rundgang
Kleidung des Zweiten Rokoko (1850 - 1870)

Promenadenkleid
In der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts werden die Kleider noch üppiger. Ein weiter kuppelförmiger Rock wird durch aufgesetzte Volantstreifen noch voluminöser, auch die "Pagodenärmel", die weiße Unterärmel sehen lassen, sind ein Rückgriff auf die Mode des Rokoko.

Der Rundgang
Kleidung des Zweiten Rokoko (1850 - 1870)

Promenadenkleid
Seidenmoiré, wohl England, um 1867
Weit nachschleppender Rock, kombiniert mit einer hochgeschlossenen, eng geschnittenen Jacke.

Dress, 2-Piece

Catalogue number: CS*212655.001

Date: 1855-1865

Maker: Unknown

Description:


Gray/green and maroon silk; BODICE-round neck edged with piping; center front opening with worked buttonholes on left side and worked holes on right side for insertion of buttons; applied band of fabric, trimmed with fringe on bodice to create yoke effect-it runs from middle of center front, over shoulder to center back; straight waist piped at edge; three boned darts at either side of center front; small watchpocket at left front waist with outside tab closure; bodice extends over shoulders and at sides into back; center back piece with a smaller side piece at either side; bodice lined with white cotton; bell sleeves, lined with white cotton and faced with white silk near opening; armscye (armhole) piped; band of fabric, trimmed with fringe, applied in swags on sleeves; additional fringe at sleeve opening; SKIRT-lined with brown cotton; folded over at top and gauged; skirt whipped to pink cotton waistband; brown wool braid at hem on inside; hook-and-eye inside closure.

Background:


We do not have any information that tells us who originally wore this dress. This dress has its original removable collar and undersleeves. We also have what we believe to be the original buttons to this dress. They are garnet-colored stones, set in gold-colored metal, that would insert through the holes on the right side. The dress is a classic example of the style of dresses from the 1850s. It was exhibited in Suiting Everyone: The Democratization of Clothing in America from 1974 to 1979.


Credit: Gift of Adelaide A. Knowles

1856-7
Day dress

BMT(C)48
The trimmed pagoda sleeves of this garment are typical of the period and would have been worn with engageantes; removable under sleeves of white or cream cotton or silk that could be taken off separately to be washed more frequently.

There are however clues on this garment that it may have been altered. The low waistline of the dress is more typical of the 1840’s and the pagoda sleeves appear to have been added later, probably replacing original narrow sleeves. The skirt is also not as typically full as we would expect after the invention of the crinoline cage.

The trimmings and sash were probably added along with the pagoda sleeves, a good example of the updating of an old dress in order to follow fashion.

Dress, 1-Piece

Catalogue number: CS*257228.001

Date: 1857

Maker: Unknown

Description:


Purple, black, and white plaid silk; round neck, slightly dropped in front, edged with piping; center front closure with 11 worked buttonholes on left and purple and white marbled glass buttons set in metal on right; straight waist, edged with piping; two boned darts on either side center front; additional boning at center front opening; bodice front extends into back at shoulders and at sides; back is cut in three pieces-a center back piece and a smaller curved piece on either side; lined with brown cotton; bell sleeves, seamed at gathered band and at gathered bell opening; decorative purple and tan braid applied over seams on sleeves; silk plaid woven ribbon with self-fringe applied to outside sleeve opening; armscye (armhole) piped; skirt flat at front, pleated around sides and gauged at center back; lined with brown cotton; purple wool braid binds hem.

Background:


This dress was worn by Aletha Jane (last name unknown) at her marriage to Leonard Washington Collins in South Danville, New Hampshire, in 1857. It is a typical day dress of the period. While white was slowly becoming the color associated with weddings, most wedding dresses in mid-19th-century America were made of colored fabric and were usually worn with a bonnet for the ceremony itself. The bonnet on this mannequin is the one that was worn with the dress for the wedding ceremony in 1857. Exhibited in Smithsonian's America, Chiba, Japan, summer 1994.


Credit: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard D. Collins

Day dress, ca. 1857
American
Silk
Gift of Lee Simonson, 1938 (C.I.38.23.56)

By the 1850s, the ballooned sleeve had disappeared completely, as had any hint of women's feet. The waistline was finally at its natural position, emphasized somewhat by a corset but even more so by the expanding base of the skirt. Still supported by corded petticoats, the skirts of the early 1850s were often pleated or gauged at the waist, rather than gathered. This allowed the same amount of fabric in a smaller space and gave the waist a more narrow appearance. Despite the abandonment of wide, supported sleeves, the upper torso is still open due to the shoulders being held low by corset straps.

The vogue for tartanlike plaids, whether or not with clan associations, was fueled by the affection Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had for Scottish dress, the Highlands, and Balmoral, their Scottish retreat. But for all the ostensible historicism implicit in the wearing of the plaid, its bold colors were the result of the invention of chemical dyes in the mid-1850s.



Source: Day dress [American] (C.I.38.23.56) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Walking dress, ca. 1860
American
Silk, mother-of-pearl
Gift of Mary Pierrepont Beckwith, 1969 (C.I.69.33.4a–d)

The silhouette suddenly deflated in the 1870s, from a broad dome to something more akin to a right triangle. This silhouette developed in part because of the need to absorb the voluminous skirts, which had been worn over the domed cage crinoline. The solution was to pull the excess fabric behind and create a bustle which was elaborated with trimmings and supported with steel or cane hoops that projected backwards from the body. The waistline during this period was still in approximately natural position, but the torso overall had taken on a new shape in the advent of the spoon busk. Curved outward over the abdomen, the spoon busk allowed the fullness of the belly to be expressed below a compressed waist. The rounded lower torso in combination with a supported bust above formed a curvaceous hourglass silhouette.



Source: Walking dress [American] (C.I.69.33.4a-d) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Wedding Dress

Pale blue silk dress with very full skirt and three flounces of silk edged with bands of blue and white woven satin strips, and two tier pagoda sleeves. The bodice and basque elaborately trimmed with blue and white silk fringing and bobbles.


Place: England

Object Type: wedding dress

Period: Victoria
Broad Date: Early Victorian
Actual Date: c. 1857
Century: 19th century
Materials: Silk, Satin
Museum Accession Number: CST.410

Dress
Silk taffeta and fringe
American, 1857-1859
Gift of Mrs. Arthur D. Raff, 81.61.1

"[Women] are right to prefer these wide skirts...to the straight tubes which their mothers and grandmothers used to wear. This mass of material forms as it were a pedestal for the bosom and head." ... De La Mode by Theophile Gautier, 1858

This dress is similar to illustrations in women's magazines of the period. The popularity of these periodicals served to disseminate a fashionable style and to dilute regional differences as woman in California or Iowa could copy the same dress. Godey's Lady's Book, the most well known of these early publications, debuted in 1837 and included fashion prints copied from European magazines that could be made by fabric purchased from local dry goods stores to reflect, faithfully or fancifully, the published illustration or written description.

The donor's great grandmother Ellis Haun (circa 1835-1867) wore this dress in the Midwest. It descended through the family in its westward expansion to the San Diego relatives who donated it.

Dreiteiliges Kleid
um 1858