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Gown
Silk and cotton netting, silk ribbon, appliqués
American, circa 1905
Gift of Mrs. Richard Croxton Adams, 99.10.2

Evening wear during the nineteenth century, and to an extent still true today, was more revealing than dress approved for day wear. Décolleté, the baring or revealing of the torso and bosom, was widely accepted in evening and ball gowns. The low and wide scoop neck of this gown emphasizes the expanse of bosom created by the corset. A day dress from the same period can be seen later in the exhibition.

The gown was worn by the donor's mother, Katharine E. Barbey, to a ball for the wedding of a member of the Roebling family (of Brooklyn Bridge fame) in Pennsylvania. The gown was altered, let out in the bosom and the waist, when she wore it again for her 40th anniversary in 1946.