1865
Dress
Cream plaid gauze ball gown with cambric, boned lining. White with red and navy plaid on cream ground. Double ruffles form sleeve, puffed effect with black velvet bows. Skirt, very wide with extra fullness and train at back. Black velvet bows on top of ruched band 18” above hem. Wide neckline, almost off the shoulders; center back hook and eye closure, very good condition.
Silk gauze was the lightest weight fabric that could be worn so that the weight of the skirt would not cripple the wearer. Particularly for ball gowns, this was important especially as trains got longer at the back in the 1860s. This gown packs over 5 yards of fabric into a twenty-one inch waistline with very fine cartridge pleats. The plaid created with fine lines in red and black is a fashion popularized by Queen Victoria from her yearly vacations with her family at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
Provenance:
Child, Mrs. Arthur G. Greenwich, CT
Construction Label:
Unknown
1952C 1863.15
Cream plaid gauze ball gown with cambric, boned lining. White with red and navy plaid on cream ground. Double ruffles form sleeve, puffed effect with black velvet bows. Skirt, very wide with extra fullness and train at back. Black velvet bows on top of ruched band 18” above hem. Wide neckline, almost off the shoulders; center back hook and eye closure, very good condition.
Silk gauze was the lightest weight fabric that could be worn so that the weight of the skirt would not cripple the wearer. Particularly for ball gowns, this was important especially as trains got longer at the back in the 1860s. This gown packs over 5 yards of fabric into a twenty-one inch waistline with very fine cartridge pleats. The plaid created with fine lines in red and black is a fashion popularized by Queen Victoria from her yearly vacations with her family at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
Provenance:
Child, Mrs. Arthur G. Greenwich, CT
Construction Label:
Unknown
1952C 1863.15