Black Silk Dress with Train

VC1992105
circa 1904
label: Juliette Tallet

There is a lot left still to be learned about this dress. The lines of the dress are very unconventional and deliberate. This dress is a bit of an outlier as it has elements of the Aesthetic Dress movement about it (such as the flowers and the patterns in the lace modesty panel) and yet the construction of the bodice is not quite free flowing enough to be fully Aesthetic. Perhaps the skirt, with its swirling illusion, is what keeps it most in firmly in the Aesthetic realm.

To preserve this dress, first the collar and modesty panel were reinforced with conservation net. The skirt lining has barely survived and must be replaced if it is to be mounted again. Various colors of thread were used to trace the complicated manner in which the outerskirt is attached to the inner skirt. Next, the inner skirt lining will be removed and used as a pattern to create a new lining.

Researched and Stabilized by Emily Leimkuhler '10