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Ruff Collars

September 9, 2020October 29, 2020 Posted in HistoryLeave a comment

Ridiculous fashion series

Renaissance fashion has diverse fashion styles all over the Europe and some of them are ridiculous such as the ruff collars. This fashion feature was typical in England, Spain, Netherlands, France, Austria and Northern countries too … for women, men and also children`s dress.

A ruff (often called as a millstone collar) was worn from the mid-sixteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century (I would not expect it was in fashion so long 🙂 ). The size and embellishment was vary. There are versions from small and very simple ones to wide with lace ones.

My question is … how renaissance people moved and ate? No doubt, it was not comfortable at all. The ruff was stiff and held the head upright. As this piece of clothing was so unpractical, it was worn by wealthy and high status people only.

I wonder whether this piece of clothing will be in fashion in the future again … 🙂

Daniel Deronda

September 2, 2020August 23, 2020 Posted in MoviesLeave a comment

A life in Victorian era

Daniel Deronda mini TV series was produced under BBC. The story is based on the novel written by Mary Ann Evans, under the pen name of George Eliot. I have to mention that this series won Banff Rockie Award in 2003 “Best Mini-Series” with lovely casting Hugh Dancy as Daniel Deronda, Romola Garai as Gwendolen Harleth and Hugh Bonneville as Henleigh Grandcourt.

The novel was published in 1876 so I will have a look on fashion of 1870s. A typical feature of this time is bustle silhouette or a tournure . A skirt looked like a waterfall, the bustle drapery fell in loops. Let`s have a look how a costume designer Mike O Neill managed making Victorian dress.

How big the bustle can be?… 🙂

A day dress…

Stripes…

An evening gown…

An archery? Yes, of course. It was very popular exercise also for women, not just for men. How difficult it was to do archery in a very fitted bodice? … 🙂

I have to admit I like the story. I have not read the book yet (it is on my TBR :-)) but I have already watched the TV series. What should I say at the end? I recommend to watch the series.

Which other Victorian movies do you know?

Renaissance dress

August 26, 2020August 22, 2020 Posted in HistoryLeave a comment

… so many differences all over the Europe…

Renaissance made step forward in a lifestyle, an architecture, an art and also in a clothing. The clothing is more diverse than in the Middle Ages and vary from coutry to country. An Italian lady was dressed differently than French or Spanish one.

As we know Italy … to be exact … Florence is a cradle of the Renaissance. People looked for new ways of freedom and the rebirth of the ancient ideal.

The Renaissance brought new cut – the dress is divided into a bodice and a skirt. Also typical Renaissance embellishment was binding on chest and sleeves.

French Renaissance dress was more ostentatious than Italian one. The dress cut is different – the bodice is close-fitting, the skirt is loose-fitting and the sleeves highlight the shoulders. The upper skirt is open at the front which shows bottom skirt of contrasting color.

Spanish Renaissance dress … well… covered everything. From ears to toe tips. You could see face and hands only. I wonder what the weather was like then. Under the Spanish sun should be hot :-0.

Reserved England also adopts the Italian relaxed style and the principle of underwear and outerwear. The dress is made of velvet fabric and decorated with pearls. The English clothing was also influenced by French fashion. The most significant fashion in England is Tudor`s one.

And finally we have German Renaissance dress. And we have another style here. A typical part of a garment is a some kind of chain around the neck. And second typical part of the garment was a large and richly shaped cap. A fitted bodice and sleeves are more decorated than a skirt. The sleeves are richly decorated, they are cut into small pieces from which the white shirt can be seen.

Do you like all types of Renaissance dress?

Fashion plates and Fashion magazines

August 19, 2020August 12, 2020 Posted in HistoryLeave a comment

…paintings not enough?…

Nowadays we look for fashion inspirations from internet and many fashion magazines. In the terms of historical dress, we look for inspirations from the paintings – which give us accurate style of clothing.

