Purple Dress with Brocade Inset

This midnight purple gown is made from faux silk  taffeta and a complex golden brocade. It has a beautifully pleated front and a voluminous skirt. There a slight gatherings at the bottom of the overskirt. The Designer feels this is all rather too subtle and doesn't show off the gown's greatest asset: its brocade's ornate paisley pattern - perhaps justifiably so since very little of the six meters of brocade can be seen.

(Yes, that's the inimitable Durham Cathedral in the background. The celestial spheres, however, disapprove and too much of the dress in consequently cast into shadow.)

The gown's a little early Victorian if you squint, but personally not overtly. The idea of the inset comes from looking at the lovely images of the Strawberry Gown from The Young Victoria, but other than that the two garments have very little in common. The Purple dress certainly isn't particularly drop shoulder and by all accounts it is rather modest in construction.

To commission a similar dress with a brocade underskirt from the Mercenary will cost around £160.

More photos under the cut.