I can't remember when I first heard about the Swiss Waist, Fashionable Reader.
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| From my personal collection |
Popular in the 1860s this was a boned belt, with at least one peak (either up or down). It usually laced like a corset, only up the front, sometimes is was exactly corset-like with a busk up the front and laces up the back. The Swiss Waist was worn
in addition to the foundation corset. It is, so far as I can determine historically, the only corset-like garment that was worn on the
outside of a dress.
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| Daguerreotype from my personal collection |
1860s The Victoria & Albert Museum Swiss Waist; my own version from Dark Garden
Here is a retrospective on the idea of the Swiss Waist. They aren't necessarily exactly this article of clothing, but they all suggest the peaks that I associate with this garment.
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| 1829 Kerry Taylor Auctions |
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| 1872 Godeys Sept 1872 Dicky |
Described as:
"Overwaist of blue silk, trimmed with black lace; it is to be worn over a black silk dress, and is very dressy and pretty."
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| Tea Gown 1875-1880 The Metropolitan Museum of Art |
,+Valentine+Cameron+Prinsep+_+British+Paintings+tumblr.jpg) |
| [stage costume] Leonora of Mantua (1873), Valentine Cameron Prinsep via British Paintings tumblr |
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| 1880 Striped Princess Bodice |
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| 1889 Evening Dress The Metropolitan Museum of Art |
1890-1895 The Goldstein Museum of Design; Liberty & Co. dress, 1893-94 From the Victoria & Albert Museum
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| 1895 Golf Ensemble The Kyoto Costume Institute |
1896-1899; 1900 Ball Gown Driscoll both The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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| 1900 Dress Jean-Philippe Worth, The Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| 1900s Gustave Beer, Antique Dress |
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| 1901 Ball Gown Jeanne Paquin, The Metropolitan Museum of Art |
1900s theoryphotoart tumblr; on our merry way tumblr vintage-impressions- Portrait, ca. 1906
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| 1906-1908 Evening Dress Jean-Philippe Worth, The Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| 1940s Dress I. Magnin, Kerry Taylor Auctions |
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| v-isfor-vintage tumblr 1950s style sass |
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| 1950s Timeless Vixen Vintage blue |
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| 1950s Timeless Vixen Vintage |
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| 1950s Carrier airconditioning advertisement. via theniftyfifties tumblr |
And now for the modern age...
2013 Aigner Fall 2013 collection via nymag.com; 2013 Ralph LaurenSpring-2103
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| 2013 Nidhi Sunil in Jimmy Choo Over The Knee Boots. Vogue India, 10.2013 via Booted Up |
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| 2013 Willow cutout waist belt at theOutnet.com |
(A quick note, I had a whole piece prepped for today on wide belts and why they do
and don't work on us curvy ladies, but blogspot ate it. I was particularly proud of it, but one keystroke
and it's gone, no recovery. Note to self, do not use keyboard shortcuts
in blogger! Argh. Anyway, I am hugely overworked theses days and have
neither the time nor inclination to rewrite it. So we skip wide belts entirely,
sorry....)
Retro Rack is also on
facebook where I post additional images and fashion thoughts.
,+Valentine+Cameron+Prinsep+_+British+Paintings+tumblr.jpg)
The blue dress up there isn't actually a swiss waist, (1893 V&A museum picture). If you check the close up all the shaping for that one is done with smocking. It's on my "bucket list" of sewing projects... whenever I develop free time. The work is extraordinary, and it looks like it's an imitation of the late 18th century chemise dresses, although updated since it looks like it's a raglan style sleeve. Er... I kinda nerd out on this stuff.
ReplyDeleteAs I say in the blog post "Here is a retrospective on the idea of the Swiss Waist. They aren't necessarily exactly this article of clothing, but they all suggest the peaks that I associate with this garment."
DeleteI had one of those "cinch belts" in the 50's...I didn't need to cinch then, my waist was about 20"...
ReplyDelete