1867 Pink taffeta evening dress
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1864-1869 An evening dress in pink silk taffeta.
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The back of the dress
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One of the sleeves
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Detail of the neck edge showing the lace and the net trimming
Description
The bodice and sleeves are covered with white cotton net.
The bodice is lined with ivory glazed cotton, and has short bones on the two darts on each bodice front. There are seven hooks and worked bars down the bodice centre front opening (two are modern metal bar replacements).
The waistband is 1" wide with a hook and worked bar at the centre front, and a hook and replacement metal bar on the 5½" extension to the left side front opening in the skirt.
A fichu of white cotton net, 4" deep, is pleated into 3" at the front edges, pleated on the shoulders, and draped round the back, where it is 6" deep at the centre. A box-pleated net frill, ¾" wide, with a length of deep pink ¹⁄₁₆" wide silk russia braid in the centre, goes round the neck edge; the lower edge has a 1½" wide frill with a ¼" wide pale pink silk satin ribbon on it, ¼" from its top. There is a tarnished silvery flower in the centre at the top which is not in good condition.
Bedfordshire lace edging, 1⅜" wide, is sewn inside the neck edge with the deep pink silk russia braid slotted through, to tie at the centre front.
The silk and net of the sleeves are gathered into four puffs over the straight cotton lining, and the lower ends have the same lace and narrow braid as the neck edge. The seam with the bodice is piped.
The skirt is flat for 6½" at the centre front, then pleated into the waistband, and cartridge pleated for 7½" at the centre back. It is unlined but the hem has a bias cut band of tarlatan, 6½" wide, round the inside. The taffeta is fragile and splitting round the waist.
Contemporary illustrations
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Fashion plate in The London and Paris Ladies' Magazine of Fashion, March 1866
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Detail from a cartoon in Punch, June 1866
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Detail from a cartoon in Punch, July 1866
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Photograph of an unknown woman, 1860s
History
The bright pink colour of the silk taffeta is an example of the early aniline dyes which were derived from coal-tar, and were the first chemical dyes. They were a chance discovery by William Henry Perkin in 1856, and they produced bright colours, the first one was called mauveine.