Woman's Tabard Dress
Subject
Clothing and Dress
Title
Woman's Tabard Dress
Date
ca. 1926/27
Description
The object in question is identified in curatorial records as a “dress of blue silk velvet” purchased by the donor in 1926 or 1927. It was likely made the same year by a yet-undetermined designer, from “an exclusive NewYork [City] dress shop”. It features silver stenciled patterning on the sleeve edges, along the hem and neckline, and down the sides of the garment. Materials originally included grey silk chiffon and black satin cords on the side. Due to aging the velvet is no longer blue, but closer to a shade of green, and the grey silk chiffon in the sides and underarms of the dress has yellowed to a shade of brown. The donor states that she wore this dress with a silver belt.
The dress does not appear to have been altered aside from the adjustment of the back closure snaps, likely moved to their current location to protect the fabric from additional wear and loss. Some conservation has been done to the object; primarily to the portions of chiffon at the hem of the dress to support the hem and keep the dress from gaping at the bottom. Aside from the discoloration and the damage to the chiffon at the hemline the garment’s condition can be described overall as very good.
The gown is best described as a sleeved tabard dress; a dress with what appears to be a light chiffon underdress covered with a blue, now green, velvet overdress. The silver floral motif printed on the velvet of the gown is reminiscent of the art nouveau and the arts and crafts movements. Similar dresses in this style also could lace up the sides in a crisscross pattern or feature glass beads on the tie cords at the sides.
Tabard dresses of the 1920s tended to be embellished with either beading or prints and worn during the evenings to various formal occasions. This dress has a long skirt, full sleeves, high set square neckline, and is of an older, though still fashionable, aesthetic. There is also the possibility that this was a gown designed to be worn in cooler weather such as in the fall or spring.
Despite the thrill of potentially being able to work on an object designed by Mariano Fortuny (1871-1949) or Maria Monaci Gallenga (1880-1944), it is, as of yet, difficult to say if this garment is truly a work of either house. A Fortuny shop was known to have opened in 1928 on Madison Avenue. This date, combined with the fact that there are neither makers marks nor traces of makers marks leads me to believe that this is not a dress sold by any currently well-known designer.
Additionally, the quality is not what one would expect when looking at similar designer garments. First, the print is unusual when compared to other similar extant items. The image is in the negative, and the fabric is printed along the edges rather than on the central portions. Similar styles of gown produced by Fortuny and Gallenga and found at auction houses and in museums all are prints that focus on the positive image rather than the negative space. Here the print is also rather muddy to look at. This could be caused by the way the silver pigment has aged over time, but the print has clearly visible striations in it as well as uneven jagged edges. These marks could be due to the way the fabric was printed at the time, as screen printing and rotary printing were technically feasible in the mid to late ‘20s. Finally, the quality of construction is uneven. Some portions are machine sewn, but the hand sewn portions are much less tidy and more uneven.
Though the gown might not be a Fortuny there are other possibilities for the gown to be of a high fashion nature. Upscale department stores such as Bergdorf Goodman or Henri Bendel were easy to find on 5th Ave. The Stern Brothers department store on 42nd West had departments called “new-tiquity” and “young couture” that could have sold the gown to Mrs. Jordan in 1926. More research needs to be done to better understand the items offered by these stores. Surviving records from the time may provide the names of brands and designers offered to the clientele.
Outside of the well-known luxury department stores there were small shops like the “Else Fricke Art Studio” on 42nd Street, which specialized in printed and painted textiles. More research needs to be done into the small shops in New York which may have produced this dress.
References
1925 Mariano FORTUNY Couture Gold Metallic STENCILED SILK-VELVET Tabard Gown. (n.d.).
Retrieved from https://www.1stdibs.com/fashion/clothing/day-dresses/1925-marianofortuny-couture-gold-metallic-stenciled-silk-velvet-tabard-gown/id-v_80395/
Augusta Auctions. (2015). Past Sales: FORTUNY STENCILLED VELVET GOWN, 1920s. Retrieved
from https://augusta-auction.com/search-pastsales?view=lot&id=15209&auction_file_id=33
Bak. (2011).
