The New Dress

by Virginia Woolf

The New Dress was written in 1924 while Virginia Woolf was writing Mrs. Dalloway (which was published the following year). It is possible that it was originally to have been a chapter in the novel with which it shares some characters and events. It was not published until 1927 when it appeared in the May edition of the New York magazine The Forum. It appeared again in A Haunted House and Other Short Stories published in 1944, and in "Mrs Dalloway´s Party"published in 1973.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction, Feminism, Female Authors, English Literature, Ebooks

11 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1927

About the author

(Adeline) Virginia Woolf was an English novelist and essayist regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century.

During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Her most famous works include the novels Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929) with its famous dictum, "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."

Reviews

[Ilse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sartorial anxiety in a modernist dress

And at once the misery which she always tried to hide, the profound dissatisfaction—the sense she had had, ever since she was a child, of being inferior to other people—set upon her, relentlessly, remorselessly, with an intensity which she could not beat off, as she would when she woke at night at home, by reading Borrow or Scott.

Ach, the psychology of fashion and the power of apparel. Do we seriously believe that it matters, what we wear, that wrapping ourselves in a second skin can shield us, make us feel better about ourselves, enable us to navigate more easily – or even elegantly – through social situations? Which psychological mechanisms and emotions are really at play when we enter social circles as an outsider, settings of which we are aware are a cut (or more) ‘above’ our own class or league?


(Illustration by Judith Van Den Hoek)

In The new dress, Virginia Woolf captures the turmoil and complexity of emotions throbbing behind the façade of social niceties, symbolised by an extravagant new dress.

As soon as Mabel Waring, of humble descent, receives an invitation for Mrs. Dalloway’s party – yes, the one and only Mrs. Dalloway – she is lost in reveries. Unable to afford being fashionable, her ambition is nonetheless to shine, to be original, and she has a dress made for this upperclass occasion, a yellow silk one, after an old Paris fashion magazine from her mother.

Arriving at the party, she experiences a brutal shock, suffering tortures, woken wide awake to reality.. Rather than the queen of the ball , she feels a misfit. All joy and excitement vanishing, she interprets each glance at her and every word exchanged with other guests as a mockery. She is overwhelmed by sore self-consciousness and anxiety.

Judging and condemning her paltry dress , comparing herself disapprovingly with the other guests, her distorted self-perception makes her see her whole life and family through the lens of embitterment, envy and spite, trapped and trampled – like a fly in a saucer, seeing herself as a fretful, weak, unsatisfactory mother, a wobbly wife, lolling about in a kind of twilight existence with nothing very clear or very bold, or more one thing than another.


(Illustration by Erik Madigan Heck)

By zooming in on her fluttering emotions and thoughts, Woolf draws the reader into the tormented mind of Mabel, her passionate ups and downs, her mental and emotional state, falling prey to shame, humiliation, agony, self- loathing. Shifting from a fight to flight mode at the party, Mabel at the same time is conscious of the futility of it all and turns to memories of books as a spell to annul the pain, evoking delicious and divine moments, adeptly disclosing how to cope and keep afloat when one is drowning:
"now and then, there did come to her delicious moments, reading the other night in bed, for instance, or down by the sea on the sand in the sun, at Easter—let her recall it—a great tuft of pale sand-grass standing all twisted like a shock of spears against the sky, which was blue like a smooth china egg, so firm, so hard, and then the melody of the waves—“Hush, hush,” they said, and the children’s shouts paddling—yes, it was a divine moment, and there she lay, she felt, in the hand of the Goddess who was the world; rather a hard-hearted, but very beautiful Goddess, a little lamb laid on the altar".

And none of this turmoil and passion is visible to the other guests. Does that surprise you?

A beautifully illustrated rendition of this short story can be read here.

[AiK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Этот поток сознания, пожалуй, протекал в уме, у многих женщин, одетых некстати, хотя бы раз в жизни. Рассказ о небогатой женщине, приглашенной на прием к Клариссе Деллоуэй, и решившей «проявить оригинальность», надев платье, сшитое из желтого шелка по моде времен молодости ее матери. Она смело заявляет, что мода – это силуэт. (Можно добавить, что мода – это смелость и сила духа, одеть то, что другие еще или уже не носят). То, что ей казалось прелестным на страницах старинного модного журнала, на ней самой в отражении зеркал, ей кажется нелепым, ничтожным. Ей хочется быть одетой так же, как другие дамы, в ту «зеленую облегающую прелесть, обитую лебяжьим пухом». Перед ее мысленным взором простирается вся ее жизнь, бедность ее родителей, мезальянс ее брата и прочие семейные условия, не давшие ей подняться выше. Она ругает себя за то, что так зависит от чужого мнения, отмечает, что дамы и господа на вечере могли бы быть добрее, представляет свое унижение в виде мухи, барахтающейся в блюдце с молоком, но в конечном итоге, берет себя в руки и благодарит хозяев за приятно проведенный вечер. У нее была эта смелость и была сила духа, просто она сама себя принижала, потому. что привыкла с детства думать, что она «хуже всех».

