Please Indulge me a moment, I just want to fawn over and examine this lovely dress.
The gown is a simple a line with folds of train behind it. The skirt looks like it has seamed panels that allow the skirt ot be fuller towards the hem and I would love some more detailed photos that show what is going on at the back. The hem of the skirt is weighted with a corded piping. This weight would keep the hem falling evenly and its inertia allowing a more subtle movement.
The bodice is beautifully fitted over what was likely a naturally lovely waist The seam line detailed with piping under the bust creates the shape leaving the lines in the body to continue down to the skirt. This fine piping would have been quite fiddly to get right so shows the beauty in the tailoring.
That collar is fascinating. It is another design element used to lengthen the body. It has fine piping around the neck. The front panels are not on the straight grain but also not quite on the bias. The line flows from under the bust to up and around the neck and back down to the under bust with a little overlap. I wonder if it is sewn closed or if you could see some skin if you were in the right place.
The sleeves are bias cut. An elegant solution to the problem of a long fitted sleeve restricting movement. The buttons allow the sleeve to be even more fitted creating a long and elegant line. A tiny little v shape at the wrist extends the sleeve over the hand and stretches the line even further. Fine piping detail around the wrist repeats the piping at the neck. We live in a time of low fabric consumption, easy machine construction and false buttons over zips, this glimpse into sewing past warms my heart.
And that veil.
Sadly the dress has now been altered so much that the refined shape is no longer visible. At the time no one realised the movie would be such a classic so the dress was just chucked back into the wardrobe department to be altered and re used.
