New Acquisition: Five Ballgowns of the Romantic Era of the 1840s
The Victoria Museum collection has been enriched with five authentic ballgowns from the 1840s from a private Lviv collection — a rare acquisition from the Romantic era.
In October 2025 the Victoria Museum received five ballgowns from the 1840s, transferred to long-term display from a private Lviv collection of the Dziadyk family. The gowns represent the characteristic silhouette of the Romantic era: a narrow corseted bodice with a deep décolletage, leg-of-mutton sleeve with lavish expansion at the shoulder, a full bell-shaped skirt over a rigid crinoline-bustle. The fabrics — Lyon silk satin, Chinese silk faille, fine Indian muslin gauze.
Each gown underwent a comprehensive restoration examination in the museum workshop: restorers performed microscopic fabric identification, X-ray analysis of metal elements (hooks, clasps), chemical dye testing. Four of the five gowns are works by unknown masters of the Western European school (Paris, Vienna), the fifth is attributed to a Lviv fashion establishment of the 1840s. The exhibition of new acquisitions is open in the main hall of the museum. A lecture programme devoted to Romantic-era fashion is led by the museum curator on a monthly schedule.
