In the last few weeks most fashion sites have been busy suggesting us all what to wear during the festive season. Yet choosing the perfect Christmas outfit is not a modern obsession as proved by clothes and accessories stocked in famous museums all over the world. The Metropolitan Museum of Art features in its collection for example this embroidered lawn dinner or evening dress from Great Britain.
The cotton, silk and wool gown dates from around 1824-26 and proves that Christmas-inspired outfits were all the rage even then. The museum notes explain that, at the time, dressmakers incorporated in their creations inspirations from literature, theatre costumes and history paintings of Medieval and Renaissance subjects.
In this case the decoratively slashed sleeves of the 16th century through which linen undershirts could be seen, inspired the puffed sleeves and the elements encircling the hem of this dress.
The wool crewel-embroidered holly boughs at the hem are the most striking features of the dress: they indicate that the design was worn in winter as the motifs call to mind the colours and plants of Christmas decorations (you can imagine the wearer going to a ball with a thick cloak that protected her from the cold).
The design was part of the "Masterworks: Unpacking Fashion" exhibition that took place at the end of last year at the Met Museum, but maybe the time has come for museums around the world to think about events dedicated to Christmas fashion throughout the centuries as they would prove inspiring for the materials, the decorative elements, the symbolism behind them and the techniques employed to make them.
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