[Duane Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mabel is having a bit of anxiety. You see, wearing the right dress is a big deal when you have to attend one of Mrs. Dalloway's parties. Yes, that Mrs. Dalloway.

[Tahmineh Baradaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

بعدازخواندن کتاب تنها فکرم این بود که حدود صدسال قبل نویسنده ای چطوربه دقت وباجزئیات وضعیت روحی کسی رادرقالب یک ماجرای به ظاهرساده وپیش پا افتاده شرح داده است.
این علاوه برتوانایی نویسنده ، ناشی ازفرهنگی پشت داده به خردورزی است . هرچند آغشته به پریشان حالیهای ذهنی.

[Steven Godin · Rating 4 out of 5]

"What she had thought that evening when, sitting
over the teacups, Mrs. Dalloway’s invitation came,
was that, of course, she could not be fashionable. It
was absurd to pretend it even—fashion meant cut,
meant style, meant thirty guineas at least—but why
not be original? Why not be herself, anyhow? And,
getting up, she had taken that old fashion book of
her mother’s, a Paris fashion book of the time of the
Empire, and had thought how much prettier, more
dignified, and more womanly they were then, and
so set herself—oh, it was foolish—trying to be like
them, pluming herself in fact, upon being modest
and old-fashioned, and very charming, giving
herself up, no doubt about it, to an orgy of self-love,
which deserved to be chastised, and so rigged
herself out like this"

[Mark André · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cool story. One continuous burst! A strange, ordinary, unhappily average, dissatisfied woman. Good writing. Vivid and forceful.

[Catarina Domingos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was unpleasant to read, as it is simply a stream of consciousness coming from a woman who is very self conscious at a party. Impressively, despite how short the text is, it manages to explore some deep themes, such as social class. Very anxiety inducing, very Virginia Woolf. Do not recommend if you suffer from social anxiety, otherwise, it’s worth a read.

[Ash · Rating 2 out of 5]

“She saw herself like that – she was a fly, but the others were dragonflies, butterflies, beautiful insects, dancing, fluttering, skimming, while she alone dragged herself up out of the saucer.”

[Edita · Rating 5 out of 5]

[...] but why not be original? Why not be herself, anyhow?
*
[...] and it was amazing to think how much humiliation and agony and self-loathing and effort and passionate ups and downs of feeling were contained in a thing the size of a threepenny bit.

[Ayda · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I feel like some dowdy, decrepit, horribly dingy old fly"

“There’s Shakespeare! There’s death! We’re all weevils in a captain’s biscuit”

[Nika · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Bárbara Lunardi · Rating 5 out of 5]

ahhhhh o jeito que ela descreve o que todas nós mulheres já sentimos! incrível, as usual. leitura com a tradutora da Virginia, na editora Nós :)

[Alinda Falay · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The New Dress" (1927) by Virginia Woolf is a brilliant feminist short story. The story is about Mabel Waring who attends a party with a new dress. But the dress is old fashioned so she feels very insecure and self-conscious. The dress is a simple yellow silk dress made from an old pattern. Although nearly all the people she talked, told her that she looks beautiful she feels like they are mocking her. But in the end she has a self-discovery and leaves the party thanking the host and telling her she had a wonderful time. The story symbolizes clothing as telling her what an ideal woman should look like. As the mirror symbolizes Mabel's "reflections of endless agony and embarrassment". This story is about pressure on women to be perfect, and the story perfectly describes it. I think every literature student should read "The New Dress" as it is still relevant to our world.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Virginia Woolf accomplishes something no author comes close to: making Proust seem pacey and readable.

[irem (warner’s version) · Rating 2 out of 5]

this girl has a lot of self doubts - read it for school

[Eri (The Reader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Virginia Woolf tiene la brutal capacidad de transmitir a la perfección la sensación de ansiedad, disgusto y falta de confianza en tan solo unas cuantas páginas. En este pequeño cuento, nos muestra a Mabel, su protagonista, asistiendo a una de las fiestas de Mrs. Dalloway. Tanto su atuendo como los asistentes a la reunión le provocan el más terrible rechazo y la sensación de paranoia es inmensa.
Una vez más Virginia demuestra su magnífica destreza literaria sumergiendo al lector en una coctelera de emociones que apenas es capaz de digerir, hasta que la historia, y la propia Mabel se precipitan hasta un final único en el que la última pizca de orgullo parece renacer hasta sacar a la protagonista de esa habitación.

