Boudoir – The Court Dress of Russia.2: unique style

Welcome again – or back – to Boudoir! Though there already is a post about Russian court dresses, since I like them very much, their topic is almost endless and this year is a Romanov-anniversary, I would like to write about them again. But to not be repetitive and boring, I am going to present some unique – yes, literally unique – court gown – the ones I consider special and non-regular for various reasons.

1. The dress of Countess Sophia de Torby

Countess Sophia de Torby was the morganatic wife of Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich. Because of the non-equal marriage, the Grand Duke and his spouse were exiled from Russia and they had to live in abroad, mostly London. Though they couldn’t appear at the Russian Court, the Grand Duke, and Countess de Torby too, sometimes wore the Russian court uniform or court dress. This photo shows Countess de Torby wearing an alternative Russian court dress – the kokoshnik, and the veil-sleeves remind the traditional court gown, but the dress itself, the patterns, the fabric and the jewels are all modern and European-style.

2. The dress of Duchess Mariya Maksimilianovna Romanovskaya of Leuchtenberg

Princess Mariya Maksimilianovna was a Romanov and wasn’t a Romanov at the same time: she was the daughter of Grand Duchess Mariya Nikolaevna and Duke Maximilian de Beauharnais of Leuchtenberg, who – after marrying the Tsar’s daughter – got the title ’Prince Romanovsky’, which means about ’of Romanov’. Maybe because of the family manners, the court dresses of Mariya Maksimilianovna were also not regular. If you look closely, there are no embroidery, no patterns, and the colour is yellow-gold – quite unusual, considering that gold was reserved for the Empress. However, a photo with Mariya Maksimilianovna in a normal court gown also survived, so we cannot say that the Duchess always wore this Leuchtenberg-style court dress.

3. The dress of Baroness Agnes de Stoeckl

Baroness Agnes de Stoeckl was a lady-in-waiting to the Grand Duchess Mariya Georgievna. It seems that she is wearing a court dress, however, the lace on the chest and the patterns are so unorthodox. I you look closely, you can notice the leaf-pattern on the skirt, which is, I think, an early Art Nouveau impression.

4. The dress of Olga Alekseevna Novikova

Olga Alekseevna Novikova, better known as O.K. or Madame Novikoff, was a Russian aristocrat and a writer – she is the author of Russian Memories. The lace ornament of the sleeves, the train and the under gown makes her court dress special. Also, instead of the common used embroidery on the upper gown’s corset, lace is again applied. And the dress has double-sleeves: usually the women’s arms were naked under the long sleeves, but Madame Novikova is wearing long, tighter sleeves under the long and loose ones – and, no surprise, lace again!

by Alla