{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1362000"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1362000/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020MU4652/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020MU4652/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2020MU4652","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2022NH5559","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1362000/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1362000","accessionNumber":"T.14:1&2-2017","objectType":"Dress","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This delicate, extravagantly embellished dress was probably worn by Elsie Howse (1883-1902), perhaps as a  dress for a ball during her  first London season aged eighteen.  The label stitiched  into the waist-tape shows that it was made by Squire & Co at 45 Welbeck Street, in   London’s Marylebone district. The V&A also owns another dress made for the Howse  family, labelled 'Miss Squire, 18 Wimpole St W' (Museum  no. T.15-2017). A further  dress by Squire & Co and a Liberty cape made for the Howse family are in the collection of the Fashion  Museum, Bath.  Elsie's mother, Alice (nee Marshall) married Henry Greenway Howse (1841-1914), a  surgeon, in 1881. Her husband was  knighted and became President of the Royal College of  Surgeons from 1901-1903. The family lived at a suitably high status address at  59 Brook Street,  Mayfair from the year of Henry and Alice's marriage until 1903.They may have moved after the  unfortunate early death  of Elsie Howse, who was registered as a student at New Bedford College  in 1900-1901. The 1901 Census shows that Elsie was the  elder sister to Phyllis, Dorothy and  Henry.\n\r\nElizabeth Squire, who probably designed and supervised the making of this dress, was born in about 1847 in Dublin. By the time of the 1861 census, she was working as a milliner (the name for women who made dresses as well as hats) and living at 85 High Street, Salisbury, with several other women in the same trade, in a boarding house that was possibly connected with the draper’s shop run by Joseph Reith, next door. There is no trace of this Elizabeth Squire in the English census for 1871 census, but in 1881, aged 34, she is living in London with many other dressmakers in a boarding house at 10-16 Vere Street, off Cavendish Square, north of Oxford Street. At this point she may have been working for Mrs Elizabeth Chapman who ran a dressmaking business at 18 Wimpole Street, according to the Post Office directory for 1885. Elizabeth Squire seems to have taken over the 18 Wimpole Street address from 1891, trading as and labelling her dresses 'Miss Squire'. She married Isaac Grey, in 1895, and her marriage certificate shows that her father was called John Squire, a ‘Gentleman, Dec'd’. At this point she moved to 45 Welbeck Street, and ran her business from one floor of this narrow terraced house (the other floors were occupied by a physician, a dental surgeon, and a laryngist, according to the 1902 directory). Squire & Co. appears to have closed down by the time the 1904 Post Office Directory was published. \n\nElizabeth Squire’s business was was one of hundreds of similar establishments in the area, employed making the complex and varied garments required by women in the upper classes to achieve and maintain their prominent positions in society. Their location was conveniently close to the homes of wealthy, well-connected families such as the  Howses, south of Oxford Street in Mayfair.It is quite rare to find a nineteenth-century dress that can be securely connected to its original wearer, such as this, treasured for generations. Yet many survive with labels printed or woven with the maker's names, and now that the census and other records are digitised, it is easy to discover some biographical details for these long-forgotten but skilled and enterprising women working in the Victorian fashion industry. \n\n\r\n","physicalDescription":"A fitted and boned evening dress, bodice of silk embroidered with silver and pearl coloured sequins, front fastening, with a low scooped neck and elbow-length sleeves. The bodice has a fall collar with appliquéd floral embroidery, and a ruffle of finely pleated chiffon extending along centre-front closure, and finishing the sleeve edges. A section of net embroidered with sequins and with beaded fringe is attached around the shoulder line, falling loosely over the bodice and sleeves. The bodice is lined, boned, and has a waist tape printed with the name of the maker, Squire & Co.\n\nThe skirt is made of the same silk fabric embroidered with silver and pearl coloured sequins, with a large scale design of stylised flowers joined by trailing stems. It has vertical streamers of silk with appliquéd floral embroidery, matching that at the neckline, extending down from the waist to the hem, which flares out from a straight front to a train at the back. The hem is trimmed with a ruffle of pleated chiffon. There are metal hooks and eyes to join the bodice to the skirt.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Squire & Co.","id":"AUTH405731"},"association":{"text":"designed and made by","id":"x28674"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silk (textile)","id":"AAT243428"},{"text":"chiffon","id":"AAT249449"},{"text":"sequin","id":"AAT183896"},{"text":"pearl bead","id":"x44139"}],"techniques":[{"text":"embroidery","id":"x40351"},{"text":"dress making","id":"AAT53650"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Embroidered silk ","categories":[{"text":"Womenswear","id":"THES49044"},{"text":"Clothing","id":"THES48975"},{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Evening wear","id":"THES48999"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2020MU4652","2022NH5559"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES404993"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES404993"},"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":"ca. 1900","earliest":"1895-01-01","latest":"1904-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by the Howse family","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Squire & Co/45 Welbeck St. W'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Silk evening dress, woven silk with chiffon and sequins, made by Squire & Co., c.1900","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.14:1-2017","T.14:2-2017"],"accessionNumberNum":"14","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":2017,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-10-15","recordCreationDate":"2016-07-21","availableToBook":false}}