Stern brothers, New York City, New York. Retrieved March 01, 2021, from
http://www.thedepartmentstoremuseum.org/2010/07/stern-brothers-new-york-citynew-york.html
Bergdorf Goodman top navigation. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.bergdorfgoodman.com/stores/bergdorf-goodman-womens-store
A FULL LENGTH VELVET 'TABARD' GOWN AND A PAIR OF MATCHING SHOES. (2011). Retrieved
from https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-5519721/?intObjectID=5519721
Lot 311 - a black and gold brocaded satin medieval. (2015). Retrieved from
https://www.kerrytaylorauctions.com/auction/lot/lot-311---a-black-and-gold-brocadedsatin medieval/?lot=8242&so=0&st=tabard&sto=0&au=27&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=2&pp=48&p
n=1&g=1#
Lot 45 - a maria gallenga gothic-stenciled tabard. (2015). Retrieved from
https://www.kerrytaylorauctions.com/auction/lot/lot-45---a-maria-gallenga-gothicstencilledtabard/?lot=6651&so=0&st=tabard&sto=0&au=23&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=2&pp=48&pn=
1&g=1
A Mariano Fortuny stenciled VELVET Tabard DRESS, circa 1920. (2020). Retrieved from
https://www.kerrytaylorauctions.com/auction/lot/66-a-mariano-fortuny-stencilledvelvet-tabard-dress-circa-1920/?lot=27783&sd=1#
New York Showroom. (2020, June 18). Retrieved from https://fortuny.com/new-york/
R.L. Polk & Co. (1925). R.L. Polk & CO.'S (Trow's) general directory of New York CITY embracing
the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. Retrieved from
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/b85b8f00-e21d-0137-4f33-41708d90aae8
A VELVET 'TABARD' GOWN AND COVER. (2011). Retrieved from
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5519723
Victoria and Albert Museum. (2009). [Mariano Fortuny hanging tabard dress (T.287-1978)].
Retrieved from https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O366073/dress-fortunymariano/dress-mariano-fortuny
The dress does not appear to have been altered aside from the adjustment of the back closure snaps, likely moved to their current location to protect the fabric from additional wear and loss. Some conservation has been done to the object; primarily to the portions of chiffon at the hem of the dress to support the hem and keep the dress from gaping at the bottom. Aside from the discoloration and the damage to the chiffon at the hemline the garment’s condition can be described overall as very good.
The gown is best described as a sleeved tabard dress; a dress with what appears to be a light chiffon underdress covered with a blue, now green, velvet overdress. The silver floral motif printed on the velvet of the gown is reminiscent of the art nouveau and the arts and crafts movements. Similar dresses in this style also could lace up the sides in a crisscross pattern or feature glass beads on the tie cords at the sides.
Tabard dresses of the 1920s tended to be embellished with either beading or prints and worn during the evenings to various formal occasions. This dress has a long skirt, full sleeves, high set square neckline, and is of an older, though still fashionable, aesthetic. There is also the possibility that this was a gown designed to be worn in cooler weather such as in the fall or spring.
Despite the thrill of potentially being able to work on an object designed by Mariano Fortuny (1871-1949) or Maria Monaci Gallenga (1880-1944), it is, as of yet, difficult to say if this garment is truly a work of either house. A Fortuny shop was known to have opened in 1928 on Madison Avenue. This date, combined with the fact that there are neither makers marks nor traces of makers marks leads me to believe that this is not a dress sold by any currently well-known designer.
