{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O142108"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O142108/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020MT1278/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020MT1278/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2020MT1278","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AG4324","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O142108/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O142108","accessionNumber":"T.795-1913","objectType":"Evening dress","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Sprigs, hand-embroidered in chain stitch with gilt metal thread and embellished with spangles (sequins), decorate this delicate evening dress. It is made of machine-made black silk bobbin net and would have been worn over a silk underdress of a lighter colour. Elaborate and delicate dresses like this one were worn for special occasions such as balls. \r\n\r\nNet dresses were very fashionable and their popularity was spurred by new inventions. The development of machine-made net in the late 18th and early 19th centuries meant that gauzy lace effects were increasingly affordable either as trimmings or garments. The bobbin-net machine was patented by the Englishman John Heathcoat in 1808 and produced a superior net identical to the twist-net grounds of hand-made bobbin lace. It was so successful that women in the highest ranks of society, including the Emperor Napoleon's first wife, Josephine, wore machine-net dresses. Initially, however, all machine nets were plain and had to be embroidered by hand.","physicalDescription":"Ankle-length evening dress with a high waist and short puff sleeves made of machine-made black silk bobbin net, hand-embroidered with silver-gilt motifs in chain stitch and spangles. The seams and edges are finished with gilt metail braid.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silk net","id":"x32088"},{"text":"metal","id":"AAT10900"}],"techniques":[{"text":"hand embroidery","id":"x30339"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Machine-made silk bobbin net, hand-embroidered with silver gilt braid and spangles","categories":[{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Embroidery","id":"THES48960"},{"text":"Europeana Fashion Project","id":"THES265804"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2020MT1278","2006AG4324"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"008","id":"THES306040"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Evening dress","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1810","earliest":"1805-01-01","latest":"1814-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"MA/1/H926","id":"ARC163180"},"association":"Archive record"}],"creditLine":"Given by Messrs Harrods Ltd.","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"93.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"nape to hem","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"34.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"across the back"},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"15.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"depth of bodice from neck to waistband "}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This was part of a very large collection of items of dress and accessories which was given to the Museum by Harrods, the department store, in 1913. The collection had been formed by the artist Talbot Hughes, who wrote a book on the history of dress, illustrated with photographs of models wearing items from his collection. A large firm in America had offered to buy the collection and present it to the Metropolitan Museum, New York, but Hughes did not want it to go abroad. At the suggestion of Cecil Harcourt Smith of the V&A, Harrods bought it for £2,500 and gave it to the Museum for the 'public good'. Harrods displayed the collection for three weeks in December 1913.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Evening dress, machine-made black silk bobbin net, hand-embroidered with silver-gilt spangles and braid.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Johnston, Lucy with Kite, Marion and Persson, Helen. Nineteenth-Century Fashion in Detail. London: V&A Publications, 2005. 146-7p., ill. ISBN 185174394."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.795-1913"],"accessionNumberNum":"795","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":1913,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-10-01","recordCreationDate":"2007-12-19","availableToBook":true}}