Lies, lies, lies!

[Konstantina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Λεκτικός καταρράκτης, μια απίστευτη ροή λέξων και νοημάτων, φοβερή τεχνική. Μεστό, όσο δεν πάει, ένα κομψοτέχνημα. Όσοι διαβάζετε ή γράφετε διηγήματα, αναζητήστε το, ακόμα και αν σας φανεί παράξενο, έχει πολλά να δώσει.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favourites: Lappin & Lapinova, The Lady in the Looking Glass, The Legacy

The number of times I gasped out "...Virginia!" while reading these stories...

[Halin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is about a woman who is drowning in her own insecurities and self-doubt. The stream of consciousness device used by Woolf seems so trivial at first read, but subtle and brilliant when we dig deeper into the text. It's a menacing read, or rather the protagonist is menacing since her feeble doubts on herself gives the reader what we call today commonly as second-hand embarrassment.

[rory (jess' version) · Rating 4 out of 5]

she's so me

[Hannah Eliza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms. Protagonist has almost every mental illness there is.

[Gaby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice writing as always but I wasn’t the biggest fan of the short story format

[Seda Dincer · Rating 4 out of 5]

1920'lerde, Mrs.Dalloway'i yazdığı sırada yazmış olduğu bir hikaye. Eleştirmenlerin bir kısmı bu hikayenin aslında Mrs.Dalloway'in bir bölümü olduğunu, sonradan oradan çıkartılıp ayrı bir hikaye haline getirildiğini de düşünürler. Hikaye tek bir cümle etrafında oluşur ve “hepimiz tabağın kenarında yürümeye çalışan sinekler gibiyiz” diyen Mabel’in hikayesi anlatılır. Öykünün sonunda gerçekten de hayatının o sinek gibi olduğuna ikna oluruz. Bir kadının, katıldığı bir partide giydiği elbise yüzünden hissettiği ızdırabı, güvensizliği ve aşağılık kompleksini ince ince işlemiş Woolf.

[elise amaryllis · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked this book. it reminds me of my internal monologue frequently.
some quotes i enjoyed:

"No! It was not RIGHT. And at once the misery which she always tried to hide, the profound dissatisfaction — the sense she had had, ever since she was a child, of being inferior to other people — set upon her, relentlessly, remorselessly, with an intensity which she could not beat off."

"It was her own appalling inadequacy; her cowardice; her mean, watersprinkled blood that depressed her."

"Why not be herself, anyhow? And, getting up, she had taken that old fashion book of her mother’s, a Paris fashion book of the time of the Empire, and had thought how much prettier, more dignified, and more womanly they were then, and so set herself — oh, it was foolish —."

"But she dared not look in the glass. She could not face the whole horror — the pale yellow, idiotically old-fashioned silk dress with its long skirt and its high sleeves and its waist and all the things that looked so charming in the fashion book, but not on her, not among all these ordinary people."


"and she strained and strained (standing in front of the looking-glass, listening to Rose Shaw) to make herself see Rose Shaw and all the other people there as flies, trying to hoist themselves out of something, or into something, meagre, insignificant, toiling flies. But she could not see them like that, not other people. She saw herself like that — she was a fly, but the others were dragonflies, butterflies, beautiful insects, dancing, fluttering, skimming, while she alone dragged herself up out of the saucer."

"But it was all so paltry, weak-blooded, and pettyminded to care so much at her age with two children, to be still so utterly dependent on people’s opinions and not have principles or convictions, not to be able to say as other people did, “There’s Shakespeare! There’s death! We’re all weevils in a captain’s biscuit”— or whatever it was that people did say"

"Her wretched self again, no doubt! She had always been a fretful, weak, unsatisfactory mother, a wobbly wife, lolling about in a kind of twilight existence with nothing very clear or very bold, or more one thing than another, like all her brothers and sisters, except perhaps Herbert — they were all the same poor water-veined creatures who did nothing."

[MARYAM · Rating 5 out of 5]

The New Dress by Virginia Woolf is such a good portrayal of insecurity that is deep-rooted. It's likely one of the best literary work about insecurity and low self-esteem that I've read so far! The concluding statements always made me so sad for Mabel.

[Amanda ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

”Envy and spite, the most detestable of the vices, were her chief faults.”

[Catarina Assis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Papelaria do sr simpático ao pé da loja do euro supremacy, melhor loja de Mangualde
Sobre o livro:
Meh, mas a última parte salvou isto.

[ViZz]

me lowkey

[ahlybunny ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

talaga namang fake it till u make it at crash out queen (shes so me)

[Naty Ferreira · Rating 4 out of 5]

sou a julia cayer bom dia pessoal quero pequeno almoço na cama todos os dias e tenho o desejo de olhar para a beleza das coisas