Summer dress for wear at Corfu at Sisi Museum, Wien (front view)

When you have an unlimited budget and your appearance is everything, amazing things are possible. This dress has seahorse motifs. The Sissi Museum explains, "All the Empress’s clothes intended for Corfu bore the symbol of the dolphin. Elisabeth’s love of the sea, Greek philosophy and mythology and her interest in spiritualism is widely known. The fact that she had the dolphin embroidered on her clothing could be related to all of these interests – the dolphin, regarded as almost godlike by the Greeks and Romans, was also described as an extremely intelligent, agile animal with a certain affinity for humans. In antiquity, it was admired for its speed, its leaps into the air and its mental abilities, and was regarded as the king of the sea-dwellers. In mythology, the dolphin is said to have accompanied many a soul of the departed safely into the realm of the dead."

The Sisi Museum dates this resort dress to the 1880s, but it has leg-o-mutton sleeves, from the 90s, and blouson bodice and waistline from the 1900s. The next picture will explain the date.

Keywords:  Elisabeth of Bavaria, Sissi, Sisi, Wittelsbach family, Habsburg family, Empress, Austrian, high enclosing neckline, split bodice, blouson bodice, shallow vee waistline, epaulettes, elbow length leg-o-mutton sleeves, A-line skirt, bustle, train


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