French Evening Gowns - 1905
Dainty and light in appearance are the evening gowns intended for the spring and summer season, and while in the more elaborate styles there is never any marked difference between the ballgowns of the winter and summer, the gown intended for summer is made, as a rule, of less heavy material and is less elaborately trimmed.
Young Woman's Evening Gown of Point D'Esprit or Tulle, With Satin Girdle and Rosettes and Bands of Any Delicate Lace Finishing the Top of the Ruffle and the Low-Cut Neck and the Elbow Sleeves. Harper's Bazar, April 1905. GGA Image ID # 164c3eed69
Model Gown of Cream Mousseline de Soie With Fitted Coat of Brussels Lace, on Each Scallop of Which Is a Tiny Wreath of Flowers Done in Willow-Green Baby-Ribbon and Pink Mousseline. GGA Image ID # 164c430efb
Advance Design for Straw-Colored Evening Coat of Tucked Mousseline Over Taffeta of the Same Shade; Black Velvet Band on Sleeves and Bottom of Coat; Sleeves of the Mousseline, Untucked. Harper's Bazar, April 1905. GGA Image ID # 164c89abe8
Chiffon, lace, spangles, net and tulle, and taffeta silk now come into play, and most charming are many of the models. All light colors are immensely fashionable, and while a black evening gown is always a good investment, just for the moment it is not considered nearly so smart as it was last year.
When it is chosen it is enlivened by touches of color in trimming or velvet, so that an entire gown in black is rarely seen, excepting in light mourning. White gowns are always fashionable unrelieved by any color; but there are such fascinating pinks and blues and yellows and mauves that, while a white gown is always distinctive and attractive, it seems to have lost the smartness and individuality that it possessed.
There are most charming materials for evening gowns this year, striped gauzes and chiffons; chiffon especially seems endowed with everlasting youth and appears again as one of the new fabrics. There are fascinating crêpes and crêpes de Chine, while the plain and figured taffetas and the inexpensive gauzes and satins really come within the reach of everyone.
Smart Model for a Gray Tulle Princesse Evening Gown Spangled With Charming - Designs To Be Silver; Flat Capuchon, With Silver Tassel, Continued To Form Revers. GGA Image ID # 164ccbcd99
In the pattern gowns there is a great variety to choose from, both in laces and in embroidered muslins, and a most excellent investment is a lace gown made with two waists, a high and a low one.
The evening gown of taffeta and chiffon or lace combined is on a less elaborate order but is not necessarily less expensive. The waist and sash of figured taffeta with a white lace skirt is a becoming and picturesque model, while less expensive, but also very attractive, are the flowered muslins made with the plain silk waists and sashes, the sashes not of ribbon, but of the silk itself so arranged at the back as to form the back breadths.
Figured muslins are to be very much used this year for simple dinner gowns. There are some charming designs to be had, especially in the silk muslins, which so closely resemble the gauzes and chiffons that are much more expensive.
A charming fancy of last year that is repeated is the lining of these figured materials with plain silk or satin. This seems to give an entirely different effect; for instance, a dark blue gauze with pink roses will be smarter lined with pale pink than if dark blue is chosen or even white.
Then the choosing of the sash or girdle gives another point of color which is charmingly distinctive. Over the plain colors the figured sashes will be found extremely effective. Some very striking combinations of colors will appear in these summer gowns.
Dinner Gown With Coat and Flounce of Deep Rose Color Satin Combined With Pale Pink Mousseline; Ecru Lace Trimmings. Harper's Bazar, April 1905. GGA Image ID # 164d152aab
"French Evening Gowns," in Harper's Bazar, New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, Special Spring Fashion Number 1905, Vol. XXXIX, No. 4, April 1905, pp. 305-309.