And the one you've all been waiting for

[mala_14]

Here it is, the Marie Antoinette gown made by the famous Rose Bertin. It's an ivory coloured satin embroidered all over with swags of ribbons and flowers. The pink parts of the swags appear to be appliqued. There are small paste stones, spangles, and gold threads as well decorating this gown. Aside from the swags there are also little sprigs of flowers embroidered all over. The shoulder straps are embroidered with lines of flowers.

Cut is a little strange, but the museum info says that some of it was altered in the 19th century. This refers to the width of the skirt, which is not wide enough to fit over panniers any more. There is a stain on the right side, about hip level of the skirt that was brown-ish. It's in one of the pictures. There are also two little gussets in the side back waist. I took pictures of both of these. They're triangular in shape with flowers embroidered on them as well. The back is also cut en fourreau. I tried my best to take pictures of the pleats leading into the skirt. The skirt was lined in pink patterned silk. Not really sure what type of fabric it was, but there are a couple pictures of it. Unfortunately the underside of the skirt wasn't very well lit ;p so my pictures aren't particularly descriptive.

Pictures of the info at the museum are included which shows some of the decoration, provenance and materials, and a few fashion pictures I thought were interesting. Sorry that some of them are a little blurry and dark. I thought that no flash seemed appropriate (even though there were no signs saying that) and I unfortunately do not have the ability to push my camera through the glass. Also the sheets of info were on the glass case which made some angles a little difficult to capture.

So, here are my various pictures of the gown. I tried to capture as many different views and details as possible because I know how much I love to see those things, and I figured you would too. If you have any questions about it I'll do my best to answer them. Enjoy!

Comments

[quincy134.livejournal.com]

These are beautiful pics. Thanks for sharing!

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :) You're very welcome. I'm glad that I was able to share something so cool.

[tailordrews.livejournal.com]

Oh Mala, i say a million thanks to you for all those wonderfull pictures.
It is a treassure!
Am i to understand then, that the gown would have originally ben made to wear on a pannier?
I know that the bodice has ben altered, perhaps it would have ben a cut off the shoulders like court dresse were?
It was very gennerous of you to post pictures for us to see, i am most greatfull to you Thankyou soo much!

Bjarne

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

You are very welcome a million times. :) The information there said that this would have been worn over a "large court pannier", but that the skirt had been narrowed. I'm not sure what the bodice would have been like before the alterations. It does have a slightly odd shape. And there are some triangular gussets in the side back, which I don't think I've ever seen before. But the embroidery on the shoulder straps seems to fit that shape and the en fourreau back makes me think that the bodice would have looked more like a standard English style gown of the time.

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

Actually, now that I think of it, the triangular gussets were probably one of the alterations. Maybe whoever wore it in the 19th century needed to make the waist larger. The entire front looks like one big alteration. You can see that the embroidery on the shoulder suddenly stops at the front piece. The front also appears to be made out of strips of satin. And it's not embroidered either. It really makes me wonder what it originally must have looked like.

[girliegirl32786.livejournal.com]

*drool* Thanks for sharing all your wonderful pics! So much inspiration.

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

:) You are very welcome! Glad they could be inspiring.