Preview
Creator
Unknown
Date Created
1920s
Subject
Costume; Clothing; Main garments; Dresses
Description
1920s. Dark gold charmeuse one-piece tubular drop-waisted dress, incorporating the reverse of the main fabric as a contrasting texture, with long sleeves and a flaring calf-length skirt.
The dress has one full-length front panel and one full-length back panel, each assembled from six distinct sections that alternate the shiny, satin-weave front of the material with its matte, crepe-weave reverse before being sewn together at the shoulder and side seams. The bodice area from shoulders to hips is made with the satin side of the fabric, and the dropped waistline at the hips is defined with a flattened chevron-shaped band of the crepe side, roughly 4.8 cm / 1.875 in. wide (variable), that comes to a shallow point at center front and back and scoops lower at the sides. A satin band, roughly 5.1 cm / 2 in. wide (variable), is sewn beneath this, matching the lines of the curves, and another crepe band the same width as the first is sewn beneath it. Until this point, the dress is more or less a straight-sided tube, but now satin panels flaring at the sides are added in to form the skirt, more than doubling the width of the garment. Finally, at the hem, a roughly 14 cm / 5.5 in. (variable) band of crepe completes the skirt. At both side seams, between the arm scyes and the first crepe hip band, nine horizontal tucks are stacked on top of each other crossing from front to back, creating a slight shaping.
The front panel has a deep V-shaped neckline, 57.2 cm / 22.5 in long on each side, that reaches all the way into the top of the first hip band. This is framed with a crepe border, added onto the dress, that resembles a shawl collar. The deep opening is filled in to create a much shallower neckline with two crossed pieces of cream machine-made lace on a net ground, with its floral pattern outlined by a heavier gimp thread. In back, the neckline rests at the nape of the neck, and the dress has twelve short vertical pin-tucks coming down from the neckline into the bodice. The sleeves are made with the satin face of the fabric and have one seam. They fit smoothly to the scye and arm, and end at the wrist with a small crepe cuff decorated with a stylized crepe bow with triangles of lace inserted into each side. The dress has no lining, pulls on over the head, and has no fastenings.
The uneven shapes of the various panels and the slight misalignment of elements at the side seams indicate this is a homemade effort. Machine-sewn and hand-sewn.
Extent
Bust: 116.8 cm / 46 in.
Waist (dropped): 117.2 cm / 46.125 in.
Shoulder: 7 cm / 2.75 in.
Sleeve: 61.6 cm / 24.25 in.
Hem: 256.5 cm / 101 in.
Length (overall): 120.7 cm / 47.5 in.
Provenance
Gift of Robert and Janet Varney
Museum Number
98
Publisher
University of New Hampshire Library
Medium
Rayon charmeuse, machine-made lace
Contributor
Astrida Schaeffer, photographer/curator
Date Digitized
6-11-2019
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Keywords
Dresses, 1920s, One-piece dresses, Tubular, Drop-waisted, Charmeuse, Dark gold (color), Long sleeves, Calf-length skirt, Dropped waistline, V-shaped neckline, Satin-weave, Crepe-weave, Chevrons (motifs), Machine-made lace, Cream (color), Net (textile), Pin-tucks, Cuffs, Bows (costume accessories), Homemade, Machine-sewn, Hand-sewn, Varney (donor)
Comments
The Irma G. Bowen Historic Clothing Collection digital catalog was produced by the UNH Library Digital Collection Initiative, supported in part by a grant from the Mooseplate program and New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. Additional funding provided by the E. Ruth Buxton Stephenson Memorial Fund.
Photography copyright, Astrida Schaeffer.