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Evening dress
unknown - Enlarge image
Evening dress
- Place of origin:
United Kingdom (made)
- Date:
1876-1878 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Silk satin, trimmed with silk ribbon and machine-made lace, lined with cotton, reinforced with whalebone, machine and hand sewn
- Credit Line:
Given by Mrs Thérèse Horner
- Museum number:
T.130&A-1958
- Gallery location:
In Storage
This ensemble characterises fashionable evening wear for women in the late 1870s. The elbow-length sleeves and square neckline show that it was probably a dinner dress rather than ball gown. Tiers of machine-made lace adorn the skirt and bodice; an overskirt of satin swathes the front of the dress. The bodice extends into a point below the waistline in front and back. This was a new style, known as a ‘cuirasse’ bodice, which appeared in fashion magazines about 1875 and remained fashionable through the 1880s.
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