Tag: Women’s Clothing

Ochre Court 1860s Ball 2011 (Newport Vintage Dance Week)

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Quinn, taking a short break from dancing at Ochre Court

Well, I am exceptionally delayed in posting about this event (it was in August), but I was inspired today to remember how fabulous this was and to reminisce… So here we are! I was able to wear Annabelle, my latest 1860s dress to this event. You can read more about this dress by clicking on this link. I have to say, I did receive one comment that I looked “like Scarlett O’Hara.” Whee! That is really a dream come true for me… you know she does wear a white flounced gown in the movie… I intentionally did not make a gown just like hers (for one thing, mine does not have red trim).

The mid-18th century ball at Ochre Court was just one event hosted by the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers during Newport Vintage Dance Week 2011 in Newport, Rhode Island. And yes, that is the Newport of fabulous historic mansions! (Newport Vintage Dance week was included in the New York Times’ Evening Hours by Bill Cunningham on August 21, 2011. Click on this link to see Mr. Cunningham’s wonderful pictures of various Newport Vintage Dance Week events!)

Aside from repeating (many, many, many times) how absolutely fabulous this event was, I don’t have a whole lot of commentary. Thus, my commentary will be confined to captions, so that way I can include a lot of pictures! Yay! I hope that you are able to look at these and be transported to this historic mansion full of hoop-skirted ladies, distinguished gentlemen, and elegant music.

This photo comes courtesy of my friend, Carly. This is the main ballroom at Ochre Court.
Front stairs at Ochre Court.
Ascending the red carpeted stairs to the upper levels.
Ochre Court main ballroom upper levels and ceiling... Beautiful!!!
Looking down on the main ballroom at Ochre Court.
Oh look! There I am, watching the dancers below!
Look! There's someone taking pictures! (Look at the fabulous detail around me!)
Ah, now you can really appreciate the intricate detail!
Time to descend the stairs and dance!
And here are Terri and Carly, also descending the stairs!
Dancers at Ochre Court.
More dancers at Ochre Court.
Dancers in the dining room at Ochre Court.
Strike a pose by one of the enormous fireplaces!
Carly in front of the fireplace.
Taking a breather in the library at Ochre Court.
Would you care to dance? Ochre Court main ballroom.
One more scene at Ochre Court.
Saying good bye to Ochre Court at the end of a fairytale night.

Project Journal: 1780s Ensemble Part III: Undergarments and Sources

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I’ve decided to build a Robe a l’Anglaise, in addition to a chemise and pair of stays to wear under it. You can look at this post to see pictures of the Robe a l’Anglaise. The style of stays that I plan to use is the one below left: no straps allow ease of movement in the upper body, which is more suitable for dancing. The corset on the right is from the same period: I include it for informational and comparison purposes. Many stays at this time were either made of patterned or colored cloth, as these two are, and I enjoy the use of color on the undergarments.

c. 1780 Wool and Linen Corset and the Metropolitan Museum of Art
c. 1780 Silk Stays at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The chemises that were worn under these stays were fairly simple and almost always constructed of linen. Here are a few examples.

c. 1780 Linen and Cotton Chemise at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
1780-1800 Linen Chemise at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
1790-1810 Linen Chemise at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

I’ve collected some interesting (and sometimes conflicting) information regarding clothing from this period: these sources below were most helpful.

One of the best resources for this project is The Cut of Women’s Clothes: 1600-1930 by Norah Waugh. This book has images, patterns, contemporary quotes and construction details. It’s a great reference book to have access to for historic projects. Another wonderful reference book is Patterns of Fashion 1: 1660-1860 by Janet Arnold. This book is great supplement to Norah Waugh because it has an abundance of great drawings to explain the construction of garments. Another book that I know would have been useful to have is Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Fashion in Detail by Avril Hart and Susan North.

This website is also a great resource: La Couturiere Parisienne. It includes a fantastic collection of fashion plates, paintings, construction and pattern information, as well as fabric and color research for clothing from the 1400s through the 1900s. (Just a quick note that it can be viewed in English or German, and if you suddenly find yourself viewing it in German look to the top right for a little icon that you can click to switch it back to English.)

In terms of the materials needed for these items I found a great source for this project and future projects here: Wm. Booth, Draper. This website has all sorts of great things. For example, low prices on yardage of linen, cotton, and silk (in 18th century patterns and colors) and cane boning for corsets.

Project Journal: 1780s Ensemble Part II: More Research

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As I mentioned in a recent post, I have decided to attend 2 events this month that will require clothing from the period 1775-1799 which I do not currently own and from a period I am not intimately familiar with. Thus I began this project in a flurry of research. After thinking of the popular styles, Robe a l’Francaise, Robe a l’Anglaise, Robe a la Polonaise, and Skirt and Jacket combination, I am left with one more possibility that was particularly popular in the late 1780s and 1790s: the Chemise Dress or Chemise de la Reine.

Les Lavoisiers by Jacques Louis David, 1788

The Chemise Dress is a descendant of the style of dress first worn by Marie Antoinette, called the Chemise de la Reine. This quote does a fantastic job of relating the social values surrounding this style in a quite amusing fashion! Aren’t you as amused as I am by this quote?

