Dress #109: Charles James evening dress in silver and black Tudor and Elizabethan dress Miss Firbank would have been

Miss Firbank would have been a contemporary of Downton Abbey’s Lady Mary Crawley

from the May 1909 issue of 'Les Modes : revue mensuelle illustrée des Arts décoratifs appliqués à la femme'

all that black-on-black won’t translate well into stitched paper

and a crinoline made from Japanese tissue peeks out from underneath

with little tiny heads

Dress #109: Charles James evening dress in silver and black Tudor and Elizabethan dress Miss Firbank would have beenThis hand stitched paper dress is based on an evening dress created by Charles James in 1950 1951; the original is held by the Chicago History Museum (accession 1960. 487a). According to costume historian Timothy Long, on a visit to the Museum Charles James identified this dress as being originally created for Marjorie Merriweather Post. The Museum itself identifies this as having been worn by the donor, Mrs. William O. Hunt. The shape is a precursor