O/T- Queen Alexandra's Indian GownsArchived Message
Posted by LauraM on November 9, 2015, 3:37 pm
In our previous thread about Queen Alexandra's collier resille, we learned that "In the summer of 1901, during the mourning for Queen Victoria, Pierre Cartier was called to Buckingham Palace. He was commissioned to create an Indian necklace from various pieces of the queen's jewelry, to be worn with three Indian gowns sent by Mary Curzon, wife of the Viceroy of India."
Coincidentally, I was reading Claire Rose's Art Nouveau FashionV&A Publishing, 2014. On pages 69-70, she writes:
"For the most significant even in her life, her 1902 coronation, Alexandra ordered two dresses from Worth, but the gown for the ceremony itself was made up by the smaller Paris house of Morin-Blossier at a cost of £996. The fabric for the dress was commissioned in India by the Vicereine, Lady Mary Curzon. The Indian embroidery depicted British national flowers in Indian techniques, producing a textile that embodied 'Empire'. Equally important for Alexandra, the dress of gold gauze over a cloth-of-gold foundation was unique to her, a distinction she insisted on in letters to Lady Curzon: 'The Queen wishes me to write and ask you not to tell anyone in England about the dresses ordered in India, or else they will be wanting to have some also, whereas H[er] M[ajesty]would like to have something original for her Coronation dress.'" According to the footnote this quote is from correspondence from Queen Alexandra to Mary Curzon 1901. I believe the reference to dresses in the letter includes the dresses that were the inspiration for the 1901 Cartier necklace along with the fabric for the Coronation gown.
The author cites two articles by Kate Strasdin, 'Empire Dressing - The Design and Realization of Queen Alexandra's Coronation Gown'Journal of Design History vol 25/2(2012) and 'Fashioning Alexandra: A Royal Approach to Style 1863-1910', Costume, vol 47/2 (2013).
For my own purposes, I would love to have copies of these articles. If anyone could help, a private email would be appreciated.
on November 9, 2015, 3:37 pm