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Historic Costume | Fine and Decorative Arts
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Dress
Clothing/Dress/Costume
Dress made of tight fitted bodice with short tails and neatly pleated bustle skirt. The main fabric is black voided velvet in a rose pattern, the secondary one is a black grosgrain that looks greenish in the photograph. Blackened brass buttons depicting a Japanese lady seated on a fence, wielding a large bright steel fan.a) The velvet bodice has a high standing collar; long, tight sleeves set rather high on the shoulder. It circles along the hip, dipping down in the front and forming little tails in the back. The front has a center panel of grosgrain that parts at the bottom like a vest; it closes with functional buttons are spaced tightly in a row down the center. A wide black grosgrain ribbon bow is fitted across the bust. The collar and cuffs are protected by a folded ribbon with large picots that form a neat edge.b) The velvet skirt has inverted box pleated grosgrain insets at the side fronts, and more pleated grosgrain fits smoothly over a bustle at center back. It opens at the left side, has a right-side pocket, and a bustle-‘strut’ across the derriere inside, that can be flattened for storage.
G2005.173ab
Bruce and Susan Greene Costume Collection
1882 - 1884
User Age: Adult Gender: Female
voided velvet
standing collar
tight sleeves
box pleats
bustle-‘strut’