| Collection |
MHS (unaccessioned) Textiles |
| Date |
c.1890 |
| Description |
Two piece Woman's day gown (walking dress) of a grey wool worsted plaid like fabric with a fine red stripe. Manufactured c.1890 in New Zealand. The original Owner/Wearer was Mrs. Anne Renwick (nee Smith) of Dumgree, widow of Dr. Thomas Renwick. Image 21 shows the gown on display in the Wool Exhibition in March 2010.
Anne Renwick lived at their home, '"Newstead" in Nelson before her husband's death in 1879. Her husband's nephew, also named Thomas, inherited "Dumgree", Dr. Thomas Renwick's Marlborough estate, but because of the nephew's illness Anne took over the running of the estate. Dumgree is in the Awatere Valley in Marlborough and Anne lived there, but she made frequent trips back to Nelson. This gown would have been worn during her time as manager of Dumgree. There is a book in the MHS Archives library, "Renwick - the Story of a Pioneer Family", by Elisabeth Airey, published by the author in October 1979. There is a family tree on page 81.
The bodice material is gathered and mounted onto the damask lining to pouch slightly in the front. It is lined separately with damask cotton on the body of the bodice and net behind the lace and pintucked front insert. The full sleeves are lined simply and are attached to the twopiece undersleeve to create fullness at top arm. The front lace panel extends to the standing collar and is appliquéd to the edge of the pintucked satin insert, which is in centre front. There are four embroidered fabric buttons on the sleeve and on the front .The bodice is fastened at the front by a series of hooks and eyes and is finished with a grey satin tape at the waist.
A strong petersham tape is used on the waist of the skirt with hooks on it to attach the bodice firmly in place. The skirt is made up of 9 gores - each gore is curved slightly and each is joined to the other with an inverted pleat which is top stitched. The skirt lies smoothly over the waist and hips and becomes fuller at the back. The fabric is cut on the cross in the back two gores and the skirt widens out dramatically at the bottom of these two gores, each increasing to 47cm. The centre front gore is cut on the straight and widens to 38cm - all the other gores are 31cm at base. The length is slightly longer at the back than the front. It opens at the front with a placket of 28cm.
The skirt has an internal petticoat with a heavily pleated trim made of glazed black Italian cloth which echoes the gores of the skirt. The seams are flat and are pinked. It has a heavily pleated bottom frill of 14cm.
|
| Object ID |
0000.600.0039 |
| Object Name |
Gown |
| Other # |
T0843 |
| People |
Renwick, Anne (nee Smith)
Smith, Anne (later Renwick) |
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