Daywear
Day Dress

This blue silk taffeta afternoon dress is emblematic of the early 1920s. The shapelessness of the waist and shorter hemline echoes the popularity of sheath-like dresses of the time. Likely homemade, it is also a rare extant example of a garment made to fit a larger than average body of the time.

Sketch and Garment Pairing: These sketches were chosen to pair with this day dress due to their similarity in silhouette, simplicity, and length and to showcase the types of outer garments that could have been worn over this type of dress.

Conservation Treatment: Despite a significant loss of beads and heavy armpit stains, this dress was in good condition before treatment. The biggest challenge was the stabilization of the beaded collar, which had brittle threads barely holding the glass seed beads in place. All of the blue beads around the collar were restrung using a polyester thread, and many beads were couched in place to prevent further loss. A tear at the shoulder closure was stabilized using net, and snaps were reattached.

Conservation treatment performed by Linsey Labson.