A Century Of Dress. From The Famous Collection Of Dr C.W. Cunnington (1931)

“Dainty, demure (and sometimes devastating) dress - glance at Madame's progress during the past Century - then Eve will know where some of the present modes originated!“ L/S of three women posing in a large garden. They wear long dresses from the early 1800s. The narrator describes the frocks as being “Directoire (?) style“. The women walk and pose in the garden as the narrator describes how it was considered patriotic to wear cotton and wool rather than silk. Narrator describes how the women wanted to look like “Greek Goddesses“ at this time but how 10 years later in shorter skirts they were much more comfortable. “...they had ankles again!“ The hemline of a dress is shown. Two dresses from Jane Austen's time are modelled, then a frock “from just a hundred years ago“ is shown. At a time when romantic young things read Byron the dresses were more flowing. A woman walks beside a flowerbed carrying a parasol. The narrator points out the large sleeves of the dresses. C/U of this woman and her para