Victorian Ball Gown Bodice Top Jacket Puff Ruffled Sleeves Cream Silk Lace Embroidery 1880s 1890s

Victorian 1880s Ball Gown Bodice Top Puff Ruffled Sleeves Cream Silk Lace Embroidery

Extraordinary and elaborate, antique bodice top in cream silk featuring elaborate shoulders with ruffled panels over long, fitted sleeves. The low scoop neckline is embellished in heavy lace embroidery in matching cream that encircles to the rear and the center back displays a floating panel of floral design. The sleeves have upturned corners at the sides of the cuffs, revealing satin trimmed, sheer cream lace panels underneath. The waist is embellished with an asymmetrical, diagonal, sash. Closure is a series of interior hooks at center front and the lining itself is in brown cotton with its own set of inner hooks - a typical, double layered construction of the time. There are stays to keep this very fitted around your torso, hooks at interior rear that would have attached to the (sadly separated) skirt, right under an attached inner sash tie with the name of the costumer: S.B. Wight Boston! Note also the sweat guards at the interior underarms, protecting the silk.

Interior label looks like it says S.B. Wight. Boston.

Label: S.B. Wight. Boston (S.B. Wight is confirmed as a late 19th-century designer/dressmaker, with an evening dress in the collections of the Fleming Museum of Art at the University of Vermont, establishing their role in regional high fashion and Victorian costume history.)
Fabric: no tag / silk satin w/heavy lace embroidery
Size tag: none / fits like an XS / see exact measurements below to ensure fit

Condition: Good and in many ways exceptional for its age, delicacy, and color. There are a few small flaws: a pin sized hole at lower front waist section, just above the sash, and a pale brown stain around the right sleeve cuff, and some slight surface level tearing to the silk (see pic - in real life not easy to notice unless pointed out). Interior brown cotton inner section has a few teeny holes at right, and overall the satin has a few small knicks and scratches if you look for them in the right light. Faint discoloration at the underarms (sweat guards could only do so much? Or put in later?). More than wearable and a gorgeous example of 1880s/90s fashion.

Shoulders 13"
Sleeves 24"
Chest 33"
Waist 25"
Length 17"