Exquisite Dresses from the Victoria & Albert Museum

Of all the places I have visited in the world, the Victoria & Albert Musuem has to be one of my all-time favorites.  I shared some glorious silk ball gowns in my last post, but there are too many striking pieces in the V&A collection to not add some more pictures! (Flash photography is not permitted inside the exhibits, and the dresses are housed behind glass under very low lighting.  These aren’t ideal conditions for photography, so please excuse the glare from the glass cases.)

Shown here is a royal court gown from the 1700s which is in such pristine condition you would think it was a replica!   Made in the classic Elizabethan style, this dress’s main feature is the vivid floral embroidery in silk threads.  Peacock blue, reds, golds, oranges, and green seem to jump off the pale cream silk of this lavish dress and train.  One can only imagine how many hundreds of hours it would have required to sew this gown.  One could guess that a lady with the means to commission this design might have preferred to not be seen in “the same dress” too often.  Perhaps this is the reason why the gown is still so impeccable.

Here is a  striking 1890s daydress which combines wide black bobbin lace with grey and black velvet ribbons.  The lace is draped over the perfectly corseted bodice in an unsual crossover fashion, and continues down the skirt  in horizontal stripes.  The dressmaker wrapped two widths of this same black lace around the wrist ends, the top width ending in a slight upward “v” shape.  Dozens of grey velvet ribbons encircle the arms, finished with tiny black ribbon bows in the center of each.  You can see similar trim from the velvet ribbons in the front hip area, that finally stops at about hip level.

At the top of the sleeve is a gathered frill or cap sleeve of black Chantilly lace, and the ribbon detailing beneath the high Victorian collar suggest a sweetheart neckline.  Velvet ribbons appear once more on the front of the collar itself, for an altogether unique design.  Can you believe women would have worn this as a “daydress”?  I can’t imagine even hosting a tea party in this, for fear of spilling on it or ripping out a seam by simply bending your arm!  This is more detailed than most of today’s designer wedding dresses.

Here is a long-sleeved empire waist gown with gold hand-embroidered scrollwork down the center.  Once again, the hours it must have taken to embroider this gown can only be imagined.

After years of studying Regency or Empire dresses in print and film for so many years, I was sincerely hoping to study some period dresses up close – and I was not disappointed!  Jane Austen era dresses are universally adored by women around the world.  Perhaps it’s the timeless simplicity to these soft, flowing dresses which evokes a feeling of femininity sadly missing from the majority of modern styles…

If you have the opportunity to visit the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, by all means take advantage of the chance.  Seeing the workmanship in clothing made hundreds of years ago will inspire you beyond what you would think.  (Editor’s note: Years later, I’ve now visited this museum three separate times, and I’m still struck by the costumes each time I go.)

Till next time!

Katrina