Featured 18th century silk dress

Discussion in 'Textiles, Needle Arts, Clothing' started by lucy skippon, Jun 19, 2021.

  1. lucy skippon

    lucy skippon New Member

    1600-7.JPG 1600-1.JPG 1600-14.JPG Can anyone help me to put a more precise date on this 18th century dress/ fabric? Could it be French or English? Spitalfields? Any advice gratefully received, thank you.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 19, 2021
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  2. bluumz

    bluumz Quite Busy

    I've dealt in vintage clothing for over 20 years but rarely had the opportunity to handle garments as old as this appears to be so I'm not any help.
    Could we see a photo of the front?
    Beautiful!
     
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  3. Northern Lights Lodge

    Northern Lights Lodge Well-Known Member

    OH! How absolutely exquisite! LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
    There is a Facebook group which may be able to help you out: Fashion History: the 1700's/1800th century
    Leslie
     
  4. lucy skippon

    lucy skippon New Member

    1600-3.JPG 1600-2.JPG 1600-5.JPG
    Hi, thanks for your reply. I work in a small general auction house in the UK, and this came in as part of a car boot full of bits and bobs. It was very crumpled- it has been ironed a bit and put on the dummy, which is too big for the dress so we have added some green paper at the front and put pink fabric round to show how it is an over dress. I would like to find out more about the silk so I can do it justice in the description
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 19, 2021
  5. lucy skippon

    lucy skippon New Member

    Thanks Leslie, I will look at that x
     
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  6. Debora

    Debora Well-Known Member

    Have you also identified the type of dress it is and the approximate age as a first step?

    Debora
     
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  7. lucy skippon

    lucy skippon New Member

    I think it is an over- dress for evening / promenade. At a guess 1770's but I don't know enough to say for sure
     
  8. Debora

    Debora Well-Known Member

  9. Debora

    Debora Well-Known Member

  10. Debora

    Debora Well-Known Member

    Yours is a humble example. Would have been designed for day.

    Debora
     
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  11. Debora

    Debora Well-Known Member

    And what a fun thing to find among "bits and bobs."

    Debora
     
  12. lucy skippon

    lucy skippon New Member

    Thanks for your help. I am hoping that the elderly lady owner (who dumped it on the pavement from her car boot) will be in for a nice surprise !
     
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  13. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    It could be difficult to differentiate between French or English, since the silk weavers in England at the time were nearly all French Huguenots who settled mostly in Spitalfields, but not just there.
    There is a Huguenot Museum where you could ask, they also have silk samples they could compare it with:

    https://huguenotmuseum.org/

    There is also this site:

    http://www.huguenotsofspitalfields.org/
     
  14. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

  15. Darkwing Manor

    Darkwing Manor Well-Known Member

    Here in the US a garment like this is very rare. You have a treasure. I suggest taking it to a textile historian for appraisal.
     
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  16. KSW

    KSW Well-Known Member

    I love this!
    What an amazing find :)
     
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  17. ulilwitch

    ulilwitch Well-Known Member

    Beautiful!
     
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  18. Ownedbybear

    Ownedbybear Well-Known Member

    I'd contact the V&A Textiles department. I'd also get on to the Museum of London who hold a great deal about Spitalfields silk weaving. Both have astonishing collections of pattern books and so forth as well as textiles. They may even be interested in buying it.

    https://spitalfieldslife.com/ is lovely.
     
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