Queen Alexandra (1844-1925), Part V

[miki_nastya]

what was her hair color?

[grandduchessella]

One of QA's dresses from the V&A

[CountessKate]

A glorious dress.  There seems to be few of Queen Alexandra's dresses which still survive, so it's nice to see one still around.  She apparently made many purchases from Parisian sources though the maker of the V&A dress, Maison Laferriere, was the only one listed as holding her warrant. Her daughter Maud wore Larerriere as well.

[Eric_Lowe]

Alexandra also made purchases from the House of Worth just like her sister Minnie.

[RoyalWatcher]

One of QA's dresses from the V&A

When would Queen Alexandra wear a beautiful dress like this? Would it be considered day wear, evening wear or event wear? Royal ladies and ladies of wealth had rules about what could be worn during which part of the day; however, I'm not familiar with those rules! Anyone know?

[Carolath Habsburg]

I found the V&A page of this gown  

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O16778/evening-dress-maison-laferriere/

It says its an "evening gown" but it looks like a ballgown to me

[Eric_Lowe]

I think an evening gown. A ball gown is usually more elaborate affair with a train. In fact Ella once wrote to Ducky in Darmstadt about how long the train is required during the coronation ball in Moscow. 

[grandduchessella]

According to that page, it dates from about 1900. During that time, Alexandra and Bertie hosted, and attended, many evening events in addition to nights at the theatre and so on--especially at this point in the Queen's reign when they were the de facto reigning couple. The society pages were full of notations of the various events they attended.

[Eric_Lowe]

Don't think Alexandra went to many balls, although she must have presided over quite a few. The gown looked more like one like one for a dinner party.

[grandduchessella]

I didn't say balls--I said a variety of evening events. That includes theatre, balls, dinner parties, etc...And she did, in fact, go to quite a few balls. It's all documented in the papers, Court Circular, etc...

[Eric_Lowe]

That is why I said evening gown not a ball gown. One that people wore to dinner parties. In fact people are expected to dress just for dinner and with their tiaras in place when dining with royals even in private homes.

[CountessKate]

I hope this has not been posted before, but the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising Museum (FIDM) in New York has an interesting dolman jacket of the 1870s which belonged to Queen Alexandra:



It is made of cashmere, silk braid and metallic thread.

[Eric_Lowe]

I wonder if she got it in the Middle East during her tour there ?

[Kate_S]

That is why I said evening gown not a ball gown. One that people wore to dinner parties. In fact people are expected to dress just for dinner and with their tiaras in place when dining with royals even in private homes.

It is very unlikely that this was worn for dinner.  There were strict gradations of sleeve length etc which determined suitable dress for evening wear.  This was probably worn for a ball or dance and Alexandra certainly attended many of these according to the entries in the Court Circular which can be read online via The Times archive. Although she appeared to have all of her tailor-mades commissioned from British couture houses here evening wear was all French.  In fact she very rarely bought from Worth.  They appeared not to see eye to eye and J. P. Worth's memoir records the only fitting Alexandra ever had in which her ladies in waiting fussed too much around the dressmakers and flustered everyone in the room.  Her wardrobe accounts reveal that she made only one small purchase from Worth between 1880 and her death in 1925.

[Kate_S]

It is very unlikely that this was worn for dinner.  There were strict gradations of sleeve length etc which determined suitable dress for evening wear.  This was probably worn for a ball or dance and Alexandra certainly attended many of these according to the entries in the Court Circular which can be read online via The Times archive. Although she appeared to have all of her tailor-mades commissioned from British couture houses here evening wear was all French.  In fact she very rarely bought from Worth.  They appeared not to see eye to eye and J. P. Worth's memoir records the only fitting Alexandra ever had in which her ladies in waiting fussed too much around the dressmakers and flustered everyone in the room.  Her wardrobe accounts reveal that she made only one small purchase from Worth between 1880 and her death in 1925.