Bodice
Clothes for Women
Inventory number
2019.4.18.5.CW.TO.C1850.IT
Description
Bodice, previously a part of a day dress, made of red and black silk tartan with grey and pink undertones, trimmed with black velvet and red and black silk fringe.
Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland. Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns. By the 19th century the Highland romantic revival, inspired by James MACPHERSON's Ossian poems and the writings of Sir Walter SCOTT, led to wider interest, with clubs like the Celtic Society of Edinburgh welcoming Lowlanders. The pageantry invented for the 1822 visit of King George IV to Scotland brought a sudden demand for tartan cloth and made it the national dress of the whole of Scotland, rather than just the Highlands and Islands, with the invention of many new clan-specific tartans to suit. Twenty years after, Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert made their first trip to the Scottish Highlands. The Queen and prince bought Balmoral Castle in 1848 and hired a local architect to re-model the estate in "Scots Baronial" style. Prince Albert personally took care of the interior design, where he made great use of tartan. He utilised the red Royal Stewart and the green Hunting Stewart tartans for carpets, while using the Dress Stewart for curtains and upholstery. The Queen designed the Victoria tartan, and Prince Albert the Balmoral, still used as a royal tartan today.
Materials
Silk
Linen
Velvet
Origin
circa 1850
Italy
Related objects
Pair of bracesHandkerchief