1903 Ivory silk evening dress with loopy ribbons
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1902 - 1905 An ivory silk dress.
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The back of the dress mounted
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Detail of the front showing the bows
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Detail of the lace appliquéd on to the skirt
Description
The bodice and skirt are separate.
The bodice is lined with ivory cotton sateen. Nine hooks and worked eyelets fasten the lining at the centre back opening; the silk over the top is loose with two hooks and worked bars spaced down it to hold it together.
The waist of the front panel has a 4½" wide section of four pleats each side of the centre, which are stitched to the lining, and there is no waistband. A cream satin ribbon drawstring, ¼" wide, goes round the neck edge in a channel, to tie at the back.
Three sets, 1" wide, of three horizontal pin-tucks, about 2¼" apart, go round the bodice, with machine-made lace shaped strips between them.
The bertha collar is 4½" deep in front, 2¼" on the shoulders, 3½" at the back, with a strip of machine-made lace with shaped edges appliquéd round the lower edge. The 2" deep frill on the edge has ¼" wide cream satin ribbon on its top and lower edges; shallow scallops of machine-made lace, about ⅞" deep, go round the lower edge, with bunches of loops of the cream satin ribbon, about 1¾" long, spaced 2" apart along the top and 4" apart along the lower edge.
The frilled sleeves are 5½" long at the top narrowing to 2¾" under the arms; the appliquéd shaped-edge lace runs round the lower sleeves above the satin ribbon on the edge with the scalloped lace edging, and there are ribbon loops 4¾" apart on the edge. The sleeve edges have a stitch 7" along from the inside seam holding them together, so the arm would go through the lower part and the upper part would hang loosely above.
The skirt is slightly gathered into the sateen waistband, 1⅛" wide, with two hooks and eyes at the centre back opening, and another hook and a worked bar half way down the placket. The shaped-edge machine-made lace strip goes all round the skirt 7" down from waist, above a group of three pin tucks, 1" apart; two more sets of the lace and tucks are further down, about 4¼" apart.
There are three tiers of frills above the hem; the top one is 4½" deep and the two below 4" deep, satin ribbon runs along the tops and lower edges, with the machine-made lace scallops on the edge. The skirt is extended towards the back forming a train and inevitably this has got rather dirty.
An ivory silk satin belt, loosely pleated is about 2" wide and 2⅝" deep at the shallow point in front; it is backed on flat satin, with five vertical bones spaced round it, and a side fastening with three hooks and eyes. This is a bit bigger than the waist of the skirt and so may not belong to it although it came with the dress; there may have been an original belt which is missing.
Contemporary illustrations
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Detail from a cartoon in Punch, April 1902
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Cartoon in Punch, June 1902
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Postcard of the actress, Billie Burke,1905
History
The dress belonged to Norah Lush, seen here in a photograph. She has a corsage of small flowers pinned on at the top of the bodice; these might be violets, which were adopted as a symbol by the suffragettes, and suggests that Norah might have supported their cause.
Norah was born in 1881 so this may have been to celebrate her 21st birthday, which is why it had been kept, with the photograph.