Now that we have had an introduction into the fashion of the Natural Form, it's time to proceed with choosing the details of your outfit. There are many options depending on the year that's taken your fancy.
I will start by focussing on the particulars of fashion by year, and covering the three types of dress: Day dress, Evening dress and Ball dress.
The period 1770-1789 was a time of transition in Europe and North America. It is this period that historians have long considered the dawn of the Modern Age.
Fashion often acts as a visual guide and barometer of social values and conditions, and within such a climate of change during the 1770s and 1780s, it was impossible that fashion would not be influenced.
"The ideal at present is the greatest possible flatness and straightness: a woman is a pencil covered with raiment" ~ October 23, 1875, Harper's Bazar.
We shall be wandering into that very peculiar era of fashion in the Victorian Era, known as the Natural Form with its Cuirass Bodice.
Since fashion is always intertwined with economics and war, I will take a summarized look at the socio-economic climate that occurred during this era.
Last month I showed you how to draft the front, back and side back of the Seaside Jacket. This month, I show you how to true up the pattern, fit the jacket, draft the sleeves and construct the jacket.
I'll also share some key lessons I learned in this whole process, including a classic mistake.
Archive.org is an open digital library, without the international restrictions of Google Books. This month, we share with you a few of the great historical texts on a variety of subjects that we've found.
From 1820's fashion magazines to 1900's pattern drafting texts, to shoe making manuals and hairstyling guides, we've got a lot to keep you busy over the holiday season!
Analyzing, in exhaustive detail, the construction of a lingerie dress from about 1904.
Lingerie dresses and tailor-mades embody the dichotomies of the Belle Époque period. On one side, the lingerie dress is the essence of frilly ultra-femininity; contrast with it the equally popular severely tailored suit for the active, emancipated woman.
In this article, we dive into the finer points of a beautiful surviving piece of pure frou-frou.
We give here, the front and back view of a Lady's Sea-side Jacket. It is made of light cloth or flannel, and braided as seen in the design. The diagram on the next page, which represents the front and back, will enable any lady to cut it out, fit it correctly and make it up at very little expense. It cannot fail to please. Peterson's Magazine, August 1873
This month Marion discusses the issues she ran into in using the straight Peterson's patterns, how to overcome it, and pattern the jacket.
Next month, she'll walk through the truing up the pattern, fitting, drafting the sleeves and making up the jacket.
Marion traces the beginnings of the second bustle era by reviewing fashion illustrations of 1868-1869 from Peterson's, Arthur's and Godey's magazines.
If that isn't enough, also included are all patterns published by Peterson's in 1869!
If you’re used to the modern approach to sewing, then the Victorians' methods might seem a little strange at first. Once you’re used to them, however, they truly make sense and help to make your clothing look authentic.
This pink satin evening bodice gives a good overview of late Victorian construction techniques. Katherine shares her observations as well as fifty photos of the detail of the inside and outside.
1868-1875 is commonly known as "The First Bustle" period, but in fact it was one of several bustle periods in the 19th century, and it certainly wasn't the first!
This month we start a fashion review series, looking at the looping, shirring, pleating and draping methods that we now call a "bustle".
Mary Dotson shares with us pictures of late 1890's wool tailored suit from her collection.
About ten years ago, I was approached by a vintage clothing dealer who though I might fit an 1890s dress.
Marion McNealy flips through her late 1890's fashion magazine collection and not only dates the suit to a specific season and year but finds the fashion plate that probably inspired it.
The era of Worth, Paquin and Doucet is long gone. But what was it like to be a wealth American woman traveling to Paris in the early 1900's, and visiting those houses to order a dress?
This month Marion shares excerpts from several Ladies' shopping guides to Paris where they discuss exactly what a lady should expect during a visit to one of the great houses, and what to beware of!
To the average American woman who visits Paris for the first time there is a glamour, surrounding the shops and the big dressmaking establishments.
She who would buy a French gown should first be sure that she knows how to wear one.
One of my priorities when reproducing the fashions of any era is to be able to create something which can be simultaneously historically accurate and individual and distinctive in style. It is becoming harder and harder to accomplish this with Regency fashion due to the huge amount that is reproduced every year, partly due to the enormous popularity of Jane Austen.
In response I've made it my task to uncover some of the lesser known extant examples of Regency clothing, giving you a detailed insight into some more unusual examples of Regency outerwear. These are often found packed away, unseen, in the archives of museums for years, dropping into an oblivion of forgotten fashion styles.
You'll discover ways to make your own reproductions distinctive and imaginative whilst staying within the realms of historical accuracy: we'll begin by examining the pelisse and how to pattern it, then moving on to the spencer, cloaks, capes, mantles and wraps.
One of my priorities when reproducing the fashions of any era is to be able to create something which can be simultaneously historically accurate and individual and distinctive in style. It is becoming harder and harder to accomplish this with Regency fashion due to the huge amount that is reproduced every year, partly due to the enormous popularity of Jane Austen.
In response I've made it my task to uncover some of the lesser known extant examples of Regency clothing, giving you a detailed insight into some more unusual examples of Regency outerwear. These are often found packed away, unseen, in the archives of museums for years, dropping into an oblivion of forgotten fashion styles.
You'll discover ways to make your own reproductions distinctive and imaginative whilst staying within the realms of historical accuracy: we'll begin by examining the pelisse and how to pattern it, then moving on to the spencer, cloaks, capes, mantles and wraps.
The widespread use of French Hoods amongst the middle and upper classes of 16th century England is a surprisingly static phenomenon.
Even as clothing styles changed with relative fluidity throughout the century, the constant favor that the French Hood had found allows us to examine its progression of style in a much more comprehensive manner.
