Evening dress

Unknown

ca. 1872 · cotton · Costume Institute

This evening dress belonged to Amelia Beard Hollenback (1844-1918) who was born and raised in Brooklyn and married the prominent financier and philanthropist John Welles Hollenback (1835-1927) in 1874. The dress was originally worn in 1862, when Amelia Beard was a bridesmaid at the marriage of James and Nellie Sparkman, long time residents of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In the early 1870s, prior to her marriage, Amelia altered the dress into its current polonaise style when, "on very short notice for a party '[she had] nothing to wear.'" The delicacy of the organdy and mull and the beautiful execution of the alteration exemplify Amelia Beard's resourcefulness and talent with dressmaking.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1872

Medium

cotton

Culture

American

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Amelia Beard Hollenback, 1966