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#the oak leaf gown is at the bath fashion museum
badassindistress · 3 years
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I've got a new big project!
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I'm going to be making a dream dress! Insired by the yellow 1902 Worth Gown for Lady Curzon (also known as the Oak Leaf Dress) I'm turning this lovely blue green silk into the princess dress I've been dreaming of for years.
I have about 5 meters of silk, with some cutouts, so I'm going to have to be smart about cutting. Luckily Cathy Hay has measured the Oak Leaf Gown back in 2009 and found out the skirt is pieced to hell and back.
I'm planning a slightly less full skirt, invisible front closing and as much rouleaux trim and embroidery as I can manage. I'm thinking art nouveau butterflies 🦋
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daceytheshebear · 4 years
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the oak leaf dress
Hey guys. So. Did you know there is an actual, historical “oak leaf dress” made all of yellow silk? It is in display in the Fashion Museum of Bath, England. 
The silk satin dress features over 400 oak leaves, outlined in satin cord and chenille thread. The darker leaves on the skirt were created by actually cutting out oak leaf shapes, and backing the holes with silk net.
It’s fitting, don’t you think? These two need not be mutually exclusive...
My featherbed is deep and soft, and there I'll lay you down, I'll dress you all in yellow silk, and on your head a crown. For you shall be my lady love, and I shall be your lord. I'll always keep you warm and safe, and guard you with my sword. And how she smiled and how she laughed, the maiden of the tree. She spun away and said to him, no featherbed for me. I'll wear a gown of golden leaves, and bind my hair with grass, But you can be my forest love, and me your forest lass.
Har! 
When Tom Sevenstrings sings this song to Arya, she’s wearing the infamous acorn dress (green and brown, bear that in mind) and the dress has just been ripped apart in a ‘fight’ instigated by Arya - an act of refusal to conform with the proper little girl part. Just like in the song, where the maiden of the tree refuses the featherbed (but not the love). 
The acorn motif and the green color both symbolize youth and naivite. In the asoiaf universe we come across sayings like “the acorn dreams the oak” (to denote passage of time) and “green as summer grass” (which speaks to a lack of experience). 
Yellow/golden is the colour of autumn and maturity. Yellow is to green what the oak (and its leaves) are to the acorn.
“I’ll wear a gown of golden leaves” is a bold statement of maturity and ownership of onesef. 
Here is our gown of golden leaves, all in yellow silk:
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