Lingerie Dress

Maker: Unknown
Date: 1900s
Original Owner: Unknown

This early 1900s lingerie, also known as the tea gown, was collected from Stephen’s collection.  The lingerie is long sleeves and a full length dress.  The sleeves are slim fitting.  It has a high neck and it is also high waisted.  There is a lot of intricate detail in this lingerie. It is lacey and see through where the lace is.  Flowers are embedded in the v-neck lace embroidery. There is a hook and eye to fasten the lingerie from the mid back all the way up through the neck.  There are horizontal ruffles covering the sleeves.  There is also meshed netting on the front and back of the lingerie. The lingerie is made of fine cotton.  Starting at the waist there are vertical lines of floral embroidery down the front and back of the lingerie. 

The woman that wore this lingerie enjoyed entertaining her friends.  She must have had a lot of tea with friends or went to a lot of graduations because you can tell this dress was worn a lot.  She wore the lingerie in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century.  Her lingerie was light weight and most likely worn in the summer time.  The woman who wore this lingerie probably thought the tea gown was pleasing      since the corset was not needed. The tea gown was popular until the early twentieth century when there was a new house garment called the negligee.  This was more informal than the lingerie from previous periods. Lingerie was worn because of the artistic and aesthetic dress and because no corset was needed for the tea gown when worn outside the home.5    

References

Fashion 224 History of Costume 1900’s.  (n.d.) Retrieved March 14, 2008
From:  tripod.com
http://fash224.tripod.com/1900/html

Early 1900's Flared Lingerie Dress 7-223. (2007). Retrieved March 05, 2008
From:  vintagevanitiesclothing
www.vintagevanitiesclothing.com

La Belle Epoque (1880-1914) - "The Beautiful Era" (n.d.)Retrieved March 05, 2008
from whatscookingamerica.net
tp://whatscookingamerica.net/EllenEaston/TeaGowns.htm

Old Fashion Girl Gallery(2008) Retrieved March 14, 2009
from old-fashiongirl.com
http://www.old-fashionedgirl.com/104.html.

Lingerie and the History of Underwear (n.d.) Retrieved March 05, 2009
From oldandsold.com
http://www.oldandsold.com/articles01/article980.shtml