Object Write-Up: Afternoon dress, pink silk taffeta, 1857, USA, museum purchase.
Two-piece dress with two bodices in pink silk taffeta with pink fringe trim; day bodice has capelet, bell sleeves, peplum, all with rows of fringe, wrapped buttons CF; evening bodice has wide neckline, organdy puffs at cap sleeves, pointed CF, CB waist; matching skirt has tiered ruffles, with fringe trim.
Link of Information & Photo: https://news.fitnyc.edu/event/exhibition-pink-the-history-of-a-punk-pretty-powerful-color-closes/
This is an afternoon dress made in the 19th century, worn by woman.
I was attracted by this dress when I first went in the exhibition room with dark lights and black background, the colour of the dress popped up into my mind. There’s a lot of wrinkles and layers, the dress is long and with middle long sleeves, it is kind of like the ball dress in the past. The pink is not so bright, but recognisable. This dress was made in 1857, USA, it is made by pink silk taffeta, we can see the reflected lights on the dress under the display lights.
With this object, I went into a deep research about the use of the colour pink, and also why it is normally recognised as a “girl’s colour”. Research shown that once pink was found, it is a colour for both male and female, but when time pass, male got their own costumes, which are suits in black and white colour, therefore pink become a colour mostly for woman. On the other hand, pink is not a natural colour that people can easily get from the past, so the colour pink is expensive and unaffordable for people in poverty, it is a colour for nobles. But male are wearing the black and white suit, so they decided to show their wealth by their wives, by wearing expensive coloured clothes, people may show their status. Pink may also show a meaning of cute and vivacious, in my opinion, these listed above can be the reasons of why this dress is in pink.
The whole exhibition shows a lot of garments and clothes in the colour pink, this grabbed my attention while others are also wonderful, the whole exhibition shows both the usage and history of pink, by showing things from the past to modern days designs, all showpiece can be easily related. Together, they tell us a complete story of pink.
