The Dress Diary of Mrs. Anne Sykes

“THE DRESSES WORN AT MISS WRIGLEY’S DANCE. JANUARY 1845.” 

                            PHOTOGRAPH BY KATE STRASDIN.

In January 2016 fashion historian Kate Strasdin received a remarkable gift.

"This book, measuring some twelve and a half inches long by eight and a half inches across, contained pale blue pages, which were unlined and unmarked. As I carefully opened the front cover and looked at the first page, my breath caught: this was indeed a marvel. Carefully pasted in place were four pieces of fabric, three of them framed in decorative waxed borders—these were scraps of silk important enough to have been memorialized. Accompanying each piece of cloth was a small handwritten note inked in neat copperplate, including a name and a date: 1838."

The provenance of the book was unclear but Strasdin found that the work was done by just one woman and determined to find out who she was.

Read more: The Paris Review

From The Dress Diary: Secrets from a Victorian Woman’s Wardrobe, out from Pegasus Books this June.