Everyone is aware that silk is a fine fabric. However, I believe that it was worn by a slightly broader section of society than it is generally represented as. Lady's maids received cast-off clothes from their mistresses, and even other servants and the lower middle classes could afford second-hand silk clothing. Women could be scorned … Continue reading The Place of Fabrics: Silk
Category: research
Stomachers
I've noticed for a while that even movies with generally well-made costumes have a tendency to consider stomachers worn only with formal clothing. John Adams, for example, shows Abigail ca. 1775 in a plain gown with an anachronistic center front closure for working around the farm, but in France (ca. 1785) in a fancy silk … Continue reading Stomachers
A Little More on the Polonaise
I am so fascinated by that new style of dress from the end of the 1770s. I was just looking for quotes on the stomacher - trying to see if there was anything said about poorer women's - when I came across this lovely quote in the Gentleman's Intelligencer: I find it noteworthy that the … Continue reading A Little More on the Polonaise
The Robe à la Piémontaise
A while back, when I added all of the MFA's Gallerie des Modes plates (minus the ones that are quartered to show four hairstyles) to my fashion history Pinterest boards, I made some non-decade boards where I could group 18th century extant garments, plates, etc. by type. One group was just "misc", as I had … Continue reading The Robe à la Piémontaise
Mildly interesting corset identification
Yesterday, in passing, I posted a link to a corset: MMA 2000.169.2 When I went into the library to look for a book on walking sticks, I wandered in the fashion history section and noticed Corsets: A Visual History, which features pages and pages of corset advertisements. There was one in a National (that's the … Continue reading Mildly interesting corset identification
Mimic of Modes 