My 1820s (?) gown is in an exhibition

Circa Vintage Clothing

Circa Vintage Clothing

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Hi everyone,

I'm excited because the oldest gown in my collection is now on display at a local exhibition.

"What Women Wore: Fashion at a glance 1820-1960" is on at the City Museum, Melbourne (Australia) until February. I'm also going to give a couple of talks about vintage fashions and collecting.

1820scrimsonsleeve.jpg


Here's a detail of the bodice - to see more and also some of the other dresses in the exhibition, go here.

Now I'd like to seek your opinion on this gown - I used to think it was 1830s and now I wonder if it's late 1820s (see image from 1829 here). Any opinions? The silhouette is easy to see - the sleeves are very long so I think they would have been puffed up a bit, and I think the shoulderline is wider than it looks on the mannequin. The collar is petal shaped, and is longer over the sleeves.

Apologies for the blurry image - this one is closer to the colour:

1820scrimson.jpg


Nicole
 
Congratulation! That's fantastic! Your dresses are so wonderful and I am sorry to say I am no help to your question. I have never even come across anything that old in all of my searching. These must be a rare find for you in Australia too!! You must have incredible luck, finding all of those spectacular beauties :wow22:
 
Wow, my congratulations too! And that is one lovely dress :adore: ! And the color - so beautiful!

I love historical fashion, and this here touches almost on my favourite period in fashion history (pre-1900), or let's say, it comes just after it. I admit, I go nuts for anything Empire-style (basically 1800-1820).

Anyway, I think you are absolutely right! The skirt isn't wide enough for the 1830s I think. I would date this somewhere 1826-1830, no later. I had a quick look at my one very detailed fashion history book too, but - it's a bit late here to try and read detailed descriptions in French... so this is my gut feeling :eureka:.

Karin
 
Nicole\'s 1820s Gown

Wow Nicole, how wonderful! I agree late 1820s is most likely according to what's shown in the fabulous Costume Parisien fashion plates of that era. Congratulations! Sue
 
Holy cow, way out of my expertise, but Nicole, that is fab! And congrats on a museum exhibition! I really need to come to Australia...
 
I would have said about 1830 on the nose. Those sleeves are typical of right about then - Of course they would look different on an arm because the puff would get pushed up into a roundish shaped upper arm with a tight forearm. The skirt isn't very full but it also doesn't use ruffles or rouleaux to pad out the width. Lastly, that colour shows up in period coloured illustrations right around 1830 - its in that colour range of 'geranium' that they liked at the time.

The skirt isn't full enough for anything after 1832 and the sleeves are the wrong shape for anything before 1828, so it has to be in there somewhere.
 
Thanks everyone for your comments, especially Jonathan with the dating. Now that I consider that it was found in Australia, it may even be early 1830s as we were sure to be a few years behind on fashions. I love that these dates can be pinned down so well.

Nicole
 
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