DAY 76: The Dinner Dress

Dinner Dress, 1883

The social whirl in Victorian England, particularly for a prominent political hostess like Jennie Churchill, demanded varying plumage. There were three possible approaches to evening wear, depending upon whether a woman was hosting a dinner, attending the theatre, a concert, or a reception, or dancing in a ballroom until dawn. So first up: The Dinner Dress.

I've already posted one of these in DAY 91--the scarlet silk gown I imagine Jennie wearing at Sandringham the night she meets Charles Kinsky, with the black falls of lace and jet beads. You'll notice that these dresses are usually silk or velvet, to distinguish them from day dresses, and generally display more neckline, although they also have at least three-quarter sleeves. They were often in ravishing jewel tones that played well in candlelight, like these--imagine a dog collar of pearls and diamonds, like Princess Alix often wore, at the neck.

Dinner Dress, 1881, metmuseum.org

Dinner Dress, 1883, Worth

Dinner Dress, 1883, French, Museum of the City of Paris

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