Details

Object type

dress; gown; robe

Place Associated

England, London, Spitalfields (place of manufacture)

Date

circa 1740-1742 (material); circa 1775-1780 (dress)

Materials

silk, linen, hand-stitched

Description

Woman's dress, English gown or robe a l'Anglaise retroussée (E.1951.11.a.1) and matching petticoat (E.1951.11.a.2) in blue silk woven with flowers in white and brocaded with flowers in red, pink, purple and brown (material 17 in wide). Dress with closed bodice with square-cut décolletage fitted with drawstrings across the front. Bodice cut with two panels at front, panel either side and four panels at back with v-shaped waistline front and back. Elbow-length sleeves with cuff decorated with band of ruched self-material at edge. Over skirt open at front and attached to waist of bodice with small pleats, constructed from five widths. Internal sets of two tapes and loops to skirt up. Bodice lined with linen with small bones at centre back. Petticoat with skirt pleated into waistband at centre front and back with drawstrings at sides to fit. Calamanco panel at top of centre back, bottom centre back pieced brocaded silk.

Whilst the brocaded silk, with its large naturalist flowers, was made probably in Spitalfields, London, in about 1740–42, the gown was remade in the late 1770s. On the inside of the skirt are tapes for it to be tied up retroussé. Brocaded silks such as these were very expensive and dressmakers tried to use up all the material to avoid waste. The back of the petticoat is constructed using a patchwork of smaller pieces of the silk that would generally have been hidden by the skirts of the open gown.

Credit Line/Donor

Gifted by Miss Margaret Grieve, 1951

ID Number

E.1951.11.a

Location

In storage