Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Bustle Era Silk Dress






From the seller:

A lavish 1880’s ivory silk faille wedding dress for study or pattern. The bodice has a lace up front and is lined with cotton. The skirt has a long back sweep and the back hemline has a dust ruffle. The front panel is softly draped and has a Van Dyke point hemline. The skirt is lined with buckram. The bodice has age discoloration on the back neckline area, the skirt has scattered age spotting and there is very light soiling on the edge of the back train. There are no holes or splits in the fabric. There is a lot of useful fabric here for doll clothing. Bust 31 Waist 23 Front skirt length 39 Back length 65.

From Me:

I'm doubting the wedding gown idea with the dress but the rest makes sense. :-)

2 comments:

  1. Again with the doll clothing idea. I can see if piece is really damaged to try and salvage some of the fabric, but still.
    I'm curious, what makes you doubt this was a wedding dress?
    -Emily

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    Replies
    1. A lot of sellers simply think "Oh it's vaguely white! It must be a wedding gown!" without any backup documentation. The dress itself looks a bit too plain for most wedding gowns of the period. You'd expect to see some embroidery. If it's a Mormon gown - you wouldn't necessarily expect the decorative hem or the train. So, I'm guessing it's just your average dress. And yeah, the doll clothing thing always rubs me the wrong way. Shattered is one thing - but this dress clearly is in near perfect condition.

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