Transformation Dress thumbnail 1
Transformation Dress thumbnail 2
Not currently on display at the V&A

Transformation Dress

1889 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Day and evening outfit consisting of a day bodice, an evening bodice and a skirt made from broadly striped black and pink silk and trimmed with black machine-made lace and jet motifs.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 3 parts.

  • Jacket Bodice
  • Jacket Bodice
  • Skirt
Materials and techniques
Silk trimmed with machine-made lace, lined with cotton, boned
Brief description
Day bodice, evening bodice and skirt made of silk and lace, possibly made by A. Mueller, New York, 1889
Physical description
Day and evening outfit consisting of a day bodice, an evening bodice and a skirt made from broadly striped black and pink silk and trimmed with black machine-made lace and jet motifs.
Credit line
Given by Major and Mrs Broughton
Object history
This dress was owned by Cara Broughton, née Cara Leland Huttleston Rogers (1867-1939), who married Urban Hanlon Broughton (1857-1929) in 1895. As Urban H. Broughton died before he could be elevated to a peerage, their eldest son Urban H.R. Broughton (1896-1966) became 1st Baron Fairhaven of Lode on 20 March 1929, while Cara became 1st Lady Fairhaven. This barony became extinct on Urban H.R.Broughton's death, but a later barony, Baron Fairhaven of Anglesey Abbey, co. Cambridge, was granted to him in 1961, with a remainder to his brother, Henry (1900-1973), to enable this title to continue after his death without male heirs.

This forms part of a large donation of late 19th and early 20th century garments and accessories (with a few historical textiles) donated to the Museum in 1972 by Cara's grandson and Henry's son, Major Ailwyn Broughton and his wife, a year before Ailwyn became Lord Fairhaven following his father's death.

Some of the nineteenth century garments are thought to have been worn by Cara's sister, Anne (1865-1924).
Collection
Accession number
T.275 to B-1972

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
Record URL
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