Midas

Fashion plate depicting a woman in a narrow-waisted magenta dress with a ruched bodice. The top of the sleeves is wide and is an extension of the bodice. There is a high-necked lace insert in the bodice and lace on the cuffs of the elbow length sleeves. There are applied decorative details on the hem of the skirt.
Edwardian women wore straight-fronted corsets which pushed their upper body forward and their hips back, giving an S-shaped outline.
Beneath the image is stamped ‘Lewis and Allenby Limited/ Regent St./ London.’ Written in the bottom right corner is ‘Midas’, and in pencil at the top is ‘7765’. Written in pencil on the back is ‘6d’.
Lewis & Allenby was a famous London silk mercers which supplied silks to Queen Victoria and other members of the royal family. They established themselves on the west side of Regent Street in the 1820s and extended to Conduit Street in the 1830s. The firm was absorbed by Dickens & Jones in the early 20th century.