Evening bodice and skirt of silk with satin stripes and large scale leaf pattern and bands of green stripes.
The bodice is trimmed with frills of pin silk gauze with scallop embroidered edges. The right shoulder has a curling ostrich feather mount. It is lined with linen with a vernacular pattern, boned and with a wide grosgrain waist band. It laces at the back.
The skirt has a pink satin pattern in the centre with pink chiffon drapes trimmed with pink ostrich feathers (Struthio camelus). It hooks at the back where it is gathered into a bustle. The front is lined with linen and the back with tarlatan. The sides are hooked over with elastic straps to form the bustle drape. The hem is satin-faced and there is a double tiered brush frill.Ostrich feathers were widely used for clothes and fans. Ostriches were domesticated and farmed in South Africa from the 1860s. In 1869 an ostrich egg incubator was patented allowing the controlled breeding of the birds. Provided their feathers were removed correctly, the birds suffered no harm. [21/04/2018 - 27/01/2019]Evening dress consisting of a silk bodice and skirt, England, ca. 1887