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Dress

Clothing MakerMade by Unknown
Date1877-1880
MediumMachine-stitched and hand-stitched silk and cotton, with silk fringe, shell buttons, and silk velvet
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (center front length x width across shoulders): 52 1/4 x 16in. (132.7 x 40.6cm)
Other (center back length): 60in. (152.4cm)
ClassificationsCostume
Credit LineConnecticut Museum of Culture and History collection
DescriptionWoman's morning dress of golden tan and black silk plaid, with a center front panel of black velvet edged with mauve silk fringe and a 1 1/8-inch-wide strip of piped purple silk. The dress opens down the entire length of the center front, and fastens with 24 disk-shaped shell buttons. The neckline is high and round, with a small turn-down collar of the black velvet. The armscye is piped. The sleeves are cut with an upper and lower seam like a coat sleeve and have turn-back cuffs of black velvet with purple piping. There is a patch pocket of the black velvet piped with purple on each side of the skirt front. A two-tiered self-fabric ruffle headed by a band of the purple silk and mauve fringe encircles the bottom of the skirt.

The dress is fitted smoothly in the front with four darts extending from the hips to the bust. The back of the dress is also smooth, with the center back seam opening below the hipline to a doubled inverted box pleat to create fullness. The skirt has a short train. Brown cotton fabric lines the dress, with an extra lining of dark brown cotton around the hem.
Object number1959.25.1
On View
Not on view
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Mrs. Williams
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Celia Stanley
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Lydia C. Robinson
1841, with later alteration
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Yale family
about 1860
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Unknown
1860-1865
Gift of Mrs. George R. Hall, Sr., 1956.5.19a-b, Connecticut Historical Society, Public Domain
Mary Warner Pierpont
1883
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Adeline M. Lawrence
about 1880
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Fanet & Beer
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Nancy Diantha Terry
about 1875
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Clara Eglantine Comstock
about 1888
Gift of Carrie Loomis Schober, 1937.32.1  © 2011 The Connecticut Historical Society.
Sarah Elizabeth Dunham
about 1865
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Unknown
about 1880