Reception gown worn by Mary LeDuc | Collections Record
Reception gown, Jane E. Turner, New York, 1877. Two-piece dress of claret-colored velvet and taffeta with bustle and train. Self-covered buttons at center front with detail embroidery. Asymmetrically trimmed with draped swags, knotted cotton fringe and self-fabric bows. Hand- and machine-sewn. Miss Turner charged the client $128.33 for the dress, which she wore at a White House reception. Minnesota Historical Society
Dress, U.K., ca. 1872. Cotton, trimmed with silk braid; bone buttons. Unlined. Victoria & Albert Museum: “This is a jaunty, sensible woman’s outfit of the early 1870s ... A hemline just at the ankle indicates a garment intended for walking outdoors. ... It is made of cotton, so it is easily washed and dried. Despite its practical use, the ensemble still incorporates the details of fashionable dress, with an overskirt in front and a bustle worn underneath at the back.”