hats and laces

Evening dress worn by Queen Elizabeth II on a state visit to Paris in 1957 with gold and white beadwork. The dazzling, jewel-like details of the embroidered design include miniature bees, grasses, wheat and wild flowers. The design of this single-occasion gown diplomatically refers to French motifs, including the flowers of France and large gold bees, the emblem of Napoleon. It was intended to both compliment the French nation and draw attention to the Queen.

(The Met Museum)

Gorgeousness from between 1881 and 1885

Dresses like this just leave me gaping. I truly can’t imagine the exertion and attention to details entailed in their manufacture process.

Bodice detail

Photograph of Princess de Ligné, 1886

As requested by sandwhichx, hairstyle from 1831

Lady Jane Ellenborough by Joseph Karl Stieler

Thanks Faye!

Possibly made around 1745 and altered between 1780 and 1790.

Corset, 1876

Ball gown, 1820

What Balmain used to be…

White silk organza with ostrich feathers and rhinestones evening dress from between 1950 and 1955.

lostsplendor:

my-ear-trumpet:

fyeahdecadence:

Carl Herpfer - The Love Letter

Although the painter lived in the 19th century, the fashion looks pretty 18th century to me.

1885 has to be one of the best years in fashion! This incredibly detailed dress could be worn in three different ways. Two of the variants include insane drapery and one displays a magnificent train. Can you make your pick?

The train:

And the third draped back:

The details and the colouring somehow remind me of Christmas:

When Queen Victoria began her long reign, in the year of 1837, she started to have influence upon the sartorial choices of her female subjects. As this dress demonstrates, the exaggerated gigot sleeves (very puffy sleeves) which had been fashionable that decade became outdated, gradually losing their fullness over the next years and turning tighter on the upper arm.

I say thanks to Queen Victoria and her fashion-sense which rid women from the ridiculous (at least in my opinion) 1830s style and paved the way to the fabulous Victorian style (you know, the crinolines and the bustles and the long long trains… yes!).

Fabulous evening ensemble from 1910.

Vogue cover of a 1911 issue

Bodice, 1725-50