Fashion has always adapted itself with changes in people’s demand and has evolved with time. The fashion museum in Bath – yes there is a museum for fashion! – has finally gotten their ancient hands on a couple of evening dresses from the thirties. The examples are representative of the 1930s haute couture that was then celebrated by Parisian couturier Madeleine Vionnet.
The Fashion Museum in Bath was one of the only three museums in the UK who worked relentlessly in order to save and get together a collection of nine evening dresses by the haute couture designer of then, Madeleine Vionnet, worn by the British socialite Lady Foley.
Due to their high quality and the detailed range of textiles and techniques used onto these dresses, they were classified as unmatched by other examples already present in the UK and were recently a subject to Export License stop, the two dresses that the Fashion museum could receive are on display since December 2009.
The dresses have cost the museum quite a bit, however funds were raised and quite a few private supporters helped with the funding. Both the dresses are worth their cost, they are in fine condition and beautiful illustrations of the aim of the couturier’s design: precise cutting, delicate and fine construction and a one of a kind simply exquisite array of embroidery and fabric tease techniques.
The first dress that is in the possession of the Fashion museum is a full length evening grown that has cream silk tulle that is topped with a bodice and is adorned with intricate smocking. This ‘smocking’ pattern resembles interlocking hexagons which are apparently made up of simple six petal flower motifs. The first dress dates back to 1934 while the other one is from 1938, this dress is of white organdie and is adorned with embroidery that has been done with white thread – in a pattern that appears to be a tambour stitch. The pattern followed is of large single sprig motifs of bouquets of flowers and large sheaves of wheat.
The fashion museum apparently has a taste for fine works of art by the leading couturiers of the last century, they display with much pride one of the leading couturier of her time, Madeleine Vionnet, whose beautiful and innovative creativity has inspired many of the top designers of this day and age. These two exquisite dresses clearly show the astonishingly accurate cut and design of Vionnet’s haute couture. Haute couture might as well have taken a clue from Madeleine Vionnet’s great works.
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it.
This article brought a funny memory to my mind. Gradma had that exquisite linen dress – it was not made by a famous designer and from what I’ve heard, wasn’t too expensive but was really gorgeous. As you can imagine, she used to wear it some 50 years ago and it still looked like new so I wear it now, too. First of all, you can’t tell the dress is that old and second, the fabric is just as it used to be back than.
Nowadays you need to buy the best and most famous brands so that you can hope for good quality – otherwise it’s matter of a couple of washings for the colors to fade or the fabric to change.
From what I can tell, today it’s more about fashion while back then it was about clothes that could be actually worn. Stylish, fancy, elegant – you can see it in the pictures. Not that you can’t find nice dresses today – but you need to look harder, because most of the models are extravagant in one way or another.