The Ornamented Being
Ornamented: -verb: Adorn; beautify
Be·ing: -noun: Fulfillment of possibilities; essential completeness
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Admit it. The first thing you thought of was this scene from It Happened One Night
(Source: parisapartment.wordpress.com)
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This is my Robe de Style and it’s very fragile! I was actually shocked at how heavy the lace is! It’s really heavy! I was worried about putting it on my mannequin because I didn’t want the dress to decide that after 92ish years it was tired of being attached! Happily everything stayed together!
The lace in the front is in wonderful condition but it’s shattering across the back. It’s turned to a lovely bronze colour due to age but under the waistband you can still see spots that show how bright the gold was at one time. Dresses from the 20s are infamous for using real precious metals during the weaving process and you can obviously feel the truth in that. I don’t mean to keep mentioning the weight but it’s the most surprising thing about the piece!
The decoration at the waist is fashioned from French silk ribbon and velvet flowers wrapped in real gold and silver threads. They still catch the light brilliantly! I had a small flashlight out looking at the stitching last night and they glow like stars. I can’t imagine what she would have looked like in her prime!
I’m not sure if you can tell but the orange, blue, and red flowers/berries are all covered in velvet. The belt snaps on and the hanging pieces at the front and back remind me of a tunic. The edges are slightly padded with the gold lamé.
Yesterday when I saw it in the shop I noticed something odd about the hem and when I got it home I realized someone had taken the skirt up. It’s pulled out on the side so the hem is originally 8” long but someone shortened the hem to 4”.
The gold gold bullion trim joining the gold lamé to the lace is also quite heavy! I was actually worried about the weight being the cause of the shattering around the join of the lace to the hem. The trim has faded to a bronze color due to age but like the lace there are a few spots where the stitching is out and you can see that it’s still a bright shiny gold.
The underdress is rose gold lamé woven with gold thread and it’s also very heavy! I think that has become the common theme of this dress! There is some shattering around the hem and the threads are coming loose so you can feel the texture of the individual threads. The inside of the dress was a lovely rose chiffon but it’s shattering so badly that pieces crumble under your fingertips.
The panniers are made into the dress and are just like 18th century panniers! There is a long piece of cotton tape on each side keeping the pannier shape. I want to say they are made of buckram but it’s so unusual because it’s soft but at the same time it’s stiff enough to keep the shape.
I’m just in awe of the piece! I think it’s the grandest item in my collection!
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Dress (Robe de Style)
House of Lanvin (French, founded 1889)
Jeanne Lanvin (French, 1867–1946)
ca. 1927
Met
As one fashion commentator wrote in 1925, “The robe de style has a persevering nature. Fashions may come and fashions may go, but it keeps on forever.”
(Source: blog.fidmmuseum.org)
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“Overall view and detail of “Marjolaine, ” the quintessential robe de style of Lanvin. Apple green silk taffetas changeant is used to create an off-the-shoulder-drop-waist, full-skirted silhouette. 1920.”
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House of Lanvin (French, founded 1889)
Jeanne Lanvin (French, 1867–1946)Dress (Robe de Style)
1920–25
Met
“Called a robe de style, the upper portion of the dress is slim and close-fitting, while the skirt is full and rather long. The fullness in the skirt is a result of built-in panniers at each hip. These built-in wire structures, shaped like small baskets, extend the line of the dress horizontally, emphasizing the hips. This look hearkens back to the 18th century, when panniers were worn on a regular basis by European and American women. This historic reference was noted by American fashion writers who often referred to the robe de style as a “quaint” or “period style” dress.”
Description from the FIDM blog here.
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Ensemble, Evening
Boué Soeurs (French)
1918–20
Met -
Dress (Robe de Style)
House of Lanvin (French, founded 1889)
c. 1924-25
Met
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Oh seriously I am in LOVE.
