1885 Striped silk dress
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1885-1890 A dress in black and white striped silk twill.
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The right side of the dress
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The left side of the dress
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The back of the dress
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Detail of the front neck
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Detail showing the watch pocket on the left front
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Detail of the back waist
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Detail showing the name tape inside the back neck; the inside of the collar can be seen at the top of the image.
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The label in the dress sewn on the inside waistband at the centre back.
Description
The bodice and skirt are separate.
The bodice and sleeves are mounted on black silk twill, and the skirt is lined with black silk faille.
There are bones on the seams and darts of the bodice, and the inside waistband is a 1½" wide black petersham ribbon with a buckle fastening.
The bodice front opening is fastened with 16 flat black silk covered buttons and buttonholes, and the lower edge is finished with a bias strip of black faille, ¼" wide.
The 1" high stand collar has a hook and worked bar at the base of the neck. 1⅛" wide embroidered net lace edging is gathered round the inside, under 1¼" wide black machine-made lace edging; a ⅛" wide black silk ribbon is threaded though both, ½" up from collar, and it ties in the front. The collar has black machine-made lace over the outside, ¾" of it lying round neck. There is black lace lying flat round the neck, 2" wide in front, widening at shoulder and meeting pieces, 3" wide, which go down each side of the back, pleated in to 1" at the waist. A watch pocket in the striped silk is at the waist on the left front
A panel of black machine-made lace hangs at the front, 17" wide 18" long, and is made of four joined lengths of 4¼" wide scalloped edging; the top is gathered into a 5" width at the top on a ⅝" wide black silk ribbon, and one half sewn round the neck, the other half has a hook on the edge to fasten to a worked bar on the bodice. The lower edge is gathered into a 6" width with hooks at each end but no sign of anything to fasten them to, so it is not clear how this lace was meant to look. Black silk satin ribbon streamers, 2⅝" wide, are sewn about 2" in from the front edges, 3" up from lower edges, each side of the waist, and again it is unclear how they would have been arranged; they are 26" long on the left and 21" long on the right.
4¼" wide black lace edging is gathered round two 8" long tails at back; they are pleated into the waist so that they stand up in points under three lengths and a loop of the black satin ribbon gathered into a knot at the waist.
The sleeves have 2¾" deep pieces of the black scalloped lace edging round the ends, and a different black lace edging, 1½" wide, pleated round the inside over pleated ivory embroidered net lace.
The top of the skirt has a ¾" wide black faille facing and the top edge is piped; there are two hooks and eyes, 2" apart, along the waist at the back opening, and a Nicholls dress clip half way down the placket.
The skirt panels are pleated into the seams in various ways to create puffs and drapes on the skirt. Each side there are sections of four layers of 12" deep black machine-made lace flounces. There are three pairs of tape ties spaced down the inside, each side of the back of the skirt, to pull in the fullness at the back when tied; they have short lengths of elastic, now perished, where they are joined to the skirt, which would have allowed a little movement.
A black lace flounce, 11½" deep, over 13" deep panels of the striped silk, is sewn to the lining 16" above hem. Below this the hem has 3" of box-pleated striped silk round it, under black lace, 2½" deep.
A piece of ½" wide ivory silk ribbon is sewn at the neck down the seam turning of the centre back bodice seam, with the name Mrs. Harranc written in pencil. The ribbon is torn at the top.
This dress is for half-mourning, which allowed white, grey and lilac to be worn with black.
Contemporary illustrations
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Fashion drawing in The Ladies' Treasury, October 1887
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Photograph of an unknown woman, 1880s, Dundee
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Photograph of an unknown woman, Brighton November 1881
History
The dress was made by The London General Mourning Warehouse, commonly known as Jay's; this was established in Regent Street by William Chickall Jay in 1841, and it set out to provide everything needed for mourning and funerals; by the 1880s it had expanded to numbers 243. 245, 247, 249, 251 and 253 Regent Street. The label sewn on the inside waistband at the centre back waist states that it is 'By Appointment to the Queen'.
There was a strict etiquette for mourning attire by the mid-19th century; after a period of full mourning the amount of crape worn could be progressively lessened during second mourning and then ordinary mourning. Finally half-mourning allowed lilac, grey and white to be worn, trimmed with black. The duration of wearing mourning depended on the closeness to the deceased, and some widows stayed in mourning for the rest of their lives.
The name Mrs. Harranc is written in pencil on a piece of ½" wide ivory silk ribbon, sewn on the seam turning at the back neck. The name was originally Huguenot and appears in records with various spellings. It is possible that this dress was worn by Emily Letitia Harenc (née Rooke, 1821-1899), wife of Rev. Edward Alexander Frederick Harenc who died in 1853. She had seven children including Emily Frederica Louisa and Sophia Edith Harriett, one of whom might be the Miss E Harenc, whose name is in the 1903 Black beaded evening dress, which was acquired at the same auction.