1870
AMERICAN
Mourning Dress
American, ca. 1870
Black silk faille trimmed with black and white silk fringe and white satin overlaid with black lace
Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mrs. Clarence E. Van Buren, 1944 (2009.300.673a, b)
1939
ELSA SCHIAPARELLI
Evening Dress
Ca. 1939
Elsa Schiaparelli, Italian, 1890–1973
Black felted wool
Gift of Miriam Whitney Coletti, 1984 (1984.587.5)
This dress typifies the fashionable silhouette in 1870, which was formed by a fitted, raised-waist bodice and a flared, floor-length skirt with excess fabric gathered at the back of the waist and supported by a bustle. Lace-covered white satin bands signify half mourning, a late stage of bereavement, and outline quintessential details of the period—square neckline, streamered belt, and skirt ruffle.
In the late 1930s, as the probability of war increased, designers sought the nostalgic romanticism of past fashions. Elsa Schiaparelli helped revive the bustle shape, combining it with the prevailing narrow silhouette. In contrast to nineteenth-century models, the bustled form of this gown is created not by supportive understructures but solely through manipulation of the fabric. Black felted wool is stitched to form broad tucks down the center front that release at the hips and the derriere, where the fabric is gathered into graceful folds.
In the late 1930s, as the probability of war increased, designers sought the nostalgic romanticism of past fashions. Elsa Schiaparelli helped revive the bustle shape, combining it with the prevailing narrow silhouette. In contrast to nineteenth-century models, the bustled form of this gown is created not by supportive understructures but solely through manipulation of the fabric. Black felted wool is stitched to form broad tucks down the center front that release at the hips and the derriere, where the fabric is gathered into graceful folds.