Evening Dress

This evening dress was worn by Maud Messel. It is made of dark pink silk. It has a diagonally draped bodice; the v-shaped neckline is in-filled with cream net and lace. Its Van Dyke-style lace collar falls over the shoulders. The puffed upper sleeves are caught up inside the elbow with gilt, pink and black chenille thread covered baubles. The cream lace fitted lower sleeves are fastened at the cuffs with small diamanté buttons. The waistband is decorated with embroidered braid in gilt, pink, green and black threads. A cluster of matching baubles hang from chenille ties at the waist. The skirt has a train at the back and is decorated at the front with additional clusters of hanging baubles. The London court dressmaker Sarah Fullerton Monteith Young designed this dress. She was Maud Messel’s favourite designer, who created mildly artistic and moderately aesthetic dresses. This dress dates from circa 1906 and is typical of Maud's taste for fashionable and embroidered evening wear.

This dress is part of the Messel Dress Collection, which includes six generations of one family’s clothes dating from 1870 - 2005.