Dress, Evening
Thurn (American)
c. 1923-26
The Met: Interest in ancient-Egypt influenced designs were a recurring theme during the 19th and early 20th centuries, reaching their height in the 1920s with Howard Carter’s discovery of King Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922. The motif seen here is an interpretation of an ibis or similar Egyptian winged motif. Thurn was a good American dressmaker in early 20th century.
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Jeanne Lanvin
The Met says: This Lanvin dress is very indicative of 1920s fashionable dress. Its intricate embroidery is unique to France while the spiral motif is a Lanvin signature.Jeanne Lanvin was apprenticed to a milliner and a dressmaker before opening her own millinery shop in 1889. She expanded into dressmaking when her clients began asking for the ensembles in which she adorned her daughter, Marguerite di Pietro (1897-1958). Her style embodied the femininity of youth in a most modern way with meticulous and relatively sparse surface embellishments and robe de style silhouettes, which could be worn by women of all ages. Lanvin’s aptitude can be seen through her house’s 1920s expansion into fur, lingerie, men’s wear, household goods and perfume. She even had the forethought to open her own dye factory which produced the inimitable ‘Lanvin blue.’ The longevity of the House of Lanvin can be credited to her attentive management and design standards from its inception.
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Dress, Evening
Louiseboulanger (French, 1878–1950
c. 1928
The Met says: Feathers of the 1920s swayed with the new music and dance, benefited from Orientalism’s panache and bent for the exotic, and allowed clothing to be more fluid and flexible than ever. Here, the feather trim is individual filiments of ostrich plume knotted together to form longer strands.* Each is dyed a different tone for the effect of an ombré cascade. The feather in nature is a beautiful form, but Louiseboulanger’s feathers are purposely governed and distilled beyond natural beauty to achieve a trim synthetic and sophisticated silhouette.
* :o woah. I would not have wanted that job.
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ca. 1926
The Met says: This evening dress is an excellent example of the period. The 1920s was the era of the flapper and her nights were spent on the town, dancing and sipping cocktails. This dress has a more refined and interesting appearance because of the varying hues of pink in the surface decoration, which shows certain levels of quality in its workmanship. Having the tabard open at the sides is an interesting detail in that it shows off the decoration of the garment underneath, yet it is attached at the sides to control the movement of the floating panels underneath. To complete the dress, the scallops of the tabard mirror the petals of the underdress.
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Yes please!
Dress, Evening
Edward Molyneux (French, born Britain, 1891–1974)
c. 1925
The Met says: Often remembered as Captain Molyneux, Edward Molyneux began his career with the English couturiere Lucile, Lady Duff Gordon, as a fashion sketcher and later assistant, traveling with her from London to New York and Chicago. Returning after WWI with blindness in one eye, Molyneux opened his own couture house in 1919 in Paris at 14 rue Royale. He opened several other branches, in both Monte Carlo and Cannes, and finally London. Molyneux had an artistic flair and obsession with the bourgeois. His clientele included the social elite as well as stars of the stage. Working in luxurious fabrics, he created exquisite pieces for both day and night, his colors of choice being navy, black and beige. His simplistic masterpieces were perfect for the woman who desired to look “absolutely” right.This evening ensemble from the mid-twenties is a perfect example of the refined designs of Molyneux. The neutral color choice subdues the eye yet on close examination, the extent of beading is astonishing. A provocative touch is the low cut overblouse, made appropriate by the sheer underdress beneath. This is a classic example of the boyish cut so favored by all women during the twenties.
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c. 1926-28
The Met says: During the 1920s it was common for women to spend their nights on the town, dancing and drinking cocktails. The fashionable silhouette called for a dropped waist and raised hemline, and with such rapid moves being performed on the dance floor, this new form of dress complimented the carefree lifestyle. This dress is an excellent example of the style of the period and is of interest for its refined French workmanship and finishing. The beadwork is very detailed and the pattern is visually appealing, as the beads cascade down onto the bodice.
