Evening dress

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This evening dress belonged to Amelia Beard Hollenback (1844-1918) who was born and raised in Brooklyn and married the prominent financier and philanthropist John Welles Hollenback (1835-1927) in 1874. The dress was originally worn in 1862, when Amelia Beard was a bridesmaid at the marriage of James and Nellie Sparkman, long time residents of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In the early 1870s, prior to her marriage, Amelia altered the dress into its current polonaise style when, "on very short notice for a party '[she had] nothing to wear.'" The delicacy of the organdy and mull and the beautiful execution of the alteration exemplify Amelia Beard's resourcefulness and talent with dressmaking.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art