There is also another source of historical dress inspiration – fashion illustrations aka fashion plates. Late 18th century brought us fashion magazines which are full of fashion designed dress.

Here I mention few fashion magazines, most of them are of course French.

“La Galerie des Modes” was a pioneer in fashion plate publication. The plates were issued between the years 1778 and 1787.

“Journal des dames et des modes” – French fashion magazine, published between 1797 and 1839.

“Petit courrier des dames” (1821-1868)

“Le Follet” – a Parisian fashion magazine, published weekly from November 1829 to 1892.

“Le Journal des demoiselles” (1833-1922)

Let`s mention a piece of British fashion “La Belle Assemblée“, women’s magazine published from 1806 to 1837.

Which magazine does inspire you?

Fashion satire illustrations

August 12, 2020August 10, 2020 Posted in HistoryLeave a comment

Now…, let`s not be so serious about the fashion.

Many fashion fads bring ridiculous clothing and today we will laugh at it. We found the fashion satire illustrations from in the 18th century and more of them are from 19th century. It is very easy to make fun of fashion of these centuries…

The sleeves reminding balloons (this one is my favorite :-)):

The wide skirts reminding a parachute:

High hairstyle offering shadow and shelter:

The oblong bonnet hiding faces and reminding fountain:

Long feathers not fitting to any carriage:

And few more:

Which clothing we would make fun of?

The American Duchess

August 5, 2020July 17, 2020 Posted in Inspired byLeave a comment

Do you like 18th century more than other eras?

The American Duchess blog was founded by Lauren Stowell in 2009. Her intention is “to educate and entertain those interested in learning more about the fashions of the 18th century and other periods of dress“.

Lauren`s content is related to 18th century dress. She shows and describes the sewing techniques and also she analyzes the dress from the paintings of that time period. With no doubt you will get inspiration and useful information to make your own beautiful historical gown.

The web site is not just a blog with blog posts, it also provides you useful list of projects, tutorials, books and resources you may use to proceed also with for your projects.

Have you ever looked for historical footwear of good quality and authentic look? With Lauren`s frustration not finding 18th century shoes she started to manufacture her own foot line. You may find the shoes on E-shop.

The E-shop offers shoes for women as well as for men, from 18th century till 20th century and at last theatrical shoes also.

There are not just shoes you may buy. The footwear accessories are also available such as buckles and stockings.

Lauren has another credit to be mentioned. She has written 2 books about hand sewing and wearing dress of 18th century, also hairstyle, make-up and accessories. Books are available, for example on Book Depository.

Both these books contains picture guides how to measure yourself, to sew, to dress and to style yourself in manners of 18th century.

Follow the American Duchess on

Facebook

YouTube

Instagram

Would you like to meet the American Duchess?

Black dress

July 29, 2020July 15, 2020 Posted in HistoryLeave a comment

Have you ever thought when wearing black dress started?…

… surely not with little black dress by Coco Chanel …

Nowadays wearing black dress we understand as glamour, elegance, wealth, practical, sorrow, but do we know when the first black fabric was made?

I dare say, we can consider the first evidence (in Europe) of wearing black clothes in Roman era – end of 13th century in Spain. The wall painting displays mourning procession where we can see the people wearing black cloaks.

Late Medieval age – even the black color is a symbol of hunger, poverty and death, wearing black dress among full color palette was very popular during 15th century. Especially by aristocrats on Burgundy court.

Black dress are in fashion much more in Renaissance. Black dress were worn in England, Italy, France and especially in Spain and Netherlands.

Baroque and Rococo is more colorful and wearing black dress in not much in fashion, even men were not so much in love with black. However black color did not disappeared at all.

After colorful palette of fabrics, black color comes back again and became a part of the wardrobe. We can see men wearing black clothes more than women. Men`s black suites have become a classic.

And finally 20th century brought a magnificent woman – Coco Chanel. With her loss of very good friend and love she created new piece of our wardrobes – Little Black Dress, which we love and wear until these days.

Do you wear black dress?

