Sew What | Rachel Dice
What do an Actress, a Princess, a Singer, and a Glass Artist all have in common?
Despite the fact that they were all ladies, their most interesting shared trait is that they were all owners of glass dresses. The combination of glass and fashion is something that most people leave in their childhood. Cinderella and her glass slippers are probably the last we’ve ever thought of it, and we all knew it was just magic anyways. But in four museums around the world are four very special, very rare glass dresses—the only four in existence, as a matter of fact.
The original glass dress was created by the Libbey Glass Company
in 1893 at the request of an actress named Georgia Cayvan. Georgia was inspired
to commission the dress at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago—generally
called the Chicago World Fair of 1893—where the Libbey Glass Company had their Crystal Pavilion. In the pavilion, visitors had the unique experience of
entering a crystal room. The room was filled with furniture and decorations
made from glass. Even the window curtains, lampshades, and cushions on the
furniture were made from spun glass. As the story goes, Georgia fell in love.
Enchanted by the room, she ordered 12 yards of spun glass fabric at a cost of
$25 a yard and had her own glass dress tailored. Georgia Cayvan wore
the first glass dress ever made, but soon found that it was too brittle to wear
regularly. After dazzling the crowds at some of her shows, she allowed her
dress to go on display in Libbey’s pavilion.
The next dress was commissioned by none other than Eulalia,
the Infanta of Spain. Like Georgia, she was enchanted by the crystal room and
the shimmering glass gown displayed within it. She commissioned her own dress
for a grand total of $2,500—approximately $70,121 now. Not only was the dress fabulously
expensive, but it also weighed over 14 pounds. The dress took a team of workers
67 hours to create, but Mr. Libbey—the owner of Libbey’s Glass—thought that it
was well worth the effort. Eulalia was a popular royal and everything she did found
its way into newspapers, articles, and gossip. Libbey and other glass
manufacturers thought that glass clothing would soon be the next big trend in
the fashion world. Unfortunately, this prediction never came true. Eulalia’s
dress was donated to the Deutsches Museum in 1924 by her sister, Princess
Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria.
The third of four dresses was created for the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris, and is described being made of ‘moonlight cloth’. The material of the dress is the very same as Georgia and Eulalia’s spun glass creations. The dress was purchased by an America singer named Ellene Jaqua, who was photographed wearing it in 1902. The glass ‘moonlight cloth’ would have shimmered and shifted colour under spotlights, which would have made Ellene’s performances a captivating display. The dress was donated to the New Brunswick Museum in 1930.
The fourth and final dress was worn by Helen Munro in 1943.
The dress was made as her wedding dress for her marriage to Professor WES
Turner of the University of Sheffield. The dress was made by Fibre Glass Limited
of Glasgow and is the only one to be made from industrial glass. The entire
wedding ensemble included a blue dress, hat, handbag, and shoes that were all
made of woven glass. According to Helen, the advantage of a glass dress in
wartime Britain was that it didn’t require clothing coupons. The downside was
that the shoes cut her feet. Maybe Cinderella left her glass slipper behind on
purpose. Helen’s glass wedding dress is on display at the Turner Museum of Glass at the University of Sheffield and is the only glass dress on display at all,
as the others are much too fragile.
What do an Actress, a Princess, a Singer, and a Glass Artist all have in common?
Who wore it first?
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| Actress Georgia Cayvan in her glass dress,1893. Source. |
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| Eulalia, Infanta of Spain posing in the crystal room in Libbey's pavilion, 1893. Source. |
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| Singer Ellene Jaqua in her glass dress from Paris, 1902. Source. |
The third of four dresses was created for the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris, and is described being made of ‘moonlight cloth’. The material of the dress is the very same as Georgia and Eulalia’s spun glass creations. The dress was purchased by an America singer named Ellene Jaqua, who was photographed wearing it in 1902. The glass ‘moonlight cloth’ would have shimmered and shifted colour under spotlights, which would have made Ellene’s performances a captivating display. The dress was donated to the New Brunswick Museum in 1930.
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| Helen Munro's blue woven glass wedding ensemble, 1943. Source. |
Cinderella’s dress and glass slippers disappeared at midnight,
but research is currently underway to stabilize and conserve these glass
dresses for decades to come. When all is said and done, would you wear a glass dress?
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