FASHION-DETECTIVE

Unknown (France), Bodice, c.1885 (interior detail)
Unknown, Australia, Dress, c.1865 (detail of bodice pattern showing no back seam)
Unknown, Australia, Dress, c.1885, (detail of bodice pattern showing centre back seam and peplum)
Unknown, France, Bodice, c.1885 (detail of bodice pattern showing no back seam and peplum addition)
Bodice shows evidence of extensive alterations that resulted from
restyling and refitting, probably executed at intervals between
c.1860 and c.1885. Unfortunately, only traces of hallmark couture
dressmaking techniques are evident due to these extensive alterations.
Conclusion
If the label is authentic, it would have been in use during the initial
two years of Worth and Bobergh’s partnership. During these years,
the Worth establishment was, according to De Marly, ‘far from being a
stately salon’. 7 However, Worth’s clever self-promotion soon attracted
a wealthy and fashionable clientele. Although the bodice has been
extensively altered, traces of styling from c.1860 are evident, as are
alterations that correspond to styling of the mid 1880s. The fabric from
which the bodice is constructed is of very high quality and its colour
was fashionable in the later decades of the century. The rose and fern
motif suggests that the bodice could have been worn for mourning
in the 1860s, and later as a fashionable choice during the 1880s. It is
likely that the garment changed hands several times. The label alone,
and the cloth from which it is constructed, has enough value to have
sustained alterations and wear over twenty-five years.
Whether the label was attached to the bodice at the time of its
manufacture remains indeterminable.
The NGV’s Textile Conservation department would like to thank textile and costume
collector Martin Kamer for his generous advice.
NOTES
1 Olivier Saillard & Anne Zazzo (eds), Paris Haute Couture, Flammarion, Paris, 2013, p. 26.
2 ibid., p. 29.
3 ibid., p. 26.
4 E. A. Coleman, The Opulent Era: Fashions of Worth, Doucet and Pingat, Brooklyn Museum
in association with Thames and Hudson, London, 1989, pp. 32–3.
5 Saillard & Zazzo, p. 31.
6 Diana De Marly, Worth: Father of Haute Couture, Elm Tree Books, London, 1980, p. 39.
7 ibid., p. 34.
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