Sunday, May 23, 2010

Yay or Nay? Mrs. Anne Pleydell

Despite the many watermelon comments (is anyone else hungry now?) Princess Frederika Sophia Wilhelmina was met with an overall Yay from the panel. This week let us examine an outfit that isn't so fruity-tootie. Perhaps the gown will be a little sweeter or maybe it will just leave you with a rotten taste in your mouth.


Thomas Gainsborough paints Mrs. Edmund Morton Pleydell (1765) in her puffy ivory and blue ensemble. Yay or Nay?

[Boston Museum of Fine Arts]

20 comments:

  1. It's not as colorful (and I like color!) but I'll say yay! cause it's not horrible. And it's a plus that there's no wig/powdered hair. :)

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  2. Blech. I love sack dresses, but this one has no grace to its cut, and I'm not convinced by the aqua/blush colour combination.

    It would help if Anne hadn't picked up her skirt and tucked it over her arm, adding to the impression that she could every one of her children clinging to her back under the dress like baby koalas. I think even if the dress had been allowed to hang better, the overabundance of lace around the neck and the awkward sleeve ruffle would make it too fussy for true elegance..

    So definitely Nay.

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  3. a qualified yay on the grounds that the dress would look really nice if only there wasn't quite so much of it.

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  4. I can't see much of this dress. It does look like a pregnance outfit so nay if the sitter is actually not pregnant.

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  5. Yay! gorgeous colors. I like all the lace and the satiny sheen of the grey.

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  6. Pale as her skin is, she shouldn't wear such light colours, they don't suit her (to her defense, I have exactly the same problem hehe). But the dress itself looks nice and the colours really match. It may be big, but it looks suit and her hair is normal. So, yay :)

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  7. It's a shame you can't see much of the gown, but what I do see of it looks nice. I say "yay."

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  8. I love the colors together but thats a lot of fabric...way to much. I'm not to fond of whatever that is on her head, however the front of the dress is lovely. Yay!

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  9. I personally think yay, I like the color combination and agree with others that I would like to see more of the dress.

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  10. The dress is very pretty but the look on her face is not! Neither is the thingy around her neck - what IS that?
    A mild yay from me.

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  11. Don't much like the shape of the dress but it is so lace-y and shimmery I would have to give it a Yay. I would have given it an even bigger Yay except for the look on her face-- she looks pretty crabby.

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  12. Love the blue portion of the dress, hate the blush portion. You could hide a carriage under that blush. And she's very pale for the lighter colors. I almost gave it a yay until I decided the thing around her neck reminded me of the old ghost story with the woman who always wore a velvet ribbon around her neck. And we all know what happened to her!

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  13. I like the colors of the dress because I prefer a more pastel color palate. The pearly white and teal blue works well together. Though I agree that it is a bit hard to judge the over-all shape of the dress, it seems pretty typical for the time.
    So Id give it a yay. :)

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  14. These colors do not match her complexion what so ever! So it is hard for me to say I like it, however the dress itself is nice, so I'll say Yay to the dress, and Nay to color. lol

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  15. Big big "yay" this week! Lovely!

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  16. I personally love the color combination and can ignore the big thing in the back. Yay!

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  17. nay. The sleeves look too big

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  18. Yay for the dress with very very many reservations. Mrs Pleydell herself looks like a majorly scary woman and either pregnancy does not become her in the slightest or she hasn't got used to wearing false stomachs/bottoms yet. As all the magazines in this media-driven age tell us, dress for your shape, girl! And get rid of the accessories. But I love the gown.

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