Amber Butchart explores the life of Dido Belle and recreates a dress that she wore in a portrait. For 200 years the portrait was described as Lady Elizabeth Murray. The other girl was described as a servant. Later it was discovered that the woman was her cousin Dido Elizabeth Belle. Dido’s story begins in the slave ships of the Mediterranean and ends in the English countryside. Amber has been fascinated by the portrait and wants to explore more about Dido’s life and the portrait.
Amber talks with Ninya about the dress in the portrait. Ninya will have a bit of a challenge in recreating the dress because large parts of the dress have been covered. Her team will have to take a good guess at how to pattern that dress. Sashes and a basket of fruit obscure the dress. They will look to additional portraits to see if they can get an idea of what the dress looked like. Amber has done some reading on the dress material and believes that it was silver. Ninya disagrees because of the drape of the fabric. The silver fabric would have been stiff and would not have provided any drape. She will be looking at a silk satin for the fabric. She will be looking at a grey, which could look like silver. Dido Belle was born the illegitimate child of John Lindsley and Maria Belle. She was sent to live with Lord Mansfield, her uncle, and the Law Chief Justice. Amber visits Scone Palace where the portrait resides and the seat of the Lindsley family. The portrait would have been atypical for the period. The girls were presented as social equals. Africans were portrayed as servants during the mid-seventeenth century period. Dido’s dress hinted at the exotic, but it could have hinted at the idea of masquerading. Ninya and her team explore the dress and how to pattern it. There are several ideas, but due to how hidden the dress is they are having trouble. The fruit and sashes are covering crucial areas. Harriett and Ninya are exploring books to see how to pattern the dress. The dress is not in the classic style. Did it point out how different Dido was? Did she own that garment? Or did the artist have it in his collection? Dido was raised by the Mansfield’s and grew up at Kenwood house. It would have been unusual for a black person to have been raised. Her experiences would have been different. She worked on the grounds and took over household duties. The lady of the house would not have been expected to do these duties. Dido was a favorite of the family but was treated as an outside family. She was set apart from the family because she was illegitimate. She was listed in the household account books and Amber examines the account books. However, she would have never been accepted as a social equal even though the family treated her well. Amber catches up with Harriett and Ninya in regards to the dress. The silk that was chosen would have been interpreted as silver. Amber also works on the turban that Dido was wearing. Once the turban is all pinned, it will be sewed together. Then the “jewels” will be added to the turban. To learn more about the dress continue to watch this episode. I am so glad that Absolute History posted this series. This is an excellent series to show in history and a home economics class as well. This particular episode would be a good episode to show in an art history class because it could prompt a debate on what Dido’s dress looked like. If you have an independent study student, they put this episode on their list as one to watch.
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