163 | Study in Smoke | Set
FILED UNDER: THE OLD ATHENAEUM
Recovered from a cedar wardrobe in a disused study adjoining the Old Athenaeum's east reading room. Corset and trousers found together, folded beneath several papers of unknown origin. White silk lacing retained. No ownership record located.
SHELL & LINING
Mediumweight woven upholstery jacquard featuring a brown and ivory baroque pattern.
DETAILING
Sweetheart neckline finished with ivory ribbon. Trousers feature deep pleats, tapered legs, and hidden fastenings for a clean, tailored line.
LACING
Fraying silk ribbons through reinforced silver-toned grommets.
STRUCTURE
13-panel construction reinforced with synthetic whalebone; shaped with a soft pointed hem to elongate the torso.
SIZE
Upper S to lower M [size guide]
EDITION
One of one.
FROM THE CITY ARCHIVES
The Old Athenaeum
This set was recorded among the garments recovered from the Old Athenaeum, the City's former centre of study and correspondence. The building housed a public reading room, several private studies, and a collection of rooms reserved for scholars and visiting lecturers. Much of the original furniture remains in place, though its papers and personal effects were dispersed over time.
The corset and trousers were made from the same dark woven textile, patterned throughout with small botanical and ornamental forms. Their construction as a complete set suggests they were intended to be worn together rather than assembled later from separate garments.
The original owner has not been identified. The papers found beneath the garments were too damaged to establish a name, though several contained handwritten annotations in the margins. No attempt was made to separate them from the archive until the contents of the study could be properly catalogued.
The set is now filed under the Old Athenaeum's East Studies collection.
