I very briefly considered looking at my sewing output from the last year, but as it consists of the Cranford dress, a yoked circle skirt, a pair of pants, and two knit tops, it was too depressing to contemplate. As my true work is in writing, I thought that instead of depressing you with more … Continue reading 2014 In Review – Writing-Style
Author: Cassidy Percoco
Waistcoats: 19th and 20th Century
Apart from certain stylistic keys, I've always had a harder time dating men's clothing. It's just not as interesting to me, so I haven't taken the time to really study dated extant pieces and images and improve my skills. But lately I've come across more undated waistcoats while cataloguing - it's become something that I … Continue reading Waistcoats: 19th and 20th Century
Tableaux Vivants at Clermont
Clermont at night On Sunday, I volunteered at the Candlelight Evening at Clermont - playing Cornelia Livingston in 1843 as she sewed a Christmas present while her sister-in-law read and a servant decorated a small tree. Here are some photos of the other rooms (1776, 1778, 1808, and 1860s), please check them out! For the … Continue reading Tableaux Vivants at Clermont
Fashion History Mythbusters: The Cage Crinoline or Hoop Skirt
As Julia Thomas points out in Pictorial Victorians, the satirical cartoons and anecdotes in Punch heavily colored contemporary (and modern) impressions of the fashions of the 1850s and 1860s. As a result, the wide skirts seem like fantastical costumes that played havoc with ordinary life and were impossible to move around in. And so the myths … Continue reading Fashion History Mythbusters: The Cage Crinoline or Hoop Skirt
A Delphos Dress
"Delphos" dress, Mariano Fortuny, 1910-1930; CHM 1997.68.1 (pattern available at link) Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo (1871-1949) is best remembered for two things: vibrantly patterned silks and velvets, and the Delphos gown, inspired by ancient Greek chitons (themselves imported from Asia Minor), which were made from a single rectangular panel of linen or silk sewn into … Continue reading A Delphos Dress
Mimic of Modes 