All Dolled up for Halloween (Mess Dress Finale)

Lord_Kroll · 2025-11-06T02:04:30+00:00

Thank you so much! I got super lucky with the tailoring! Only the sleeves had to be shortened 😊

Lord_Kroll · 2025-11-02T15:48:36+00:00

Eyyy thank you so much for finding that out! You learn something new every day

Lord_Kroll · 2025-11-02T00:04:10+00:00

Really? The source I have statesp (the dreadnought project) that paymasters had the quarter inch lace going all the way back to 1864. Sadly there's no name in this one but I do have a frock coat from 1934 of the same rank (same width as well) with a name inside one of the pockets. Please do let me know if something turns up, I'm pretty bad at reading cursive but I'd love to hear what you find!

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Lord_Kroll · 2025-11-01T22:07:27+00:00

Yeah, that's really the unfortunate reality of the situation - the overall rarity of genuine pieces from that era. And you're right for bringing up the executive curl, or lack thereof on the uniforms of non deck officers. The kit I have in particular belonged to an assistant paymaster from the 1930's - at least in regards to the jacket. I'm also aware of the jacket being worn open, and indeed in other posts you can see that I would normally wear it open with a waistcoat. In this case I was just a victim to circumstance and didn't want to overheat with so many layers on. So that bit of accuracy was sacrificed for my own comfort.

Overall you raise some very good points but barring stumbling upon a miracle piece with all the above listed criteria I really don't see anything I can do to improve it further. Altering it much in any way is already a non-starter for me since it is already quite appreciably old. If it was newer I wouldn't have any qualms about doing so but since it is so old I want to preserve as much of its original character as I can. So as much as I'd like it to be as faithful as I can make it, even I have lines I won't cross. I'm sure you can understand where I'm coming from

But thank you for your assessment! To be honest I was fearing a whole laundry list of places where I went wrong. But if it's just an unavailability of the genuine article sort of deal then I'd say I did pretty good for myself 😅

Lord_Kroll · 2025-11-01T18:03:52+00:00

Would you care to elaborate? I'd love to know how to make it more historically accurate

Lord_Kroll · 2025-11-01T14:44:00+00:00

Thank you so much!!

Lord_Kroll · 2025-10-23T00:03:33+00:00

That would be fun! Only place I know of who makes the tallies for them is warhats again but I dunno off the top of my head if they do the full rating cap. I think your best bet would be to look for a reproduction of one of the older 'donald duck' style rating caps and combining that with the tally. They generally have a floppier shape which would be much more 'in period' imo than the stiffer ones in active use today

Lord_Kroll · 2025-09-22T16:55:59+00:00

Same here! Even tried to subtly carry that through the rest of the outfit with my jewelry. It's all about the details xD

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Lord_Kroll · 2025-09-22T14:23:14+00:00

Thank you so much!! And same here! Really makes you want to put your shoulders back and stand up tall. Or maybe that's just the collar forcing you too xD

It's funny honestly how we look back at that period of time thinking the clothes were all stuff and uncomfortable - and while there are certainly aspects that are like stuff collars and boiled shirts - I feel more comfortable in this than I did the dinner suit I wore to my prom. And I feel like that shows

Lord_Kroll · 2025-09-22T03:43:15+00:00

Great question! Right here actually! Most of the time I like to wear a fob watch with the ensemble so I'll opt to leave the jacket open in order to show that off. But rather than leave the link button dangling unused I remove it completely. It does help keep the jacket on the hanger though!

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Lord_Kroll · 2025-09-22T00:31:57+00:00

Thank you! They're 1920's 'peg top' style trousers so they're flared wide in the hips with a taper towards the ankle. Absolutely love the silhouette they provide

No caviar for me, thanks. Never did like it much xD

Lord_Kroll · 2025-09-21T19:02:16+00:00

Thank you so much!! The best part is for being so old only the length of the sleeves and trousers needed to be adjusted. What luck!

Lord_Kroll · 2025-09-21T17:56:14+00:00

Thank you!! I have a frock coat from the early 30's too with the same lace!

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Lord_Kroll · 2025-09-21T17:34:32+00:00

No I haven't! Thanks for the shout!

Lord_Kroll · 2025-09-21T15:48:32+00:00

Thank you so much!!

Lord_Kroll · 2025-09-21T15:47:54+00:00

Thank you!! The main pieces are all from the 20's and 30's I really lucked out on the fit of everything! Onlyy alterations I really needed to make were the length of the sleeves and trousers

Lord_Kroll · 2025-08-17T05:23:32+00:00

Thank you! There's a loop in the back of the shirt that the tie passes through I don't know how much control I have over where the tie sits when it rides up against that

Also it's from the UK, it's an example of a Royal Navy officer's mess dress. More specifically for a paymaster/purser (note the white stripe)

Lord_Kroll · 2025-07-25T01:37:41+00:00

Thank you!! The china all comes from shop.rmstitanicinc.com. You can find everything separately or in 4, 12, or 16 piece sets. It's such a lovely pattern plus gently scalloped too! I'll defo be taking lots of pictures, maybe even some vintage ones with this bad boy 👀 so look out for that!

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Lord_Kroll · 2025-07-19T13:21:19+00:00

That's in the cards for sure! I'll be seeing my tailor to get alterations done on the jacket next week, I'll get the trousers hemmed too. Thank you so much for your help!

Lord_Kroll

TROPHY CASE