Dress of shot silk and net with chemical lace appliqués, designed by Appel, New York, 1895

Afternoon dress consisting of a bodice and skirt of red and black shot silk. The bodice and skirt are overlaid with black net with black chemical lace appliqués. The elbow-length puffed sleeves have unlined chemical lace lower sleeves. The high neck is covered with a swathe of silk gauze. Lined with silk. The bodice is boned and the skirt is lined with black buckram with a frill at the hem.

Given by Major and Mrs Broughton

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).

This dress features a label inscribed with ‘Appel, New York’. There were a range of businesses and individuals with the name Appel selling and making clothing in New York in the late nineteenth-century. Without an address, it is difficult to further identify who might have made this dress. The S. Appel Clothing Company owned by Solomon Appel was known for producing military uniforms and Louis Levenson who owned the Appel Clothing Company was one of the founding members of The Clothiers’ Association, which was an early form of a garment worker's union. However, this couture garment was likely made in a smaller fashion house, making surviving records harder to find.

T.269&A-1972