Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Clara's 1890 Day Dress

Here is an elegant late Victorian Day Dress for Clara. A day dress is actually just what the name describes... a dress to be worn during the day – to school, visiting, or whatever activity. Although this day dress is quite elegant, it is not an evening gown. The evening gowns of this time period had really elaborate designs.

This particular day dress is one of the earliest examples of a new fashion trend – the bell-shaped skirt, which was popular throughout the 1890s. Clara's dress for this week has a slight bell shape. As the decade passed, the bell shapes of the skirts got more pronounced, and the dresses added a mutton-leg shaped sleeve. But this dress is from 1890, so it has straight, loose long sleeves. Clara's dress has a blousy top with a wide square yoke divided with several pleats. The ribbon trim on the sleeves, yoke, and hem is a classic Victorian rose pattern.

The hat has an oversized bow with some leaves for decoration. As extravagant as it is, this hat is plain compared to some of the outrageous hats from the 1890s. Still, it fits with the ensemble.

The boots are a plain, classic tall style, similar to those worn for many decades.

The original dress was a light sea-foam green with rose pink and green ribbon trim. The pink hat had a pink bow, with green leaves. The boots were all black, with black stockings.

To print Clara's outfit, use this PDF file:
Clara's Dress 29 (818k)

Clara is a free, printable paper doll. Clara will continue to be available on this blog as long as I post new fashion pages for her. You can read the introduction for the Clara paper doll here.

To print the Clara paper doll, use this PDF file:
The Clara Paper Doll (745k)

No comments:

Post a Comment

Clara's 1841 Easter Rose Dress

Clara's dress for this week is a reposted copy of her pretty day dress trimmed with roses, suitable for Easter. In the 1840s, the slope-...