Additionally, the quality is not what one would expect when looking at similar designer garments. First, the print is unusual when compared to other similar extant items. The image is in the negative, and the fabric is printed along the edges rather than on the central portions. Similar styles of gown produced by Fortuny and Gallenga and found at auction houses and in museums all are prints that focus on the positive image rather than the negative space. Here the print is also rather muddy to look at. This could be caused by the way the silver pigment has aged over time, but the print has clearly visible striations in it as well as uneven jagged edges. These marks could be due to the way the fabric was printed at the time, as screen printing and rotary printing were technically feasible in the mid to late ‘20s. Finally, the quality of construction is uneven. Some portions are machine sewn, but the hand sewn portions are much less tidy and more uneven.
Though the gown might not be a Fortuny there are other possibilities for the gown to be of a high fashion nature. Upscale department stores such as Bergdorf Goodman or Henri Bendel were easy to find on 5th Ave. The Stern Brothers department store on 42nd West had departments called “new-tiquity” and “young couture” that could have sold the gown to Mrs. Jordan in 1926. More research needs to be done to better understand the items offered by these stores. Surviving records from the time may provide the names of brands and designers offered to the clientele.
Outside of the well-known luxury department stores there were small shops like the “Else Fricke Art Studio” on 42nd Street, which specialized in printed and painted textiles. More research needs to be done into the small shops in New York which may have produced this dress.
References
1925 Mariano FORTUNY Couture Gold Metallic STENCILED SILK-VELVET Tabard Gown. (n.d.).
Retrieved from https://www.1stdibs.com/fashion/clothing/day-dresses/1925-marianofortuny-couture-gold-metallic-stenciled-silk-velvet-tabard-gown/id-v_80395/
Augusta Auctions. (2015). Past Sales: FORTUNY STENCILLED VELVET GOWN, 1920s. Retrieved
from https://augusta-auction.com/search-pastsales?view=lot&id=15209&auction_file_id=33
Bak. (2011).
Stern brothers, New York City, New York. Retrieved March 01, 2021, from
http://www.thedepartmentstoremuseum.org/2010/07/stern-brothers-new-york-citynew-york.html
Bergdorf Goodman top navigation. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.bergdorfgoodman.com/stores/bergdorf-goodman-womens-store
A FULL LENGTH VELVET 'TABARD' GOWN AND A PAIR OF MATCHING SHOES. (2011). Retrieved
from https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-5519721/?intObjectID=5519721
Lot 311 - a black and gold brocaded satin medieval. (2015). Retrieved from
https://www.kerrytaylorauctions.com/auction/lot/lot-311---a-black-and-gold-brocadedsatin medieval/?lot=8242&so=0&st=tabard&sto=0&au=27&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=2&pp=48&p
n=1&g=1#
Lot 45 - a maria gallenga gothic-stenciled tabard. (2015). Retrieved from
https://www.kerrytaylorauctions.com/auction/lot/lot-45---a-maria-gallenga-gothicstencilledtabard/?lot=6651&so=0&st=tabard&sto=0&au=23&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=2&pp=48&pn=
1&g=1
A Mariano Fortuny stenciled VELVET Tabard DRESS, circa 1920. (2020). Retrieved from
https://www.kerrytaylorauctions.com/auction/lot/66-a-mariano-fortuny-stencilledvelvet-tabard-dress-circa-1920/?lot=27783&sd=1#
New York Showroom. (2020, June 18). Retrieved from https://fortuny.com/new-york/
R.L. Polk & Co. (1925). R.L. Polk & CO.'S (Trow's) general directory of New York CITY embracing
the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. Retrieved from
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/b85b8f00-e21d-0137-4f33-41708d90aae8
A VELVET 'TABARD' GOWN AND COVER. (2011). Retrieved from
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5519723
Victoria and Albert Museum. (2009). [Mariano Fortuny hanging tabard dress (T.287-1978)].
Retrieved from https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O366073/dress-fortunymariano/dress-mariano-fortuny
Source
Donor: Charlotte Jordan
Identifier
URI 1962.05.01
Contributor
Eli Bejin
Medium
silk velvet
silk chiffon
silk chiffon
Collection
Citation
“Woman's Tabard Dress,” Historic Textile and Costume Collection, accessed April 19, 2024, https://uritextilecollection.omeka.net/items/show/464.