Ball gown

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Emphatically in the style of an eighteenth-century open robe with petticoat, this nineteenth-century version is different from it in its bodice construction and trained skirt but startlingly like it in appearance. The waistband reads "by special appointment, Dressmaker to H.R.H. the Princess of Wales/Elise, 170 Regent Street, London." Elise has captured all the details of eighteenth-century style as well as the general effect: lace engageants extend the set-in sleeves; the neckline is edged with lace; and a bouquet of red silk flowers plays off the frequent incorporation of fresh flowers in eighteenth-century dress. By 1880, ideas and artifacts of eighteenth-century revival and emulation abounded in France and England.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art