Dress, peplum and belt of silk, cotton and buckram, made in Scotland, ca. 1872

Dress, peplum and belt of bright green silk. The silk has a figured pattern of black and white leaves on a speckled ground.

The dress is trimmed with looped green silk braid. With a low, square neckline with a bow at the back and long pagoda sleeves. The waist is round and the skirt is gored and pleated with a gathered panel at the centre of the back. The bodice is boned and lined with white glazed cotton, the sleeves are faced with white silk and lined with pleated white silk ribbon. The bodice fastens with hooks and has pads to enlarge the bust.

The peplum is hip-length, lined with black buckram, draped and trimmed with a silk braid and fringe.

The belt has a bow at the back and is lined with black buckram.

Given by Miss A. Maishman

In correspondence with the V&A in 1972, the donor, Alice Maishman, identified this garment and those acquired with it, as made in Scotland.

This ensemble is typical of fashionable women’s daywear of the early 1870s. The silk has a figured pattern of black and white leaves on a speckled ground. The dress is trimmed with silk braid. There is an overskirt over the back of the dress, accentuating the bustle that was now being worn underneath.Open sleeves of the kind seen here were very fashionable in the early 1870s. The fashion magazine The Queen shows a dress with the same squared-edge sleeve in an issue for August 1870.

T.101 to B-1972