The Dresses

I have studied those dresses with an expert. The opinion is- jets and marquisette's. I do not know how true that is, but it sounds reasonable.

Thank you . How were they attached to the dresses? Were they beads? or were they in fittings that were then sewn onto the dress....did anything you learned about the dresses  surprise  you ? Thanks again

As far as I could tell, they were appliqued. Tiny stitches.  The fabrics are very fine and fragile, so we could not  do  much  on-hand examinations. They were definitely not diamonds, however. Even the Romanovs were not that extravagant I think. One dress, I think it was Olga's, was so worn it had been repaired many times. Even pads could not remove the sweat stains. Also, the hems are weighted. For the flow of the gown. This is not unusual. Even today.

Are you saying you looked at the actual dresses?? ( the reference to sweat stains suggest this lol!  ) Then you must know the colours?
Sorry if this was discussed else where

Yep, we looked at several dresses. They were being prepared for exhibition. And  yes, I know the colours, but they had faded by that point.  Even with gloves we could not touch them.

Yep, we looked at several dresses. They were being prepared for exhibition. And  yes, I know the colours, but they had faded by that point.  Even with gloves we could not touch them.

lol! must I beg?  What  please,  were the  faded colours of  the 1914 dresses ? Pink?  Yellow?  Blue?  Surely the colour family was still ascertainable...thank you! 

Only 2 of the 1914 dresses were available. By the sizes, I gathered they belonged to the older pair. One [ think Olga's] was a cream silk with blue [pastel, remember, they had not been looked after for a long time,]   This is the one with the sweat stains.The other was, if I recall correctly, a  very pale yellow, but same cream silk fabric. Seamstresses were in the process of preparing them for display so had not much patience for us to interferer  with their work. Another gown was striking also Olga's in my opinion and was trimmed with ermine.  Blue fabric [velvet?] appliqued with the marquisette's and jet. I took it to be a court gown by the cut.  For some reason, I think blue was Olga's colour. I am willing to be corrected if I am mistaken about all this. But it was a rare privilege to experience. Another gown, also for court, was emerald green. No one seemed to know who it belonged to. My guess [again] was Alexandra. If it was hers, she must have worn it only once. Pristine condition but extremely heavy to wear. I think that one was by Worth.

Thank you so much for that information! Even in that shape,there's nothing like seeing the dresses.

That was just a preview. If I return next springtime, I get get the full show with manques modeling the  dresses ! The costume curator is a friend of my best friend in Russia. From what I  understand, they are determining which  dresses are worthy of display and  which will be be used for repairs. They may also be getting ready to sell leftover fabric samples.  These came with the dresses originally, to be used for what ever reasons.

Robert, I'm so envious of you! Thank you for the details about those dresses. Which exhibition are they being prepared for-- the AP? I didn't know that Olga had another court dress. Any idea when she might have used it?

This dress/blouse is one of my favorites:

No need to be envious.  They would not tell us what they were being prepared for, but I got the impression it might have been for the new Hermitage exhibition in Amsterdam.  However, I went to that and did not  notice them. And it is just my guess that the blue ball/court gown was Olga's. These dresses are so fragile that they cannot be displayed for long periods of time. Hence the rotation. What you may see one year may be replaced by something else the next. I do know that one collection went to the Kremlin  for a special exhibition, but I was not able to go to that.

Oh my! I've always wanted to know the colors of those 1914 dresses!
EmmyLee, I love those sheer blouses too!
blessOTMA, I though that the dresses in the Standart picture had lace, not heavy embroidery, like a lace overdress or something, as we've seen in some other outfits, but now at a second glance I think you're right!

I'm actually a fan of the dresses worn when the IF went to Romania to see about GD Olga's betrothal to CP Carol, shown in that famous photograph of the two families together.

I'm actually a fan of the dresses worn when the IF went to Romania to see about GD Olga's betrothal to CP Carol, shown in that famous photograph of the two families together.

Only 2 of the 1914 dresses were available. By the sizes, I gathered they belonged to the older pair. One [ think Olga's] was a cream silk with blue [pastel, remember, they had not been looked after for a long time,] The other was, if I recall correctly, a  very pale yellow, but same cream silk fabric.....

I wonder if these colours was inspired by their regiments colours ...interesting conquincidence if not . 

Could be. I honestly do not  know. I  have asked my Russian friend to find out more if he can.