I am much more familiar with mid century clothing. We have a lovely little Assistance League that adores my husband. Months they tried to get him to take this Beldings Silk? Victorian? Blouse. They finally made him take it in a lot of clothing he purchased. It is delicate with very little loss of beading. Delicate some torn fabric at neck. It appears that everything is hand sewn, all closure are hooks, side fastening. Neck has squiggly wire stays to keep up. Weighted in the back. it looks like it would have been over a skirt. A mourning blouse? Or did they all just like black back then? I'm trying to figure out what era I truly have here. I am seeings all sorts of things on Etsy / Ebay that do not look nearly as magnificent as this one. Not something that should be worn but preserved. Thank you for any and all information
Hi, I'm interested to know more about this as it has some similarities with a sequinned overdress I have - most notably those wavy wire bars - can you show how they function? I think the name refers to the manufacturer of the fabric, from the way it is woven into the selvedge, and I do think your blouse is likely to be late victorian to early 20thC.
The whole front of the top, opens up, snaps up the side, over the shoulder, and the wires are in the neck fabric sides (2") that also fastens in the back. Hope that makes sense?
The wavy wire thingys are to keep the high neck from folding over or drooping. It looks to be in remarkable good restorable condition. It is definitely early 1900's. The way it opens and the general silhouette has some characteristics of the 1910's, but the high neck seems earlier. Hope others check in. Marian
What a preety item! I suspect the Belding's name refers to THIS Belding's. Melanie, those support wires are in almost every high-necked antique dress in my collection, so I assume they were quite common. I don't have them in front of me now, but at a house sale I found a card with them on it, as they were originally sold. I remember being surprised at how modern the card looked, as in 1930's IIRC.
Thanks Lynne - they are at the end of two horizontal tabs on my dress which have no fastening and don't make sense, so I keep wondering if that sequinned overdress was also altered from another garment. This is the first I have seen them in what seems to be correct use.
Hi, That is lovely. Yes, those collar supports are called exactly that....collar supports! I have a few original cards of these too. Your lovely blouse/top looks to almost be a combination of eras, possibly it has been altered over the years for mourning or costume use? While the high collar looks early Edwardian, older and matronly women often wore that style collar well into the late 'Teens and beyond. The sleeves look more post Edwardian to me, with their straight lines and shorter length, so I would date the sleeves to around the WWI era. The spangles/sequins and beads I have seen on gowns up to around the early 1920s, they seem more common in the post Edwardian times. The underlayer (?) of sheer checkered pattern fabric seems slightly more casual in feel than the more formal jet sequins and beads of the other parts, and that is what makes me think this may be a marriage. Overall, I feel it is WWI era, 1914 to 1920. Hard to know just from the photos. Lovely, whenever it was made.
