With its fitted bodice and full skirt, this pale green georgette dress was no doubt influenced by Dior's New Look of 1947, which sought to replace the slightly more masculine cut of the early forties with womanly curves and swinging skirts. The slim, shaped bodice and flared skirt of this dress accentuate the hips and create an hourglass effect much like the dress below, which also illustrates the way in which the accompanying sash would have been draped about the neck.

Although it is made of different fabrics and has a fuller skirt, the next dress below (the "much-discussed short evening gown" of 1951) provides evidence as to how the mint green and rose dress might have originally appeared, for both dresses have thin straps, a fitted bodice, a full skirt, and the then-popular faux flowers adorning part of the bust and waist. Because of the multitude of similarities between the two dresses, it is highly likely that the museum dress also dates back to 1950 or 1951.

Deciphering the original form and function of the museum dress, however, is a more difficult mystery to solve, for while many of the stitches have clearly been done by a professional hand, others along the inside of the bodice are less tidy and neat. One theory is that the dress was actually a long gown which was adjusted at the waist and shortened to its present length around the calf. Yet another, and more likely, explanation for the dress's appearance is that the georgette and satin were originally taken from two different dresses. This is due to the differing qualities of the two fabrics, the filmy silk georgette suggesting a much earlier period than the full-bodied satin which was popular in the fifties, as seen in the dress immediately above. The festoon-like draped fabric which was sewn onto the upper bodice by hand, as if it were added later, also supports the theory that this dress was created from two different sources. Finally, the silk flowers could easily have been added to decorate the dress after the two layers were combined.

Whether slightly altered or radically revamped, the dress appears to have been either intended as evening wear for semi-formal occasions, such as dances or debutante balls, or created specifically for theater purposes and stage productions, due to its unknown history in the costume department of the University of Virginia.

Connie Freeman
Spring, 1998