Tuesday, January 8, 2013

1860's Dress with Interesting Trimming






From the seller:

This antique Victorian era golden taupe silk taffeta hoop skirt train wedding gown dress dates from 1870. It is made of a golden light brown tan taupe color silk taffeta fabric, with a taupe gray silk bow, box pleated ruching scalloped silk trim. This gorgeous gown women's wedding dress has long full sleeves, a fitted waist, hidden hooks, button front closure, attached long floor length full hoop skirt with slight back train and is fully lined with padded bust enhancer's inside the bodice. The dress measures 52 inches long in the front, 67 inches long in the back, with a 21 inch waist, 30 inch bust and 12 inch back. Included with the gown is the original back drape bustle apron overskirt with a decorative scalloped bow back and hook closure waistband. The overskirt measures 27 inches long, with a 22 inch waist. It is in good wearable condition, with some fade discoloration on the skirt and the inside silk lining is fraying along the bottom skirt. There is a note of provenance with the outfit stating the wedding dress was worn by Theodoria Thomas who married James B. Waters in 1870. This is truly a rare and wonderful piece of Victoriana bridal wedding textile art!


From Me:

This looks too 1866/1867 to my eye. The skirt seems much too wide for the later date and the waist line seems too low. Also, the way the bodice is trimmed suggests the 1866/1867 date range.

8 comments:

  1. Wow, what magnificent trim! I tend to agree with your earlier date, too. There's little to distinguish it from 1866 fashion plates.

    Alas for the trim - there's so much inspiration for trim in postwar sources, totally anachronistic for CW reenactors.

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    1. :-) This is why I tend not to do CW. I like everything before it and everything after it but from about ten year prior to the end of the war? It's all very....bleak looking to me in terms of fashion.

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    2. I think it's the reaction to the hoop that makes it so simple. You wouldn't think it from the fashion plates, but the vast majority of existing dresses are fairly plain. I think women were kind of reeling from the sheer size of the new skirts, and instinctively resisted adding much more trim and increasing the apparent size.

      And really, aesthetically, big hoops really didn't need trim to make a statement. Like very early Regency gowns were so simple. Sure, it was a deliberate copy of the classical ideal in that case, but the long, straight, full or slender falls of skirt just didn't need trim to be effective.

      To continue my theorizing ;) by 1865 in the US, people were more used to it, and as the silhouette got slimmer at the sides, didn't mind lavishing more trim. (And incidentally, bringing back the train.)

      It's all theory, but the abandonment of skirt trim (and flounces) really does coincide with the acceptance of the steel crinoline.

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    3. I think it's a bit more simple - an economic issue. The first real world wide economic panic happened in 1857 - right about the time the dresses start to get "boring". The American Civil War affected the textile trade horribly -cotton was king- causing a shortfall in the western world of cotton. Since, by that point, cotton had overtaken linen as the fabric of common wear, this also caused some problems for the fashion industry. It forced the fashion industry to use their fabrics a bit more sensibly which would mean less trim. Although trim doesn't take up a lot of fabric, it does take up enough and it does cost enough that it was more economic to market dresses that were less elaborate than previous and post eras. By the time it was clear that the American Civil War was coming to an end and the world economy recovered, trims started to come back out.

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  2. How do I send you images please? I have a friend with a dress that belonged to her grandmother and I would like to know the age of the dress please.
    Diane

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    1. Hi Diane,

      I'm not a professional appraiser so anything I say would only be a rough estmate and couldn't be used for any insurance purposes. However, if you like, I'd be happy to post about it as long as she does a small write up (measurements, material) and includes pictures for the site. Email me at isabelladangelo at gmail

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  3. This dress was originally a beautiful, vivid lavender. It's such an unstable dye and almost always faded to this golden brown. The bright trim is a hint at what color this gown once was all over. It must have been spectacular!

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    1. So you believe that the same happened to this gown as happened in this previous post: http://extantgowns.blogspot.com/2012/12/mid-1860s-outfit.html ? I can see that.

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