I offer my theories in addition to positing new ideas as to how French Hoods were likely constructed between the years of 1530 and 1560, as well as how they evolved after their heyday had passed.
This month we feature excerpts from a pro-dress reform book written in 1873. Mrs. Stuart Phelps did not lack for enthusiasm in her distaste for the styles of the day, considering them utterly impratical and accusing them of hindering women in their advancement towards equality with men.
Burn up the corsets! Make a bonfire of the cruel steel that has lorded it over the contents of the abdomen and thorax so many thoughtless years, and heave a sigh of relief; for your "emancipation," I assure you, has from this moment begun.
This month we excerpt the best bits from "How to be beautiful: Nature unmasked : a book for every woman", a slightly opinionated book published in 1889 that provides equal measures of enlightening insight and amusing entertainment for us in the present day!
Ms. Dean was definitely not a "dress reformer", because she believed in the benefits of corsets. However, she did promote jersey underwear and cycling, two key elements in the dress reform movement.
Every little while some writer, some "dress reformer", opens up a tirade against corsets. They are generally represented by these "agitators" as a death dealing instrument of torture. If these people have personally found them injurious, they have made them so.
Next month, in contrast, we'll excerpt sections from a book on dress reform.
I've often been frustrated that there are wonderful Victorian patterns available (published in the period or drafted from extant dresses) but there is very little information on how to put the pieces together or on the other finishing details that go into making historical dress.
Here I'll address this gap by doing a photographic analysis of the construction techniques used in three Victorian evening bodices in my personal collection.
Due to the Single Pattern Project, I'm most interested in the elliptical style. Two of the bodices were either worn with elliptical skirts or with the early bustle style, the third was probably worn with the earlier circular hoop style.
I've often been frustrated that there are wonderful Victorian patterns available, but there is very little information on how to put the pieces together or the other finishing details that go into making a dress.
My goal with this article is to address this gap by doing a photographic analysis of the construction techniques used in three Victorian skirts in my personal collection. Due to the Single Pattern Project, I'm most interested in elliptical skirts, but I only have one in my collection. Therefore, I've chosen a skirt from the preceding Hoop era, and one from the following Early Bustle era to compare to the elliptical skirt.
You've been asking us for more information about using color and line in clothing. In response, we have hit the library and consulted period texts in order to find you the most relevant (and entertaining!) information directly from history.
In this excerpted chapter from Color Harmony in Dress, by George Ashdown Audsley (1912), you'll find out whether you're a Fair Blonde, Ruddy Blonde, Pale Brunette or Florid Brunette. Which colours suit you best, and which colours are best left only to trim your bonnet sparingly? Now you'll know!
Most in the reenacting and historical costuming communities spend countless hours and large amounts of money researching and executing the perfectly period-appropriate hourglass corset or bustle. We feel elegant and oh-so-Victorian with our suddenly-tiny waists and perfect posture.
It may be hard,then, for we, as modern women who don a corset for a few events a year, to understand the many difficulties presented by wearing these garments every day, and why there was a movement right at the start of the Victorian era to do away with them altogether.
While there are wonderful Victorian dress patterns available, either published in the period or drafted from extant dresses, there is very little information around on how to put the pieces together in a historically accurate way or complete the other finishing details that go into making a dress of this style.
If you're going to go for accuracy with your Single Pattern Project, Sunny Buchler redresses the balance for you this month with her photographic analysis and comparison of the construction techniques used in four 1860s bodices in her personal collection.
Nine pages and over a hundred large and detailed clickable images in this article alone will give you every minute detail you could ever want to know about constructing your bodice!
The Commons on Flickr is a collection of historic public domain photographs from a variety of institutions from around the globe, including the Library of Congress, National Galleries of Scotland and George Eastman House.
Marion McNealy shares some of her favorites from this collection from around the world.
Have fun finding favorites of your own and exploring this interesting look at the past!
In November Suzi Clarke was lucky enough to attend a special symposium in Florence, Italy to commemorate the life of Janet Arnold, who passed away a decade ago. She's been kind enough to share her personal diary of the event, making us at YWU look forward to the next symposium to be held!
"This was one of those occasions when one realises how little one knows," Suzi says, "and fortunately, also how much!"
This month Kendra van Cleave completes her series from earlier in the year with a discussion of how to go about using original sources.
What you specifically look for will depend on your own research aims, but all of these and more can provide incredibly valuable information about costume. Even better, they provide the thrill of holding, reading, and/or looking at a piece of history in your hands, and are the tools that will enable you to take your costumes beyond the standard secondary sources to which everyone has access!
Wearing stripes makes a statement, although exactly what that statement means changes according to period and context. When you use stripes in a historical costume, you might want to consider what message you're sending. If you're dressing a character in stripes, make sure that this person fits the historical associations with the pattern.
Kendra and Trystan show you what stripes can mean, when they're appropriate and for whom.
Then they'll share all the secrets to choosing, using, cutting and matching striped fabric in your outfit.
This month we publish the runner up in our essay contest.
Transitional eras fascinate me. In times of rapid social and
technological change, what people wear changes dramatically as fashion
collides with reality.
One such era is the early 20th Century. The years ending 1914 were
named La Belle Epoque as people looked back wistfully upon the era. The
graceful long gowns, the carriages, the attentive servants, all faded
into autumnal memory after the Great War.
...to Elsabet Rowth one kyrtyll of worsted upper bodyed with blew satyn of bryderies...
The British History Online site is a wonderful source of first hand information about the clothing and material objects of daily life in Tudor England.
Come explore the riches with us!
This month, Loren Dearborn takes us aside and whispers in our ears about how to fake an 18th century quilted petticoat convincingly.
This month Cathy Hay reviews the new exciting new book: "Corsets: Historical Patterns and Techniques" by Jill Salen.
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