Your Wardrobe Unlock'd

A closer look at fashions for Winter 1812 from Ackerman's Repository and La Belle Assemblée, presented here to aid DPP hopefuls!

Janyce Hill has once again consulted her collection of antique magazines to pass on authentic, specific 1912 fashion trends & styles.

Sunny finishes her deciphering of a black velvet Teens evening gown, with the bodice opening and velvet tabard.

Sunny continues her examination and deciphering of a black velvet Teens evening gown, focusing on the bodice and sleeves.

Sunny continues her examination of a black velvet evening gown with many of the characteristics of Teens high fashion.

Janyce gives us the fashion forecast for summer 1912, including wedding fashions drawn from magazines of that year.

Sunny examines a very complicated early Teens black velvet evening gown with  many of the characteristics of high fashion in this era.

What books would have influenced fashion choices for a lady of 1912? What dress advice would a "stout" lady have been given?

Some you know, some you won't, but in any case, the next time you travel, consider incorporating your passion for fashion.

Early medieval clothing: a potato sack with a girdle? Not necessarily: here lies an astonishing wealth of fabric, colour & detail.

Charles Frederick Worth is remembered as the father of haute couture, and Suzi Clarke has a couple of treasures of his to show us...

The Winterthur Collection  has many fantastic historical clothing and accessory catalogs. Here's the best  from 1850-1919

Looking for some last minute gift suggestions? Cathy reviews two new books from 2010: Fashioning Fashion and High Style.

When making a costume, an extant garment is the ideal research source. Once you have one,  how do you analyze it?

Making sense of the vast array of shirts, breeches, trousers, waistcoats, jackets and coats, stocks, stockings, garters and cravats.

An eye-opening combination of machine sewing and delicate hand stitching.

Bonus article from FR

Making sense of ladies' underwear 1876-82.

2: What to wear over the corset and under the dress, plus fabrics.

As a new costume enthusiast, you might be delighted with a particular Victorian pattern and sew it straight out of the envelope, just as it is. Experienced dressmakers might fall in love with an antique fashion plate,  and recreate it to make something genuinely special.

But what if you want to make a gown that is not a direct copy of a fashion plate, or a pattern that dozens of people have already made? Suppose you want to design an original Victorian costume—something that no one's seen before, and yet which would be right at home on the pages of La Mode Illustrée, Godey's Home Journal, or Harper's Bazar?

If you've "been there, done that" and now want to make a truly original Victorian costume, read on!

We've gone through our links, pored over the bookshelves and searched for the best in books to help you create a masterpiece for the Natural Form Era 1876-1882.

We've got an awesome trilogy of ladies' tailoring books by Charles Hecklinger and his equally amazing trilogy of men's tailoring books.  

Having trouble getting a smooth fit to a cuirass bodice or Princess dress? We've found period  fitting guides with step-by-step pictures to guide you through the process.  Want to know what options women had for corsets and petticoats? Check out a mail order catalog from 1883.  And that's just the free stuff, not from a bookstore!

Marion's got all the books and resources you need to create an amazing ensemble for the Revolutionary period:

The Must Have books and the Nice-to-Haves; A 1785 French fashion magazine with men's and women's dress, hat and wig fashions; and much more!