A few years ago I made a 1920s turquoise taffeta robe de style dress. A robe de style was an 1920s alternative to the typical 1920s chemise-style evening dresses. Conservative women, who might not bob their hair and preferred to wear classic, more feminine dresses, often chose to wear a robe de style.

Robes de style were often created by the House of Lanvin, such as this Lanvin robe de style. My main inspiration for my 1920s robe de style were: this pretty 1920s seafoam silk and gold lame robe de style and this 1926/7 white Lanvin robe de style. On my pinterest board 1920s evening dresses and accessories you’ll find more robe de style dresses.

For the 1920s robe de style I used turquoise taffeta fabric. I love the color! Isn’t it gorgeous? Soft, clinging fabrics were fashionable in the 1920s, so taffeta was used less often, except for robe de style dresses. A robe de style has a full skirt, which can be worn over panniers or without. And twirling is so much fun in the dress! 😀

Here are 1928 instructions about how to drape a turquoise taffeta robe de style.

I didn’t have much of the fabric but it was just enough for my 1920s robe de style dress! That’s also the reason why I added this belt-like fabric strip. I bound the neckline and armscyes with self-fabric bias binding.

Robes de style dresses were often embellished with rosettes, such as this pretty 1922 blue and white Lanvin robe de style. For the rosette, I used mud-colored taffeta fabric and the seafoam taffeta of the dress. For the rosette I followed this triangle trim tutorial. The rosette has a fabric backing and a hidden pocket. The rosette is attached to the dress with a safety pin, so I can wear the dress with and without the rosette.

The robe de style is really comfortable to wear; so I did some canine freestyle with my dog. She was a bit unsettled by my rustling dress and the streamers of my rosette, as I’ve never done canine freestyle in an evening dress before! 😉 And there was also an approaching thunderstorm and she doesn’t like thunderstorms.

I pinned my long hair into a faux bob for the photos. And I wear my mint green beaded hair accessory. I also made a 1920s turquoise and pink beaded dance purse as accessory for the dress.