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
Category: 1850s
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
Mrs. Joseph Mead's Slippers, 1856
Wedding slippers, 1966.21.3a-b (pattern available at link) Unfortunately, I don't know anything about Joseph Mead's unnamed wife. And her wedding gown either no longer survives or is being held somewhere else. The attribution might not even be correct - it's based on a handwritten note placed inside one shoe (the handwriting does look to be Victorian, … Continue reading Mrs. Joseph Mead's Slippers, 1856
A Question for the Living Historians and Re-enactors
You probably all know by now that I love to do research and write (but mostly do research), and lately I've been working on turning that blog post, Fashion vs. Feminism, into an article, with citations and five times as much text and things. You probably also know that I haven't made very many ensembles, and … Continue reading A Question for the Living Historians and Re-enactors
Portrait: Princesse de Broglie, by Ingres
Ages back, I did a poll on what sort of posts I ought to do, and while costume drama reviews came out as the most popular (and ... I've since done one), portrait costume analyses proved to be the second most popular choice. Ive never gotten around to writing any, partly because I get anxious … Continue reading Portrait: Princesse de Broglie, by Ingres
Mimic of Modes 