This was a dress I had been hoping to examine closely as its one of the gowns which can be assigned to Charlotte with absolute certainty and one I had tried to replicate (unsuccessfully) from memory .It was the first gown that I caught sight of on my arrival at the library ,the hem just peeking out from its layers of careful wraping.The dress is made from good quality very crisp silk and the hem further stiffened with corded fabric edging so the skirt of the gown stood out in stiff but graceful folds that for some reason brought to mind those statutes of ladies that recline on Tudor and Elizabethan graves their petticoats and gowns all falling in stiffly folded curves around their feet.
With so much to see I was unsure which of the gowns to examine first but as the mysterious Brown gown lay closest to me I decided to start there and leave the Iconic and well-known going away /Honeymoon gown for later.
It’s a strange and moving item ,the stiffness of the fabric and the gowns construction almost creates an impression of an occupant and its strange to imagine what is now laid out with such care on a table was once hung neatly upstairs with similar care waiting Charlotte’s arrival from her wedding at the nearby church and just a few hours later would have been clothing Charlotte as she walked happily out of the Parsonage door to start her Honeymoon tour .I suspect it arrived at its destination hours later rather less crisp and pristine than it now looks but such is the case with all natural fabrics and the gown was an eminently sensible choice for traveling .
It’s beautifuly tailored with a comfortably cut double bodice giving an extra layer of warmth .The loose sleeves and front fastening bodice making it comfortable in heat of the day or cold of the evening and easy for tired travel weary figners to remove.The dark but elegant colours are less likely to show mud spatters or spills.Smart and very fashionable but not overly showy,The collar shows signs of the same (now) gold silk fringing as the waistline and when new this probably shone attractively in the sunlight making the gown look less dark than it seems laid out flat .
I know some gowns can change colour over time and I am not sure how or if this fabric has changed colour with age,I know is widely considered to have been mauve ,,though mauve was an exepnsive colour to buy in the first half of the victorian age,, ,it’s always been carefully stored so there’s no sunlight fading or fading from washing ,discolouration from coal or woodsmoke fires etc and its doesnt look markedly different inside so the colour change must have been within the fabric itself and I dont know enough about fabric conservation to know how early victorian dyes age,certainly later analine dyes can fade but this would have been pre analine .There does seem to be possible signs of shattering at the neck ,which is no reflection on its conseravtion ,its tragicaly an unavoidable result of reactions within some silks to metals used in the dying process so may be thats also caused discolouration. I think as its trimmed with the gold look fringing and the mid brown corded velvet fabric it was probably always fairly dark ,though perhaps with more colour evident.
Sadly the dress shows very little sign of use ,the lining along the hemlines is pristine,There is areas of damage at the neckline but they may be fabric aging or from a brooch or caused by its outing on a model in the early days or the 20th c.Theres also some odd pin marks along the hemline which look like a previouse hem line but that seems odd as theres less than an inch difference .Despite these I dont think the gown saw major ,its impossible to remove hemline staining from mud or general pavement dust and debris (as anyone trying to resell a modern wedding or prom gown knows) and this gown has none of those which I am pretty certain it would have had it been worn around Haworth,for country walks or in a victorian town.
It’s possible it only saw one outing on the day Charlotte left for her honeymoon.
I did not however examine this as closely as the other items as while I was extremely careful will all the clothing I confess to being so nervous of damaging this gown that I had to will myself to move any part of it and the fabric does seem to be rather fragile in some places on the bodice .I am used to examining artifacts and usually focus on the item before me to the exclusion of other thoughts but in the case of this gown I felt an almost unbearable sadness that this tiny gown had seen such high hopes and happiness yet months later was probably hidden away in a trunk it’s very sight a source of pain and sorrow .
The gown is very full skirted like most of Charlotte’s later gowns but is not in fact an actual gown but a two-part outfit ,as was becoming fashionable at the time ,this allowed for an extra bodice to be made to convert gowns to a secondary use without requiring a complete change of clothing ,,perhaps this gown also had a second bodice now lost,It is beautifully and I would guess professionayl made and much more detailed on a closer inspection that it seems when viewed in the small postcard images.
It has a very complex construction compared to the other gowns ,the pleated bodice being built on a more tailored underbodice.The bodice had a detailed waist trimmed with silk fringe.It is trimmed at the hem ,cuff and neck with mid brown corded possible velvet fabric .Its fastens with hooks and eyes .It’s a telling contrast to the earlier Brown gown laid next to it which while it was carefully and neatly cut and sewn was almost certainly homemade with several signs of wear,the brown gown seemed to me at to shout governess or at least teacher as do some of the other earlier gowns in the parsonage online collection .This outfit was that of a reasonable wealthy fashionable middle class lady .
Hathaways of Haworth 