{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1298512"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1298512/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020MU3705/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020MU3705/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2020MU3705","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HN2226","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PK0494","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PK0493","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1298512/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1298512","accessionNumber":"T.4:1,2-2015","objectType":"Dress","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This dress is an example of 'half-mourning'. The adoption of mourning dress was a powerful way of demonstrating respectability and 'class' and generated much work for the dressmaking industries in the late nineteenth century.  After the first weeks of wearing unrelieved black, elements of mauve or white could be introduced as a sign of time passing by. While mauve as a colour name was known from the late eighteenth century, it was not until the discovery of mauveine and other artficial dyes in the 1850s that mauve became a widely available colour for fabrics. Chemical dyes made dying large quantities of fabric easier and cheaper to achieve, thus fuelling the fashion for wearing mourning colours for personal and official bereavement.","physicalDescription":"Separate bodice and skirt of striped silk in black and mauve. The bodice has a stand collar (with a cord edging which may originally have been covered with piping or a trimming), long sleeves, and fastens centre front with hooks and corresponding handstitched eyelets. The front fastening is concealed by an extension to the right hand side of the bodice which may have been pinned in place. The bodice is lined with striped cotton and there are nine short bones giving support. The bodice has been altered, after it was originally made, extending below the waist.\r\n\r\nThe skirt has a herringbone tape wasitband, is made from flat panels at the front, forming pleats either side of the centre back opening. It fastens with three metal hooks and eyes. The skirt is lined with glazed cotton and has a narrow wool tape reinforcing the hem.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silk (textile)","id":"AAT243428"}],"techniques":[{"text":"dressmaking","id":"AAT53650"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"silk, glazed cotton, wool tape","categories":[{"text":"Womenswear","id":"THES49044"},{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Death","id":"THES48970"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2020MU3705","2015HN2226","2025PK0494","2025PK0493"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES307584"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES307584"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"bodice","id":"AAT209874"}],[{"text":"skirt","id":"AAT209932"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"c.1890","earliest":"1885-01-01","latest":"1894-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Holly Cranmer","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Circumference","value":"58","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"30/04/2015","earliest":"2015-04-30","latest":"2015-04-30"},"part":"waist, when closed, bodice","note":""},{"dimension":"Circumference","value":"65","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"30/04/2015","earliest":"2015-04-30","latest":"2015-04-30"},"part":"waist, skirt, when closed","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"102","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"30/04/2015","earliest":"2015-04-30","latest":"2015-04-30"},"part":"length of skirt, centre-front","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'HAYWARD'S/166 & 168 OXFORD ST/LONDON.'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Printed onto waist-tape of bodice. The royal crests of Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales are printed either side of text."}],"objectHistory":"The dress is believed to have been worn by Sophia Lewis, the great-great aunt of the donor. Sophia Lewis was born into a farming family in Montgomeryshire but went to work in domestic service in London with her sister Jenny. At the time Sophia would have worn this dress, she worked as a housekeeper for John Baring, 2nd Baron Revelstoke of Memblant, at his London home in Hill Street, Mayfair. As the dress is silk, it would have been worn for formal occasions, and is perhaps an example of 'Sunday best'.\r\n\r\nThe dress has a waist-stay/petersham belt inside that came from a department store/professional dressmaker's called Haywards which held Royal Warrants for Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales. The quality of the dress, which is very well-sewn but not to a high-end standard, with a sensible striped cotton bodice lining (utilising two mis-matched striped fabrics)  rather than a silk or thin polished cotton lining, and the simplicity of the overall appearance, suggests that it was made by a home-dressmaker (perhaps Sophia Lewis herself) rather than in a professional establishment, and that the petersham inside the bodice was repurposed from another garment. The purpose of the petersham was to hold the dress bodice firmly in position. The original Haywards garment from which the petersham came may have belonged to one of Sir John Revelstoke's family members who gave it away to a servant after it became damaged or unwanted; or it could have been purchased from a second-hand clothes merchant or rag-and-bone trader. (DMC, 30/10/2025)","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Dress (bodice and skirt), black and mauve striped silk, London, c.1890. With a waist-stay for Haywards department store stitched inside, probably reused from another garment.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.4:1-2015","T.4:2-2015"],"accessionNumberNum":"4","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":2015,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-17","recordCreationDate":"2014-08-18","availableToBook":true}}