DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22262#0092
Anthea Bickley
I believe that this dress, made by a Lon-
don dressmaker, was the one she wore as
hostess to Royalty. It is marked in the
waistband 'Alice Mason Modes and
Robes 4 New Burlington Street' with the
Royal coat of arms and is just the kind of
dress that a lady of her age and wealth
would have worn to be presented at
court. Today it is a curator's nightmare as
all the thread which holds the pearl
beads in place is rotting, and you risk
a cascade every time you move it how-
ever gently and slightly
It shows us, though, that Mrs Salt could
appreciate style when the right opportu-
nity came along, and in October 1895
another one did. This time the invita-
tions were sent out to sonie 225 local rela-
Fig' 1 tives, friends and acąuaintances, to an
Mrs Titus Salt's wedding dress and shoes (. , r™. ,
At Home . 1 his would seem to adver-
tise a simple affair, as an 'At Home' usu-
ally just meant that the hostess would receive her friends informally for tea and cakes
during the late afternoon; but in fact this party was to mark her daughter Mary
Isabel' s 'coming-out', and the clue was in the leaflet enclosed with each invitation.
This stated that Simmons's, the celebrated London historical and fancy costumier,
would attend at the largest hotel in Bradford for two days, three weeks before the
party, to receive orders for ladies' and gentlemen's fancy costumes. Designs and sam-
ples would be available, and the leaflet implies that whilst gentlemen might con-
sider hiring, the ladies would want to have their dresses made. Far from being a sim-
ple 'At Home' this was to be a fuli-scalę fancy dress bali, even though only 120 of
those invited actually turned up.
I wonder if Simmons's made Mrs Salt's dress. There is no label in it. And if so,
whether she got a large discount for bringing in further business.
According to the report in 'The Queen, The Lady's Newspaper' the week after the
party, most of the ladies took the opportunity to wear pretty dresses, the younger
ones as romantic heroines of the stage or literaturę, although there was one fully-
veiled Egyptian woman, a short-skirted Pierette and a witch in white satin and
black velvet with the signs of the zodiac and a broomstick. One lady's dress copied
that in a family miniaturę of Emma, Lady Hamilton, mistress of Admirał Horatio
Nelson, and one came as 'My Ancestress' in a genuine old family dress of 1750 date.
The gentlemen were eąually colourful. Faust, the eldest son, wore peacock blue vel-
90
I believe that this dress, made by a Lon-
don dressmaker, was the one she wore as
hostess to Royalty. It is marked in the
waistband 'Alice Mason Modes and
Robes 4 New Burlington Street' with the
Royal coat of arms and is just the kind of
dress that a lady of her age and wealth
would have worn to be presented at
court. Today it is a curator's nightmare as
all the thread which holds the pearl
beads in place is rotting, and you risk
a cascade every time you move it how-
ever gently and slightly
It shows us, though, that Mrs Salt could
appreciate style when the right opportu-
nity came along, and in October 1895
another one did. This time the invita-
tions were sent out to sonie 225 local rela-
Fig' 1 tives, friends and acąuaintances, to an
Mrs Titus Salt's wedding dress and shoes (. , r™. ,
At Home . 1 his would seem to adver-
tise a simple affair, as an 'At Home' usu-
ally just meant that the hostess would receive her friends informally for tea and cakes
during the late afternoon; but in fact this party was to mark her daughter Mary
Isabel' s 'coming-out', and the clue was in the leaflet enclosed with each invitation.
This stated that Simmons's, the celebrated London historical and fancy costumier,
would attend at the largest hotel in Bradford for two days, three weeks before the
party, to receive orders for ladies' and gentlemen's fancy costumes. Designs and sam-
ples would be available, and the leaflet implies that whilst gentlemen might con-
sider hiring, the ladies would want to have their dresses made. Far from being a sim-
ple 'At Home' this was to be a fuli-scalę fancy dress bali, even though only 120 of
those invited actually turned up.
I wonder if Simmons's made Mrs Salt's dress. There is no label in it. And if so,
whether she got a large discount for bringing in further business.
According to the report in 'The Queen, The Lady's Newspaper' the week after the
party, most of the ladies took the opportunity to wear pretty dresses, the younger
ones as romantic heroines of the stage or literaturę, although there was one fully-
veiled Egyptian woman, a short-skirted Pierette and a witch in white satin and
black velvet with the signs of the zodiac and a broomstick. One lady's dress copied
that in a family miniaturę of Emma, Lady Hamilton, mistress of Admirał Horatio
Nelson, and one came as 'My Ancestress' in a genuine old family dress of 1750 date.
The gentlemen were eąually colourful. Faust, the eldest son, wore peacock blue vel-
90