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Purple dress with floor length bustle back skirt with draped and pleated puffs at hips
two-piece dress; bodice, skirt, fabric fragment
Purple dress with floor length bustle back skirt with draped and pleated puffs at hips
Two-piece dress
c. 1887
Silk crushed velvet
England
Museum purchase
Object number2014.38.3
The particular proportions of bustle dresses varied throughout the 1870s and 1880s. Some bustles protruded sharply from the lower back, giving the silhouette a hard, angular look. Others used swags of fabric draped at the back or hips to lend a softer appearance.
DescriptionPurple dress; bodice, skirt and fabric fragment in silk crushed velvet; fitted boned bodice with 20 dark bronze metal buttons at CF closure; floor length bustle back skirt with draped and pleated pannier like puffs at hips; fabric fragment
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