Paniers in 1920's dresses?

[contentmentfarm]

Hi NicolettaRose,

The style was made popular by Jeanne Lanvin some time between 1915 and 1920. The style was called the robe de style. You will usually see examples of evening dresses but could also find afternoon or tea dresses styled with panniers. The robe de style is a desirable silhouette that is much sought after and hard to find, but, yes, a collection of them would be wonderful!

 

[NicolettaRose]

Was it something that was " high" style, and worn only in Paris and other avant garde places, or was it pretty widely worn, its just not a style that looked it would have been worn by the adverage lady from a small town in the midwest.

 

[Lauren]

It was mostly for high style- you'd see knock off's, but it was mostly worn by society women, etc. Most of them were constructed within the dress with side hoops and gathers, not with undergarments like the 18th century dresses they were styled after.
Really cool dresses, and super rare. I was just thinking today how I'd love to have one, as well!

 

[KittyT]

I have no idea what you gals are talking about. Pictures please?

 

[contentmentfarm]

Oops, sorry, I didn't realize that photo was so large.:eusa_doh:

 

[Snookie]

Here's an article from 1920, stating that the pannier trend was not very popular due to the difficulty wearing such complicated styles in the modern age.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C0CE2DE103BEE32A25750C1A9649C946195D6CF

Here's a few more mentions, but you have to pay to read most of the articles. Overall, it doesn't seem like a very popular style, even among the upper class.

http://news.google.com/archivesearc...=1929&um=1&scoring=t&sa=X&oi=archive&ct=title

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

I've heard that robes de style were very complicated, but the ones from the Met collection, above, look very simple. That's always confused me.[huh]

 

[crwritt]

This just looks like a full skirted dirndl dress, not anything I would quickly associate with the 1920's.

 

[Mojito]

You do see variations on the robe de style (or "picture dress") in catalogues of the period aimed at a wider general audience - it was the major competing sillouette of the 1920s (even if it couldn't be considered as running a very close second to the tube / chemise style), although Lanvin and others did sometimes drop the waist a bit and raise the hems even on these dresses as a concession to prevailing fashion. As Merceron writes in Lanvin (which has plenty of absolutely stunning robes de style, as well as images of the 18th century gowns that inspired them):

To keep the robe de style interesting from season to season, changes were made in the overall silhouette as well as skirt length, propertions, necklines and embellishments.

I suspect that the less expensive versions did not always incorporate the pannier cage or rolls on the hips/thighs, as they seem to just be a more fitted bodice and then fuller cut skirt or gathered material, perhaps along the lines of Candy's gorgeous doll (that is high on my list of "most coveted items!). I had tended to consider them a style that was more suited for youthful debutantes etc., but Merceron argues the opposite, and states they actually achieved pan-generational appeal and that the dress was considered more flattering than the figure-revealing silhouettes.

 

[NicolettaRose]

It was mostly for high style- you'd see knock off's, but it was mostly worn by society women, etc. Most of them were constructed within the dress with side hoops and gathers, not with undergarments like the 18th century dresses they were styled after.
Really cool dresses, and super rare. I was just thinking today how I'd love to have one, as well!

With all the amazing work you do, you could probably make one!

 

[Idledame]

I used to have a silver silk 1920s dress which had a handkerchief hem just below the knees in front, to the floor in back, So about 1927-29 here, maybe earlier in Paris. It looked totally normal but inside the dress on each hip there was piece of hoop steel a foot long in a casing with a long ribbon on each end. If you tied the ribbons it would cause the steel to bend into a hoop. The ribbon part would rest on your hips and caused the dress to stick out a good 6" on each side. It was so cool. (it was stolen by an underwear thief/pervert because it was so silky! But that is another thread) The steel just hung down loose otherwise and you didn't notice it under the bias flounces, so you could wear it either way. This did not seem to be a real expensive dress-no beads or decoration of any kind.

 

[Idledame]

This is from a book French Fashion Illustrations of the Twenties (copyright free) This is 1919

This is 1926:

This book shows one or two dresses like this almost every year of the 20's, so it was something the designers played with just to be different, but you sure don't see anything like this in the Sear's catalog!

 

[NicolettaRose]

Speaking of rare and drool worthy 1920's garments, does anyone go to this website? http://www.thefrock.com/, I book marked it and make regular visits to drool over their beautiful garments. I thought of buying one on layaway. There is one that they have that is a pumpkin silk with "panniers"

 

[Mojito]

Your dress sounds absolutely fabulous, Idledame - how absolutely gutting that it was stolen! Do you think it was a wedding dress? You wouldn't happen to have any photos of it, would you? I'm looking at blogging on the subject of Robes de Style once the home office computer linked to the scanner is back up so I can pull some images from fashion catalogues etc to illustrate it with. The two you posted are great examples of the wide diversity to be found in the style.

The Frock is one of the high end dealers I have book marked, NicolettaRose - I've purchased from AntiqueDress and Vintage Textile (and have had only good experiences with both), but have no purchasing experience with The Frock. Some very attractive items there, particularly some of the 30s outfits.

I've mentioned before that AntiqueDress has a spectacular example of a past Lanvin Robe de Style that they sold (same dress is illustrated in the Merceron book, along with others quite similar in style with the striking black with embroidery and beading). http://www.antiquedress.com/item4377.htm

It's probably a very good thing that the dress was sold before I found Antique Dress - the lengths to which I would have gone to buy it would not have been reasonable!

 

[Idledame]

OOh, I'm going to be spending alot of time looking at and saving photos on both of those sites. I've been perusing this site for inspiration, but wish it was organized by decades. I like that you can see several views
http://www.vintageous.com/dressy.htm
OH my Gosh! I found the only photo I have of the dress! The photo should go on the "embarassing photo" thread! This was 1967-68 and I was trying to be especially outrageous because my hippie friends at college nominated me and another girl to be Homecoming princesses just to cause an embarassing hoopla for the football players who hated us. You should have heard the screams and hoots and hollers as we walked out onto the field arm and arm with the star players. They were mortified! The funny thing was, that the College president's wife told me wistfully that she used to have a dress and coat just like the ones I was wearing. I don't think it was a wedding dress because it was short in front and had no decoration, but I suppose it could have been.

 

[Mojito]

I absolutely love your hair in that photo - just think what Rossetti would have given to paint you! What a Pre-Raphaelite look. It might have been a wedding dress - some of them were surprisingly short and unadored.

Thanks for reminding me about Vintageous - it's in my bookmarks, but I haven't looked in a while.

 

[KittyT]

The actual panniers, called hip flairs in this case.

Thank you! This is exactly what I was hoping to see.

 

[Idledame]

Yes that is it! I tried drawing it but couldn't do it. My dress just had one steel sewn in the inside of each hip but it worked the same way.