One Good Sacque Deserves Another!

I admit, I'm crazy about sacques!  For this second iteration of my design for a ca. 1755 "grand habit" (formal evening gown, in the "robe à la française" or French style) I decided to use a glorious iridescent silk taffeta with a golden ecru ground and variable soft turquoise-teal stripes.  The colours are truly luscious!  
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This is essentially the same design as the taupe version (see my blog on that one), but with some changes which I felt worked better with the lighter, softer colours of this gown.  Like the taupe version, this gown is entirely hand stitched.  Well over 200 hours of hand sewing went into its construction and embellishment.  The gown with matching petticoat and stomacher required more than 11 metres of silk taffeta, 1.5m of Belgian linen (bodice/sleeve lining), over 50 metres of gold metallic edging, and 4 metres of fine lace (for the engageantes and neck frill).  

The ensemble consists of a trained robe à la française (known in English at the time as a "sacque" or "sack" gown, although I can't imagine how the English came up with that ugly word!), with fine net lace engageantes and a vintage cotton net lace neck frill, along with a matching silk taffeta petticoat and lightly boned stomacher.  With this version I opted for a light gold metallic trim, rather than the "old gold" colour used on the taupe gown, as I thought the lighter gold was more in keeping with the delicate, pretty colours of the silk. 

​This ensemble would have been typical of those worn by the upper/aristocratic classes as formal evening dress for balls or soirées (often referred to in French as a "grand habit", meaning "great/grand attire").  However, it is not a "robe de cour" (court gown), which was a more extreme form of dress usually reserved for high occasions at royal courts.  

Although I didn't take as many pictures of the construction process on this gown as I would have liked, I did take photos of the finished ensemble in two different outdoor lighting situations, which demonstrate how remarkably different the iridescent taffeta in this gown can look depending on the illumination.  I think this gown will sparkle, shimmer, and scintillate in the variable glow of candlelight.  

​This gown will be offered for sale in my Etsy shop, but I'll be keeping the taupe version -- just in case I do get to Versailles one day!   To see the Etsy listing (while available), click on the button below (it will open in a separate window). 

View Gown on Etsy

Here are a few pictures taken during the construction process, and photos of the completed ensemble, taken in mid-day light as well as in the waning afternoon glow of an autumn day -- notice how the colours in the silk change to reflect the warmer quality of the light.  ​