#7262 $1,400
Chiffon tea dress embellished with lace, c.1910
Romantic lace dresses from the early 20th century make lovely wedding dresses, offering one-of-a-kind design at a great price. With soft feminine styling, pin tucks, and textured lace accents, this lovely dress delights the jaded modern eye. The outer layer of the dress is of ecru silk chiffon backed with an under layer of white cotton tulle.
The tulle under skirt is longer than the chiffon outer layer. The dress closes in back with small covered buttons and loops. The long narrow sleeves have tiny mother-of-pearl buttons to close the sleeves at the wrist.
The range of textures in the lace embellishment adds depth and complexity to the design. The panels of flat Valenciennes lace are outlined with borders of Cluny style open work. The roses in the Valenciennes lace are accented by Irish crochet roses. The borders of tape lace flowers are hand assembled.
The tea gown first appeared in the 1870s. It permitted respectable women to indulge a taste for fantasy and innovation in dress within the limits of Victorian propriety. Tea time for an upper middle class hostess allowed her to offer polite hospitality to an exclusive circle of friends, who stayed for only a short time.
The hostess who wore this tea dress in 1910 was not just making a fashion statement. She was also claiming her rightful place within her social circle. Although the tea dress was a likely a French invention, tea drinking as a social ceremony came from England. In this passage from Proust, one cannot miss the snobbish Anglophilia of fashionable Paris.
Mme. Swann attached great importance to her 'tea'; she thought it showed her originality and expressed her charm when she said to a man, "You will find me at home any day, fairly late; come to tea!" so that she allowed a sweet and delicate smile to accompany the words pronounced with a fleeting trace of English accent, noticed by her listener, who bowed solemnly in acceptance, as though the invitation had been something uncommon that commanded deference and required attention.
The condition is almost excellent. In the skirt are a few pin-prick-size holes that are difficult to detect. They do not spoil the appearance.
The size is small. The bodice barely closed in back on a mannequin with a 35" bust and 25" waist.
It measures: 35" bust, 25" waist, 40" hip, 15" from shoulder seam to shoulder
seam, 24" sleeve length, 7" wrist circumference, 15" from shoulder to
waist, 57" from the shoulder to the front hem of the outer skirt, and 60" from the
shoulder to the hem of the underskirt (several inches longer in back).
