Lingerie dress, ca. 1911








 White linen lingerie dress.  High squared collar, edged with a machine-made net, mitered at the corners, and bound with bias tape.  Neckline is surrounded by satin stitch embroidery of leaf and flower motifs; flower petals are filled in with same net.  Bodice is constructed in one piece with sleeves, which are decorated with similar leaf and flower motifs with net openwork, and edged with same net and bias tape.  It closes down the center back with six synthetic pearl buttons and six hooks and eyes.  Lower edge of bodice is gathered in to a waistband of self-fabric, covered with net around the center.  Ankle-length skirt is not gathered to the waistband, but is shaped to fit over the hips and flare slightly.  Separate leaf-motif embroidery decorates the bottom of the skirt.









Condition:  The dress is in fair condition.  The fabric is not discolored and is not fragile, but there are small, frayed holes on the front of the skirt (pictured below) and the net of the proper left shoulder.  The top of the skirt has been resewn (pictured below), as have the ends of the waistband and the hooks and eyes in the opening.



Comparanda:

July 1911; Mid-Manhattan Library / Picture Collection PC COSTU-191 816869

 1911; Mid-Manhattan Library / Picture Collection PC COSTU-191 816897


 Evening dress, Poiret, ca. 1911; KCI AC2388 79-20    


Afternoon dress, ca. 1913; KCI AC9381 96-27-2


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