Medium: Aqua silk jacquard, cream silk moiré taffeta, and patterned silk net

Date: c. 1887

Country: USA

Credit: Museum purchase

This two-piece dress was made by Mrs. M.A. O’Connell, a dressmaker and dressmaking teacher in Newburgh, New York. Designed in the Louis XVI revival style, the dress appropriates elements of eighteenth-century fashion, including the puffed sleeve and squared-off bodice of the robe à l’anglaise. The floral-patterned fabric was inspired by Marie Antoinette and tinted in her favorite color palette. By working in this style, Mrs. O’Connell identified herself as having a highly refined sense of fashion.

Object Number: P87.20.38