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Teal Taffeta Crinoline Ensemble, #1992.124
c. 1865-6
Teal green silk taffeta; metal hooks & eyes; crochet covered buttons
Teal taffeta ensemble; green crochet covered small novel buttons; also hook/eye closure (both functional); sloping shoulder seams; curved arms; 2 ruffled cuffs (turned up) @ edge of each sleeve; lining = polished cotton? dark tan, course, shiny, tearing like paper in bodice
*pocket near CF on R (new waist); 4 self ruffles on skirt; both edges finished w/ lighter green braid trim
matching fichu with self ruffle trim all along outer edge; lighter green circlet covered buttons - not real closure; really hooks/eyes (thread loops); waistband w/ florette of self fabric @ CF; 2 hanging panels in front, 3 in back
This ensemble appears as a likely compromise to the conditions imposed by the Lady Principal Miss Lyman in her 1867 letter to parents on the subject of their daughters' wardrobes. If it is true that you would not "wish to find your daughter at evening in the same dress in which she had all day been at work," (on the first page of the Lyman letter) yet students are asked that "expensive trimmings should be entirely laid aside," (second page), then this teal ensemble is a solution that is indeed very plain, yet elegant in its simplicity. The only trim to be found on the dress consists of ruffles along the hemline (as they are made of the same fabric they do not appear very elaborate) and the crocheted coverings of the decorative buttons down the center front of the fichu that is worn over the bodice of the dress (hooks and eyes are used for the actual closure). Both the ruffles and buttons add aesthetic interest to the dress in a very subtle way.