Dresses of Empress Elisabeth

[Eric_Lowe]

I do wonder what jewels the Empress wore with those dresses ?

[dboro]

I think in the end only the black dresses survived in her closet at the time of her death. The gray dress she wore for Valarie's wedding was an exception...

Yes, many of the real dresses -not replicas- that still exist are mainly of the mourning years -here I've seen 4 or 5, and also her very well known last dress-. Is a pity that the black dress that she wore at the Hungarian Millenium celebration (1896) isn't available today, not minding that is one of the last dresses that she wore, and also considering that she wore it for a very important event. I wonder if the famous light gray dress still exist? Here only was posted a pinkish dress that Sissi wore for MV's engagement but not for the wedding. Here, was posted time ago a photo of one grayish dress but I can't assure when she really wore it.

Maybe (and only maybe) I can show you something new: photos from 1899 and 1907 of the black Hungarian dress worn during the Millennium celebrations

http://epa.oszk.hu/00000/00030/02366/pdf/02366.pdf
page 396
(I also have a HQ scan of it)
and see also
http://epa.oszk.hu/00000/00030/02814/pdf/VU_EPA00030_1907_48.pdf
page 961

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

I don't know why but I can't see the second link   I love to see the dress in other sight and also the accesories that she had -the fan and the fur she wore over her shoulders-! Don't you know about the jewelry she used, in the Millenium Portrait she is wearing a tiara. Thanks for the info! Is a great pity that I don't know Hungarian!

[dboro]

Here's the second link again:
http://epa.oszk.hu/00000/00030/02814/pdf/VU_EPA00030_1907_48.pdf
or you can find it here:
http://epa.oszk.hu/00000/00030/02814/pdf/
click "Vasárnapi Ujság"

And the picture itself:


The so-called Millennium portrait (the retouched photo by Strelisky) is a fake. None of the descriptions mention that she wore a tiara during the celebrations.

[dboro]

The article itself is about the Queen Elisabeth Memorial Museum, which opened in Budapest in 1907. The museum was destroyed in the WWII during of the bombing of the Buda Castle, the remaining items returned to the collection of the Hungarian National Museum in 1946. The millennium dress did nor survive...

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

Thank you very much for all the information!!! I thought that the portrait was a reliable source, now I see it is not. I think that she didn't wear any tiara -or all kind of jewelry- perhaps for her mourning. Is a great pity that the wonderful black dress was destroyed by the war  

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

This was posted in teh first pages by Madame Sissi (the back of the dress), now a bit different pose -with a good view of the details-
Source: mkcr.cz


Saved from a Czech site, detail of a bodice -for a better view of the trims-
Image enlarged and edited by me.

[Eric_Lowe]

Both mourning dresses ? I read Franz Josef fell in love with Sisi while she was wearing a black mourning dress.

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

Both mourning dresses ? I read Franz Josef fell in love with Sisi while she was wearing a black mourning dress.

The first one is not a mourning dress. According to this czech site -the dress is in a Czech museum at Prague- the gown is actually dark blue -velvet-. The photo does not make much justice to the color. Is quite interesting to mention that this dress is the most expensive in Czech Republic -the price is € 80,000, quite expensive indeed!-.
The second one is indeed a mourning dress.

[Eric_Lowe]

The first dress would go well with sapphires. I wonder if Sisi has sapphires in her jewellery collection. Her rubies and emeralds were famous.

[Jen_94]

Definitely agree Eric. I wonder if she did, Sapphires are beautiful.

Those dresses are beautiful, cannot believe how small in waist size the dresses are!

[Eric_Lowe]

Indeed. No wonder Sisi had to diet and spent time in her gym. Sounds very modern isn't it. I think Kate Moss can fit into that dress.

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

Fragment of a German newspaper article (the newspaper was printed after the 1950's because it included a image of Romy Schneider as Sissi), the last gown. I'm sorry for the size.

[Eric_Lowe]

In the German mind, Romy & Sisi is almost merged as one image, as the "romanticized ideal picture" achieved a following.

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

I've never been able to find a photo that shows completely Empress Sissi's last dress, but recently I found some photos of a museum devoted to Sissi and found this gown that looks like a replica of the famous last dress (sadly, the site didn't have much information about it)... so we can have an idea of how is its skirt. Sadly the size of the images wasn't the best and I had to edit them but could not make much. Anyways, here you go:

View 1


View 2


*****Source: Kaiserin Elisabeth Museum*****