250 | Bone Garden
FILED UNDER: ARCHIVE OF PETALS
Recovered from the lower drawers of the Archive of Petals, beneath a bundle of dried stems. No owner recorded. Garment clean and intact.
SHELL
Heavyweight reclaimed vintage silk brocade featuring sprawling floral embroidery in faded jewel tones. Era undetermined.
LINING
Crisp, undyed cotton.
DETAILING
Weathered cream lace trim topped with a narrow metallic gold braided cord.
STRUCTURE
11-panel construction reinforced with synthetic whalebone. Lifts the chest and cinches the waist.
LACING
Gold-toned silk cord through golden grommets.
SIZE
S to lower M [size guide]
EDITION
One of one.
FROM THE CITY ARCHIVES
The Archive of Petals
Bone Garden was recorded among the garments kept within the Archive of Petals, where pressed flowers, seed cases, botanical drawings, and other remnants of the City's gardens were preserved after their living counterparts had passed out of cultivation.
The garment is constructed from pale embroidered cloth, its floral motifs scattered across an otherwise quiet ground. The flowers appear repeatedly in the Archive's surviving textiles, though their exact species have not been consistently identified. A length of old lace was retained with the piece when it was transferred into storage.
The name Bone Garden appears to be a later archival designation. No earlier record of the garment has been found, and its original owner remains unknown.
Of the specimens attributed to the Archive of Petals, Bone Garden is among the more carefully preserved. The reason for this is not recorded.
