My Edwardian dress arrived (pics!)

[NicolettaRose]

My edwardian dress arrived, the one I had the previous post about here it is (sorry for the quality of the pictures, I took them myself)

I was trying to make this one look like an old photo.

The dress is a little big on me, but you get the point

 

[Brooksie]

Nicolettarose,

I did not see your other post regarding this but that is a great dress! I especially love the sepia toned picture.

Brooksie

 

[Ruby Slippers]

What a beautiful dress! You look lovely in it.

 

[vonwotan]

Great dress. It would have been wonderful for our recent Edwardian dinner.

 

[Nightshade]

I love that dress. It also wouldn't be too hard to take in the sides a bit. And the beading is wonderful.

 

[NicolettaRose]

Thank you!

Just guessing from the era, when they were still pretty conservative with colors ( I date this dress to probably 1912-1914) it was probably something someone would have worn if they were in mourning or for a funeral, because the dress is all black. That's probably why it is in such good shape, because it was probably not worn very often.

Now, thanks to Coco ( my idol) introducing the little black dress, ladies after the 1920's were free to wear black

 

[ohairas]

Oh you look fabulous in it! That bob is YOU.
Actually I think you make this dress look much more flapperesk than edwardian... wear it often!

Nikki

 

[Lauren]

Lovely dress, nicoletta! It's actually from the later teens, around WWI (I'm guessing 1915 or later)- when you're right, colors were more conservative because of the wartime. It's hard to tell the length, but from the cut it looks like it would hit at the instep- a little shorter than floorlenght- possibly to mid-calf. However, black was always fashionable even before the little black dress. It mostly had it's start because of the mourning of Queen Victoria, after Albert died in 1861. Since royalty usually dictated some form of fashion at this time, when fashionable dressmakers were first emerging to offer clothing more than to just the royalty and people were starting to know "designers", the population adopted her take on black, even though the people themselves were not nessecarily in mourning as long as she wore it (which was for the rest of her life). Black was also a very practical color since laundering was hardly done on clothing more than undergarments, and the distinction in black fashion and mourning was usually in the fabrics. It was traditional for black crepe to be worn for mourning. Here's more on Victorian mourning fashions, which continued to a lesser degree into the Edwardian era. One prime giveaway that it wasn't for mourning would be the beadwork and that it looks like it's silk.. or if it was for mourning, it would only have been used in the very very late mourning stage (3rd mourning, I believe).

Fashions on the high fashion scale, of course, were very colorful- especially during the 1911-1914 period. Here's some Pochoir prints from the Gazette Du Bon Ton to illustrate what I mean. Poiret and Fortuny were both designing at this point, and there were other high fashion designers who were doing things very vibrant with colors. Here's also a site which has a great overview in images for the 19-teens, and here's a German magazine from 1912 on my site.

 

[NicolettaRose]

I think after looking at those pics, I would still have to say it's earlier, about 1912-1914, just because it is about floor length. I e-mailed a pic of the dress to a aquaintance of mine in London who has worked for a museam there for 15 years as a fashion historian, and he dated it about 1913/4 because of the length and some other details. There is an attached belt that goes around the waist like I saw on one one the dresses ( the black one) from 1912. I just couldn't figure out how to put it on. The whole construction of the dress is very complicated ( lots of little snaps, hooks and buttons). I have two other Edwardian dresses, one is a turquoise velvet from France, probably later around 1918/1917 which looks like it was inspired by Poiret, not by Poiret himself

but there is one I would actually like to ask you about, I asked a local vintage clothing designer about it, and she was baffled by it. I sent it off to my aquaintance in London who is very interested in it and wanted to see it just because he could not date it through the pictures.

The dress is of remarkablely simple design, but it is deffinatly 1915/1914. It is just black, with very few details, the dress is almost kind of sporty and modern. It's from France, I bought from an antique dealer who had it displayed in her items. She said it belonged to her very fashionable grandmother who bought it in Paris around this time. It is made out of wool jersey that looks like it might have been something that was used more to make swim suits or something else, but not dresses. It came with a neat little hat that was dated a little earlier, probably 1912/1913 that my friend at the local vintage clothing store said that it looks like it was taken apart and put back together again (?) If you could tell me anything about this, I would love to know what I can.

 

[Lauren]

I would love to help out if I can. Do you have any photographs? You are very fortunate to have a friend who helps in museams! I've gotten to where I am with vintage knowledge by having friends and mentors much like what you're mentioning. I'm continually thankful for them!