Tale of Tales

July 22, 2020July 14, 2020 Posted in MoviesLeave a comment

Historical dress Haute Couture in fairy tales

This movie tells 3 different stories written by Giambattista Basile from 17th century. The stories are about the 3 neighboring empires, castles and chateau, queen and kings, who have various weaknesses, desires and afflictions.

There are also strange animals and monsters, giants and dragons. I have to make a notice to prepare yourself so see very ridiculous, weird, strange and ugly scenes in the movie. Do not worry, I will not speak about them today.

The first story is about Queen of Longtrellis (Salma Hayek) who longs for a child. She has to do unpleasant thing to get pregnant – to eat a dragon heart. And at the end she has twins.

The second story is about King of Strongcliff (Vincent Cassel) and two sisters who provoke his passion. And one of the has him, but for what price…

And the third story is about King of Highhills (Toby Jones) who is obsessed with a flea which he keeps and feeds it to large proportions.

These stunning costumes were design by Massimo Cantini Parrini. In some came the costumes are exaggerated, however it is the bad thing. All these stories are fairy tales and I expect to put more fantasy in to the dress. Nevertheless, all the costumes Massimo did follow historical fashion.

The first story is a “catwalk” of Spanish Renaissance. The costumes are mostly black with gold embellishments and embroidery as it was characteristic for that era.

The second and the third story are designed per fashion of 17th century … for which is characteristic wide neckline showing shoulders, narrow, long bodice and curly hair style.

With all the splendor, hopefully, you will not be discourage to see also the creatures.

A Stitch in Time

July 15, 2020July 13, 2020 Posted in Sewing the historyLeave a comment

BBC production about Historical dress reconstructions

Amber Butchart is a fashion historian, a book writer and broadcaster. She presented a six-part series on BBC Four about reconstructing historical dress based on well-known paintings.

Each episode contains a description of tailoring process and techniques from beginning to finishing touches. If you would like to watch the episodes and to know more, they are available on YouTube.

Here are all the episodes of the series with original painting and reconstructed gown.

1 – Charles II

2 – Arnolfini

3 – The Hedge Cutter

4 – Dido

5 – The Black Prince

6 – Marie Antoinette

Amber gets the credits for the series however I have to mention other historian and assistants who participated on the series. They are: Ninya Mikhaila – Historical Costumier, Florence Evans – Art Historian, Jenny Graham – Art Historian, Harriet Waterhouse – Costume Designer and Hannah Marples.

Have a pleasure of watching this series :-).

Which dress you will choose to master your tailoring knowledge?

Fashion Museum Bath

July 8, 2020June 14, 2020 Posted in HistoryLeave a comment

Ready to visit town where Jane Austen lived?

Today we will not visit the house where Jane Austen lived, but we will visit museum where regency fashion is displayed and have a look what Jane dressed.

The Museum was opened for the first time on 23 May 1963. It was founded by Doris Langley Moore, a designer, collector, writer and scholar, who gave her famous private collection of costume to the city of Bath. The building, in which the museum is located is owned by the National Trust.

The museum holds a world-class collection of contemporary and historic dress. You can find there various collections and exhibitions, for example: Dress of the year , A History of Fashion in 100 Objects, …

The museum also offers activities for schools, international students, you may study facilities which are not currently displayed, to learn embroidery techniques in Royal School of Needlework and participate on other activities you can do from home, for example to download coloring pages of dresses.

You will get picture of the dress you may follow … or … you can use your creativity and color the sample with colors you like more.

I have one more hook for you to visit The Fashion Museum in Bath. The museum is in Assembly Rooms and the interior is absolutely stunning.

Not living close to Bath? Would you like to know what is new anyway? There is a solution. You may sign up to newsletter on Contact page. I did subscribe to and I encourage you to do it too :-).

I have also something for lovers of social medias. You may also follow the museum activities on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest.

Even I may follow the museum activities online, I will make a trip to Bath anyway 🙂