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Dress

Dress

  • Place of origin:

    England, Great Britain (made)

  • Date:

    ca. 1895 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Liberty (designer)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Pongee silk with smocking and machine-made lace, brass hooks and silk eyes, silk twill and boned, lined with cotton, trimmed and embroidered

  • Museum number:

    T.17-1985

  • Gallery location:

    In Storage

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This dress has many of the features associated with the dress reform trend of the late 19th century. The trend ran parallel with the Arts and Crafts Movement and advocated a radically new approach to dress in an effort to free women from corsetry.
The clothes were homemade or produced in commercial studios. They used natural and artistic materials and often included hand-embroidered decoration inspired by the countryside and wild or garden flowers. Smocking too, seen here at the waist, on the sleeves and at the neckline, evoked an imaginary rural simplicity. It sometimes featured on dresses designed and sold by the London firm of Liberty & Co, who sold gowns in the Arts and Crafts style.

Physical description

Dress of blue pongee silk trimmed with smocking and machine-made lace. Full length with train, medium height round neck, double-puff elbow length sleeves, trimmed with smocking and frilled edge. Fastens at the back with brass hooks and silk eyes. The bodice is lined with silk twill and well boned. Corded silk waist-band fastening with a double pronged buckle. Skirt is lined with cotton. The dress is cut to fall in soft folds from the neck to the hem and is held at the waist with a diamond-shaped band of smocking. Hem is trimmed with three rows of pale blue silk embroidery and has a frilled border. At the waist there are small silk covered and embroidered buttons with worked silk loops.

Place of Origin

England, Great Britain (made)

Date

ca. 1895 (made)

Artist/maker

Liberty (designer)

Materials and Techniques

Pongee silk with smocking and machine-made lace, brass hooks and silk eyes, silk twill and boned, lined with cotton, trimmed and embroidered

Marks and inscriptions

'Liberty and Co ARTISTIC & HISTORIC COSTUME 222 Regent St W.'

Dimensions

Height: 163 cm, Diameter: 850 cm

Object history note

Purchased. Registered File number 1984/2252.

Historical context note

Comparative Piece:
Metropolitan Musem of Art, New York: Costume Institute Acc No 68.539: Teagown, pale pink silk barathea and white China silk, given by Mrs Carnegie by her husband, 1891.
No. 51 in exhibition 'Liberty's, 1875-1975', July 1975-October 1975, V&A Museum

Descriptive line

Dress of blue pongee silk trimmed with smocking and machine-made lace, designed at Liberty & Co. Ltd., England, ca. 1895

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Liberty Catalogue (no.25), 'Evolution in Costume illustrated by Past Fashion Plates and Present Adaptions of the EMPIRE AND THE EARLY VICTORIAN PERIOD', Compiled and invented by Messrs LIBERTY LONDON& PARIS 1893.
'Empire Period Modification of Example VII. Designed by Messrs Liberty'. Is similar but lacks the double puff sleeves and has a line of trimming under the bust as well as the diamond shaped belt.
Liberty Catalogue (No.32), 'Catalogues of Dresses', 2nd Series, 1894-5, p.12
Illustrates 'Lynette' A dainty Dress for Evening Wear smocked at the Waist and top of the Vest In 'LIBERTY' cashmere a Wool Crêpe Prize 8.5 guineas In 'LIBERTY' Soft Silk 10 guineas. The Dress can also be smocked high to the neck and with long sleeves to adapt it for Day Wear 10/6 extra'.

'Lynette', as shown, has single puff sleeves and a low neck, but the modifications suggested might make it similar to T.17-1985.

There are no earlier catalogues and there is a gap in the series until the 5th edition, 1896, spring and summer. This contains hardly any smocked dresses BUT 'Dress & Decoration', 1905 (No. 98) in 'Cecelia English 17th Century Evening Gown Robe of soft silk smocked at the waist and neck' also has smocking at the neck, and a triangular belt and soft long puffed sleeves, so the style was long-lasting in the Liberty repertoire.

Conclusion: probably 1893-1894 because of the comparatively small, double puff sleeves.
Karen Livingstone and Linda Parry, eds., International Arts & Crafts (V&A: V&A Publications, 2005), p.224.
Liberty's Art (Dress) Fabrics & Personal Specialities, Season 1887, 1886 (No. 9)
'On the Colours of the Complexion and the contiguous Draping ... Blue imparts orange, which combines favourably with the white and light flesh tints of the fair complexions, which have already a more or less determined tint of this colour. Blue is thus suitable to most blondes and in this case justifies its reputation.'

Exhibition History

Life and Art: Arts and Crafts from Morris to Mingei (Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya 12/06/2009-16/08/2009)
Life and Art: Arts and Crafts from Morris to Mingei (Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo 24/01/2009-05/04/2009)
Life and Art: Arts and Crafts from Morris to Mingei (The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto 13/09/2008-09/11/2008)
International Arts & Crafts (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco 18/06/2006-18/08/2006)
International Arts & Crafts (Indianapolis Museum of Art 27/09/2005-22/01/2006)
International Arts & Crafts (Victoria and Albert Museum 17/03/2005-24/07/2005)

Labels and date

International Arts & Crafts:
Smocked dress
About 1893 – 4
Britain; made by Liberty & Co.
Silk and lace
V&A:T.17-1985 [17/03/2005]

Materials

Silk (textile); Cotton (textile); Brass

Techniques

Embroidered; Lace making; Lined; Twill weave; Smocking; Boning; Machine made lace; Trimmed

Categories

Textiles; Fashion; Women's clothes

Collection code

T&F

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Qr_O108865
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