This image, a copy of a photograph taken by society photographer Dora Head, portrays a member of the Barnicoat family wearing a halter necked evening dress fashioned from an 1890s gown. It was acquired by the John Bright Collection from the family that owned the dress illustrated in Related Items, and, like it, was accompanied by the information that it had been altered from a dress by Charles Frederick Worth in the early 1950s. Possibly belonging to the same family member, a very different approach has been taken to its transformation. Instead of keeping much of the original garment intact, the top section has been removed along a high-waisted seam, leaving a copious amount of the remaining fabric from which to fashion a new gown. It has not been practical to photograph this in its present deconstructed state, but the folds made in it to create the halter necked bodice are still visible, as are make up stains where the silk rubbed against the body. Lengths of elastic and safety pins are still attached suggesting that it was never used as a functioning evening dress, but arranged especially for the photograph, making use of a very attractive high-quality silk at a time of post-war shortages. The pieces of the upper bodice and sleeves that were cut away were kept, and have been arranged to give an idea of the gown’s original appearance (see Additional Images). Lined with silk of an acidic hue typical of the 1890s, its shoulder seams remain intact, and the right hand oversleeve is still attached to the back of the armhole. The undersleeves, left oversleeve, cuffs and back ‘coat tails’ are all detached. The folds of the seams by which the skirt was originally attached, with their residual pieces of thread, can still be seen, as can the retailer’s label ‘Peter Robinson Oxford St. London W.’ Peter Robinson, son of a Yorkshire haberdasher, opened a linen draper’s shop in Oxford Street in 1833. At the time that this dress was purchased the shop was selling both ready made gowns and those made in their own workroom, but was making more money from the ready made gowns.