Last post's fashion plate was for a linen dress. By chance, Lauren at American Duchess.(http://americanduchess.blogspot.com) has just featured a Danish 1797 white linen cambric dress in her latest installment of Costume Analytics.
I had forgotten about that dress. Every so often it pops up in costume blogs, in forums, and online magazines.
It's seriously handsome, and except for the embroidered hem, seriously plain. The sheer fabric, with the faint sheen that linen tends to have, the fabulous drape due to the way linen takes gathers, the embroidery of course, and the accessories that would have gone with it would have provided the punch.
If the wearer chose to include a colored underdress or petticoat, as is reported in some issues of Luxus, in Gallery of Fasshion, and elsewhere, the effect would have been even more complex.
If you haven't seen the American Duchess post, have a look! Sorry about the wacky link, by the way: my Blackberry won't code HTML too well :)
2 comments:
I was just leaving a seriously avaricious comment about that dress. It's so damned fine! I would love to have a go at it. BUt I would cheat and use the machine and some applique techniques to do the embroidery as I don't have 200 spare hours, alas! :)
Dear Mrs. C.,
You gave me a chuckle. Have you been reading the Jack Aubrey-Stephen Maturin novels, perchance? "It's so damned fine." might have come right from Jack's mouth on seeing a particularly handsome thing...
Applique might really be something to do. There's a muslin dress that was sold by Christie's a year or two ago with a plain hem with a dagged triangle pattern in shadow applique, facing IN from the hem of the dress. I wanted that dress...
Very best,
Natalie
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