A Green Silk Pelisse

When entering Pratt House, the historic home where much of the Maryland Historical Society’s costume collection still resides, cardboard boxes stacked on shelves from ceiling to floor deprives the room of color. Opening a box to discover what lies within, however, always introduces magnificent patterns, colors, and fabrics, exciting all those present. When our team opened a box labeled “green pelisse,” all of our jaws dropped as our eyes beheld a vibrant green 1818 to 1820 pelisse, obtained from the Ridgely family at Hampton House in 1944, in almost immaculate condition. Immediately we pulled the costume from Pratt House to gain a closer look at it and rehouse it into Bohanan, the costume collection’s climate-controlled work room.

1944.76.24 Front view of pelisse with braid cord tied around waist.	Fashion plate from Costume Parisien, 1808.	1944.76.24 Front view of pelisse.

Women wore pelisses, a more tailored style of dress that opened in the front, outdoors and over top of a dress. They featured long sleeves and were often constructed of wool, but silk was also a popular fabric for this clothing article. Our pelisse follows these typical characteristics with its front opening embellished with decorative rosette buttons that closed with hooks and eyes. Influenced by the Romantic Era’s reintroduction of Gothic and Medieval motifs, dresses often featured elaborate trimmings that created a three-dimensional effect, particularly between 1815 to 1820. The museum’s pelisse’s double “puffed” sleeves at the shoulder and near the elbow pay homage to the Gothic style’s influence. Additionally, its silk brocade triangular trimming outlined by silk piping creates a three-dimensional aesthetic that was fashionable during this time. A silk braid cord encircles the garment’s waist and hangs down the front of the pelisse and are in fact metal coils, adding an interesting multi-media feature.

View of sleeve puffs and the Gothic-inspired silk brocade trim.	Detail shot of silk braid cord and metal tassles.

While white dresses still predominated, strong dye colors were introduced, such as the Ridgely pelisse’s vibrant green, for outerwear and spencer jackets. When first looking at the pelisse, it appears that the garment features two different dyes – vibrant green for the plain silk and a grey-green for the trimming and the sleeve puffs. After carefully analyzing the garment, however, it became obvious that in its original condition, the pelisse was the vibrant green all over. Because the sleeve puffs are pleated in areas, there are areas of fabric untouched by sunlight or adverse conditions, which preserved the original dye. The photographs below provide a visual to the differentiating colors. Green is notorious for being an unstable dye, which is why the fading is not surprising. Knowing exactly what process the dyers utilized is extremely difficult due to the plethora of techniques. For detail into the various methods people utilized to achieve the color green and the challenge to secure its properties, Susan Greene’s Wearable Prints 1760-1860 is a splendid resource.

View of decorative rosette buttons. The vibrant green buttons on the left were sewn on as replacements. The buttons on the right covered these when the front was closed, explaining why they are such different shades.	View of upper sleeve proving that the silk brocade was originally a bright green.

Despite being stored in the not-so-ideal conditions of Pratt House, the costumes are often very well preserved. The museum’s green pelisse is virtually immaculate and even though there are some splits in the silk brocade at the sleeves, this is not unusual in a piece of clothing that is almost two hundred years old. Fortunately, the museum’s project dedicated to rehousing the costume collection secures a happy future for each garment!

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References:

Wearable Prints, 1760-1860 – Susan Greene

Fashion: The Definitive Histroy of Costume and Style – Smithsonian Museum

Clothing through American History: The Federal Era through Antebellum, 1786-1860 – Ann Buermann Wass and Michelle Webb Fandrich