Be still my heart!

Kremlin Museum

Late 19th century

Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna

The costume she is wearing is so similar to the extant one and I wanted to share both with you.

Ceremonial Court Dress 
Olga Bulbenkova’s Workshop, St Petersburg 
Russia. Late 19th - early 20th century
Silk, silver and gold thread, imitation pearls, metal, tulle, brocade and satin; embroidered. L.: bodice 39, skirt 153, train 330 cm 
Source of Entry:   State Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR, Leningrad (before 1917 in the Winter Palace). 1941

Ceremonial Court Dresses of a Lady-in-Waiting to Imperial Court 
St Petersburg 
Russia. Second half of the 19th century
Velvet, satin, gilded metal thread; embroidered. L.: skirts 127 and 115 cm, trains 270 and 252 cm 
Source of Entry:   State Museum of Ethnography of Peoples of the USSR, Leningrad. 1941

Ceremonial Court Dress of Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna 
Olga Bulbenkova’s Workshop, St Petersburg 
Russia. Late 19th - early 20th century
Silk with rep weave, imitation pearls and fringe; embroidered.L.: bodice 39, skirt 103, train 300 cm 
Source of Entry:   State Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR, Leningrad (before 1917 in the Winter Palace). 1941

Ceremonial Court Dress of Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna 
Olga Bulbenkova’s Workshop, St Petersburg 
Russia. 1896 
Satin, silver and silk thread; embroidered. L.: bodice 38, skirt 170, train 403 cm 
Source of Entry:   State Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR, Leningrad (before 1917 in the Winter Palace). 1941

State Hermitage Museum

(Source: hermitagemuseum.org)

Biog: m 1884 Baron George Alexandrovitch de Graevenitz

Date: 25 May 1900.

Occasion: The Court (the Diplomatic Circle), 25 May 1900.

Location: The Lafayette Studio, 179 New Bond St., London.

Costume: Russian Court Dress:

“The Russian court dress was exceedingly picturesque and was donned for all bigger occasions. It consisted of amply cut velvet robes over a tablier of white satin; the shape, with its train, and wide, long-hanging sleeves, had something mediæval about it. These robes were heavily embroidered in silver or gold and were of every colour of the rainbow; the richest of all were of cloth of gold or silver.

A halo-shaped cocoshnic with a veil hanging from beneath it inevitably accompanied this costume, so that every woman appeared to have been crowned. This unity of attire made all Russian court gatherings uniquely picturesque, saturating them with colour and brilliance unlike anything else; veritable pictures out of the “Thousand and One Nights,” Byzantine in splendour, with all the mysterious gorgeousness of the East. In those days the processional entry of the Russian Imperial family into festive hall or saint-haunted church was a picture once seen never to be forgotten.” Marie, Queen of Roumania, The Story of My Life, London, 1934, Vol I, p 95

(Source: lafayette.org.uk)

Ceremonial Court Dress 
Russia. Late 19th - early 20th century
Satin, tulle and brocade; embroidered with silk and metall threads. 
Source of Entry:   State Museum of Ethnography of Peoples of the USSR, Leningrad. 1941

Ceremonial Court Dress of a Maid of Honour to Imperial Court 
Olga Bulbenkova’s Workshop (?), St Petersburg 
Russia. Late 19th - early 20th century
Velvet, satin, gilded metal thread; embroidered. L.: bodice 33, skirt 140, train 270 cm 
Source of Entry:   State Museum of Ethnography of Peoples of the USSR, Leningrad. 1941

The State Hermitage Museum 

(Source: hermitagemuseum.org)

“The Russian court dress was exceedingly picturesque and was donned for all bigger occasions. It consisted of amply cut velvet robes over a tablier of white satin; the shape, with its train, and wide, long-hanging sleeves, had something medival about it. These robes were heavily embroidered in silver or gold and were of every colour of the rainbow; the richest of all were of cloth of gold or silver. A halo-shaped cocoshnic (AN: kokoshnik) with a veil hanging from beneath it inevitably accompanied this costume, so that every woman appeared to have been crowned. This unity of attire made all Russian court gatherings uniquely picturesque, saturating them with colour and brilliance unlike anything else; veritable pictures out of the “Thousand and One Nights,” Byzantine in splendour, with all the mysterious gorgeousness of the East. In those days the processional entry of the Russian Imperial family into festive hall or saint-haunted church was a picture once seen never to be forgotten.” - Marie, Queen of Roumania, from the book “The Story of My Life”.

Imperial Russian court dress, c 1888 (silk lamé moiré, silk velvet, glass crystals, silver sequins, silver foil, silver strips), Worth, Charles Frederick (1825-95) / Indianapolis Museum of Art, USA / Gift of the Alliance of the Indianapolis Museum of Art / The Bridgeman Art Library

(Source: bridgemanart.com)

A new theme for a new year:

All that glitters … 

(Source: metmuseum.org)

I found this very interesting: “The court ladies called it “putting on the armour” and it was rigidly defined what you could wear: 

Ulla Tillander-Godenhielm describes the court dress worn during the last reign by maids of honour in the chapter “The Ladies of the Imperial Court” in her book, The Russian Imperial Award System 1984-1917

Mistress of the Court: A russian style dress of gold embroidered raspberry velvet with a long skirt and an underskirt of white satin also richly embroidered in gold. The headdress was a kokoshnik of the same color velvet with a long white veil of lace or tulle.

Lady of Honour and Maids of Honour of the Bedchamber: Court costume was the same cut and design as that of the Mistress of the Court except the kokoshnik and the dress were made of dark green velvet.

Maids of Honour who attended the Empress: Same cut and design dress as above, but dress made of crimson velvet embroidered with gold.

Maids of Honour who attended Grand Duchesses (wives of Grand Dukes): Same as above made of crimson velvet embroidered with silver.

Maids of Honour who atteded Grand Duchess (Daughter or Grandaughter of Emperor): Same dress design and cut as those above, but made of light blue velvet.

Of note, Ms. Tillander-Godenhielm states that when maids of honour married, they had to retire from their position, but were allowed to attend court functions in court dress of the same cut, made of any material and ornamented in any fashion.

As noted in Mr. Nicholson’s article, maids of honour were required to wear the diamond studded chiffres.

The highest memebers of the imperial family wore cloth of silver and it was incredibly heavy and this was worn at events like weddings and coronations.”

(Source: lamodeillustree.livejournal.com)

Ekaterina Pavlovna’s dress, late 1780’s