User talk:Persephone123

Evening Gown
Dear James,

The information I added to the 'evening gown' page was intended to correct factually incorrect statements. I know Wikipedia prides itself on its accuracy, and the previous entry is simply incorrect.

It starts with stating that silk is a fabrics. According to Wiki's very own definition, silk is a fibre, whereas chiffon, satin, taffeta, etc. are weaves. To say that gowns can be made of satin, silk, taffeta, velvet, etc. is like saying "I am making a fruit salad out of apples, pears, bananas and potatoes." Potatoes are not fruits, just like silk is not a weave, but a fibre produced by silk worms and then woven into many different fabrics including satin, taffeta, chiffon, velvet, organza and many, many more. While I was studying history at uni, I spent several months working with curators at the British Museum, including the historical costumes section, and I learned a lot about fabrics, fibres, weaving techniques, cuts, styles, etc. Accuracy also requires using correct terminology.

The history section is unfortunately also full of inaccuracies. Evening dresses were first worn by nobility and royalty at court (not modern temples of justice, but places that were home to a king/queen), thus they were indeed synonymous with court dress for centuries. The practice became particularly pronounced at the Burgundian court, which took pride in its many festivities and this did occur during the 1400s, thus to say that the concept of the modern evening gown had its origin in the 15th century is correct, because that's where the habit of ladies to change for evening festivities really became popular.

Court dress then evolved with the fashions of the time, and became increasingly elaborate until you had the 18th century gowns with side paniers (that's a type of hoop skirt) worn in the late 18th century. Marie Antoinette was famous for her elaborate evening robes with skirts so wide that she could only pass through some doors sideways.

It is also completely incorrect to state that the Empire silhouette was popular during the Edwardian era. The Edwardian era dates from ~1880 to 1914, and even superficial knowledge of history should make it clear that the line was not an Empire silhouette, which is indicated by a high waist (dress gathered directly underneath the bossom -- think Jane Austen -- and falling straight to the floor). On the contrary, that's when the S-shaped form became popular, which was achieved by a tightly-laced corset. All one has to do is look at the wedding pictures of one's great grandparents.

I have not yet had time to add (m)any sources, but I have several books on historic fashions and also some links to informative Web sites that are full of pictures to illustrate the history section. However, it looks like the original post was cited for not adding sources in 2010 and it is now 2012, so I figured that a day or two would not matter that much.

Frankly, this evening gown section on Wiki has been bugging me for the longest time, as it is so historically and factually wrong, and I think it does a disservice to an otherwise excellent resource, which Wikipedia is, when you leave out the few pages that are simply full of errors.

Persephone123 (talk) 16:53, 31 July 2012 (UTC)