Late Edwardian Red Dress

From the seller:

Antique Victorian 19th c. 1900's Vibrant Ruby Red Velvet, Wool, & Lace Scalloped Shawl Collar Walking Dress Set!

- Great Wide Scalloped Edging on Bodice & Skirt w/Ruffled Trim, Very Full Bustle-Back Skirt!


Full description & condition below following photos:

*** My dress form is a bit too big for the bodice, so it wouldn't connect all the way with the skirt. - The skirt is a separate piece though and nothing is wrong with it, so it would meet up perfectly on a mannequin with a shorter torso or slightly smaller bust circumference!


From Me:

Dear Seller,

You were most likely born in the 20th century. You are living in the 21st century. Your birth year most likely begins with "19". A century lasts for 100 years. Ergo, anything that begins with "19" is from the 20th Century.

I know many people also confuse the whole Victorian/Edwardian. It's really simple. Queen Victoria died in 1901. Therefore, anything before that year is Victorian. Anything after it is Edwardian. Since there was no year 0, anything from Jan 1901 to Dec 2000 is an entire 100 years and therefore, the 20th Century.

No love,
Me

Why is this do difficult? I was /headdesking the other day (and complained to the BBC where I first saw the article) about an article regarding the last person from the 19th century passing away. Oh really? There isn't anyone from before December 1900? The new century wasn't celebrated until Jan 1, 1901. Seriously. Some people quipped on Jan 1, 2000 that the 20th century was the shortest century on the record books - unfortunately, it went over too many people's heads.

/rant

Anyway, this dress is from the 20th century, late 1900's - about 1908 give or take a year. What I like about this one is you can easily see it's two pieces that, when together and with a sash, would look like one dress.  However, the seller deleted a lot of the photos of the dress immediately following the auction so I only have this one photo saved.

1908 Photograph

1908 Fashion Plate

Cute Green 1930's Jacket

From the seller:

Light weight medium wool jacket dating to the 1930s. Art Deco aesthetic with big leaf buttons on asymmetrical front closure single slash pocket trimmed in wide brown accent trim. In very good vintage uncleaned condition lined thru shoulders, the bottom of sleeves have loose hem, couple faint spots, wearable, would benefit from a dry cleaning.

Chest measures 36", waist 28", length from shoulders 25" sleeves 23"

From Me:

Back in 1938, Queen Frocks advertised their services in the Madison Lake Times. :-)


Helen Hayes is the actress pictured in the upper left.  I wanted to show this pattern because of the asymmetrical nature of the dress on the right - similar to the jacket above.  It was a pretty common feature to have in the 1930's.

Early Teen's Era Dress Lot

From the seller:

Lot of 2 late 1800s, early 1900s dresses. I'm not sure the exact ago of these, but they came from the same place.

Both dresses are in poor condition. The brown embroidered silk dress has been patched, Ill sewn together multiple times, has many holes. The white cotton and lace dress is missing buttons, has holes, and large areas of yellowing.

Please zoom in photos as this is an as is auction, no returns.

From Me:

1912 Sears Catalog

Although not as elegant as the catalog, these are probably from about the same time period. I really love the embroidery on the brown dress. It's a simple way to really make the dress pop!

Early Edwardian Brown Bodice with a secret pocket!

From the seller:
Antique victorian blouse in good condition. High collar and full sleeves. Waist about 24".

From Me:

1903 Fashion Plate

The bishop sleeve is the key to dating this. Also note the pigeon front. Most likely 1902/1903.

Turn of the Century Autumn Colored Bodice

From the seller:

Antique womans blouse
Used to be VERY fancy
Main body is fitted, has stiff fingers or ribs
Small lace vest is attached and is part of the main body and on the front only
tiny ruffles poke out of the sleeve, sleeve is about 16." at cuff +/-
It must have been gorgeous
Thought someone would like to use the design?

No returns

From Me:

1899 Fashion Plate

And the seller gave us...nothing! I doubt the sleeve is 16" at the cuff. 0_o?

The "wings" at the top of the sleeve, the lack of a puff at the top of the sleeve, the sleeves appear to be full length, and the gathered front are all typical of the late 1890's/early 1900's. I particularly like the colors - blues, pumpkin, grape, and the natural color of the lace blend together nicely.

OT: Public Service Announcement

A few days ago, Ebay decided it would be brilliant to change the vintage clothing categories from decades based to maybe three eras based under womens and under both men's and women's vintage, have it sectioned out by items. So now, you have men's 1990's vest hobnobbing with men's 1790's waistcoats. 0_o? I doubt I have to explain to anyone here why this is a terrible idea. It's made it very difficult for me to search through items and some sellers have also gotten mad as well. If you have an ebay account, however, you can complain. I think if enough people complain, they might change it back (or else, everyone really will just move to etsy which is already happening).

Go to My Ebay, if you have an account.

Click the "Tell Us What You Think" link that is located right beneath the "Search" button.

The page that should come up, should look like the above.  In the "Tell Us More" explain that you want the vintage clothing categories to be by decade again for ease of browsing and shopping rather than the ridiculous vintage clothing by article that it is now.  Basically "Change it back the way it was!   Don't fix what wasn't broken!" type thing.

Hopefully, if enough of us complain, they'll listen.   If not, etsy will see a huge uptick in business.  Feel free to post this on other social media as well.

Edit:  I've had some minor luck with Twitter as well.  Just tweet to @askebay if you have a twitter account and tell them to change the vntg clothing categories back to decades, not clothing items.

Fashionably Shabby Teen's Era Dress

From the seller:

This pretty Titanic era dress is made from ivory silk satin. It has a lace panel under the bodice in front that hook and has buttons with rhinestones over the hooks. The lace collar has a wire woven into it to hold the lace in waves. It has very deep raglan sleeves with lace around the wrists. The buttons on the bodice are covered with silk and lace, the skirt hooks down the side front. The left side is draped at the bottom and has a fabric buckle, the right side of the skirt has opened seams, it looks like the piece that looks like a train needs to be pleated and fitted back into the opening, it looks like it's all there, but missing the "buckle" on that side. One shoulder of the sleeve has a tear from the hanger, skirt has scattered spots/dirty areas, needle holes where the right side is undone and a small tear in the piece that needs to be sewn back, but it's right on the stitching line, some rhinestones from the buttons are missing and few small breaks in the lace, the covered lace buttons have some discoloration on some. It measures 42+ around the bust, waist is 32 1/2, hips are 46 and it's about 59 1/2 inches long.

From Me:

1913 Fashion Plate

Definitely from somewhere between 1913/1914.