 

[NicolettaRose]

My original major in school was fashion history, and I spent a year at fashion school, before I found out that I can't operate a sewing machine, how ever hard I try ( we just don't get a long) and that I don't want to design clothing. I then switched my major to communications, which as a writer, I am more suited

My sister works as a textile designer a children's clothing company here in the Bay Area, and my grandfather worked in the fashion industry from the late 1920's-1960's, he was born in 1907, he's 99 now and still going strong. He worked for a high end fabric producer both in New York and in Paris and would meet couturiers for lunch and show them high end fabrics. He has some great stories to tell.

 

[Emmababy]

you are extremely beautiful nicoletta rose

 

[Lauren]

My original major in school was fashion history, and I spent a year at fashion school...

Neat! Where did you go to school?

My story is similar.. I've been putting together costumes as long as i can remember, starting sewing around age 8, but really started studying fashion history around age 14., which is when I met two of my future mentors. I started collecting vintage around the same time, and the Victorian and Edwardian era was my area of emphasis until about 1998, when I became interested in the 1920's to 50's. Now I'm all over the map, from Rococco till the 1950's, and like you I went to fashion school, got into a costume design program, and after long bouts of different jobs am now finally working in my field So long way of saying it, but I'm glad to have more gals on here interested in fashion and costume history as well as vintage clothing.

 

[vonwotan]

fftopic:

Lauren or NicolettaRose, Do you or your friends have the same knowledge or expertise with men's Edwardian fashion? I just posted some photos (in the "Show us your purchases" thread) of my newly acquired Edwardian wool tailcoat, vest and pants and would welcome any comments or suggestions for shirt, shoes, tie or cravat, etc.

 

[Harp]

A beautiful dress worn by a very lovely lady.

 

[Amelie]

My original major in school was fashion history , and I spent a year at fashion school, before I found out that I can't operate a sewing machine, how ever hard I try ( we just don't get a long) and that I don't want to design clothing. I then switched my major to communications, which as a writer, I am more suited

AAAARGHHHH!! lucky you!
we don't have such things here!
I have to study art history, so maybe I can when I'll be in my master degree specialize myself in fashion history...

I tried to study fashion design, but after a year, the program turned out to be a big disapointment to me...

I hope I'll be able to do what I'd like to in my master... (and to find a job after that lol)

 

[NicolettaRose]

Thanks Emmababy!!

Lauren, I did two semesters at The Acadamy of design and technology in Tampa, Florida, I lived down in FL for two years for school, but am native californian. I love fashion, and especially fashion history, probably even more then today's fashion. I really wish I could sew, me and sewing machines hate each other. I am a writer who writes a lot of historical fiction, so I am always having to do research for my novels, I am also a classical singer, so when you are in opera productions, there is a lot of costuming that goes into that.

 

[NicolettaRose]

Oh just a correction, my major was just fashion, not fashion history. I would have probably stayed in the program if it was fashion history.

 

[Lauren]

fftopic:

Lauren or NicolettaRose, Do you or your friends have the same knowledge or expertise with men's Edwardian fashion? I just posted some photos (in the "Show us your purchases" thread) of my newly acquired Edwardian wool tailcoat, vest and pants and would welcome any comments or suggestions for shirt, shoes, tie or cravat, etc.

I don't know as much about men's fashion, but one of my favorite ways to find it is to look up periodicals on microfilm at the library. If you go back to the old New York Times sunday papers there are many advertisements with great illustrations of men and men's fashion items. There's also a fashion section for women in each sunday paper all the way from the turn of the century up into the 30's (maybe later?). Keeping in mind that just because they were fashionable didn't mean the populus was wearing them, (fashion then worked the same as fashion now with the general population adopting fads later than the bon ton) it's still a great overview of what went with what and how. Check out more old magazines with photographs, and old catalogs. Here's a thread a I started a long while back on a suit catalog from 1917 that I picked up.

heres an article on costumes.org from 1900 (the Edwardian era went from 1901 when Edward came to the throne until the outbreak of WWI)
Turn of the century detachable collars
Ads for men's collars and shirts
Ragtime era men's and women's fashion from the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers

men's fashions from the turn of the century on Amazon.
Men's Fashion- the Complete Sourcebook

Or maybe Art Fawcett can help more.. he and his wife I consider to be some of my mentors

 

[vonwotan]

Lauren - This is great. Thank you for the information! The Times on microfiche sounds great, and never would have occurred to me. I also did a search on Amazon and found a book written specifically about Edwardian men's fashion. I really enjoy both the research and putting together the period clothing for these events. If I had limitless funding I could go pretty crazy on the evening with the Romanovs. I know some jewelers who have quite a lot in the way of Russian jewelry including some authentic imperial pieces - and some of the nicest (and most expensive) cufflinks and studs I have ever seen.