1784. When down dances my ribbon white, but so bepuckered and plaited, I could not tell what to make of her: so turning about, I cried, ‘Hey, Sally, my dear, what new frolic is this? It is like none of the gowns you used to wear.’ ‘No, my dear,’ crieth she, ‘it is no gown, it is the chemise de la rein’. ‘My dear,’ replied I, hurt at this gibberish, which I was half ashamed to own I did not understand; ‘What is it? You know I am not like you, master of French; let us have the name of your new dress in downright English.’  ‘Why then,’ said she, ‘if you must have it, it is the queen’ shift.’ Mercy on me, thought I, what will the world come to, when an oilman’s wife comes down to serve in the shop, not only in her own shift, but in that of a queen. (From Lady’s Magazine: Printed in The Cut of Women’s Clothes: 1600-1930 by Norah Waugh)

Well, at first I was thinking “Ah! This is the dress for me! It is fairly simple (and therefore quick) and looks very elegant.” But then I thought about three big deterrents: 1-the similarity of a simple white gathered dress to the clothing from the turn of the 19th century, when afternoon dresses were white and somewhat similar in character and style, 2-the amount of extra fabric needed for petticoats to achieve the soft draping of the skirt and 3-the two events I plan to wear this to (#1: a vintage ball, for which an elegant train would be entirely impractical and #2: an American Revolution colonial fair, for which I would be cold, have a train that would just get dirty, and a style of dress that is about 15-20 years in the future). Those arguments eliminated this style as a possibility, but I wanted to share it with you anyway, because I think it is lovely.

Here are some more examples of Chemise Dresses in various other paintings. (Also, take a look at the hats, aren’t they fabulous? They remind me of the scale of hats in the early 20th century. Can you see the resemblance?)

Comtesse de La Chatre by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, 1789
Mme Seriziat by David, 1795

Reproduction embroidered gown, neat!

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From the blog: Diary of a Mantua Maker

I came across this blog post that I just think is so neat! It’s a post showing the method used to create the fabulous embroidery along the hem of this gown. (Hint: it was machine embroidered, not hand embroidered.) I find this is very inspirational, because I do not have the skills or patience necessary to hand embroider a historic garment. You can see more pictures of this gown being worn at a ball at this related blog post.

So I thought that just to give you a little sample of the use of embroidery on historic garments I would include a few pictures. Embroidery has been a very popular method of adorning historic garments of various sorts (undergarments and outer garments) for hundreds of years.

Now, before you look at this pictures below, just think about how long it would take to hand embroider a garment… keep thinking… keep thinking… keep thinking… keep thinking… keep thinking… Ok, now you can look at the pictures!

Late 16th century Italian Blouse at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Detail of the above blouse
1760-1770 Waistcoat at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
c. 1806 Morning Dress at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
c. 1806 Morning Dress at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Project Journal: 1780s Ensemble Part I: Initial Research

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I’ve decided to attend 2 events in September which require clothing from the last quarter of the 18th century (1775-1799). This decision is rather at the last minute when it comes to building new historic clothes: I now have exactly three weeks to make a decision about what to wear, pick out fabrics, make patterns, and complete the construction of the garments. Yikes!

So I’ve been busy researching this period because it is not within the realm of my previous historic clothing projects, which have generally focused on the 19th century. Unlike women’s clothing in the 19th century, for which I can recall silhouette, construction details, pattern shapes, and fabric choices and colors with far less research for each garment (because I’ve already done all that research and it’s all in my head…), I really need the research to be able to consider reproducing historic clothing from the 18th century. Here are some inspirational images I thought I would share!

Here’s how this conversation went in my head: “Where do I start?” I asked myself. “Silhouette?” I replied. “Ah, yes. That sounds good. But… what is the silhouette during this period? Hopefully not panniers!” because panniers, you see, require a lot more effort to produce and a lot more fabric to cover. “Well, let’s start by looking for some images,” I suggested. And here we go!

c. 1770 Silk Robe a l'Francaise at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Now, you can see by looking at the above image that these gowns require panniers to achieve the exaggerated hip shape. You can also see that these gowns are Robes a l’Francaise, meaning robes in the French style. This style of gown has the characteristic pleating at center back that falls from the back neck line to the floor in one piece. This style, with the panniers and the Robe a l’Francaise, is not what I have the time to make in three weeks. So we move on!

1770-1775 Silk Robe a l'Anglaise at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

In contrast to the Robe a l’Francaise, I am actually interested in the style of dress on the left: the Robe a l’Anglaise, or English style robes. This style evolved from the Robe a l’Francaise: over time the side back seams of the Robe al’Francaise were cut close enough together that the characteristic pleats were no longer used.

Below, you can see another two examples of gowns in the style of a Robe a l’Anglaise. These two are from the 1780s and you can see that the width of the hips has diminished from the 1770s. Note that all of these gowns have open fronts that show the petticoat underneath.

c. 1780 Cotton Robe a l'Anglaise at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
c. 1780 Cotton Robe a l'Anglaise from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
1780-1785 Cotton Robe a l'Anglaise at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
1780-1785 Cotton Robe a l'Anglaise at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
There are other options for this period as well: there is the style Robe a la Polonaise, which has a characteristic  bunching of fabric across the back side as well as the skirt and jacket combination. I’m not interested in making a Robe a la Polonaise at this point, but a skirt and jacket combination is a possibility. You can see these styles below. There is another style as well: the Chemise Dress, but you’ll have to wait for my next post to see and read about it!
c. 1780 Linen Robe a la Polonaise at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
c. 1785 Silk Jacket at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
      

Pleated trimming on dress (c. 1870)

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c. 1870 Dress at Smith College

Just recently we looked at pleated trim on 1860s gowns. While I was thinking of that post I was reminded of this gown, which has fabulous pleated trim! It is in the historic costume collection at Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was prepared for display and further storage during a historic clothing conservation workshop I took part in a few years ago.

I love the pleated trimming on this dress! It reminds me of origami, in that simple pleats and folds combine to create such a complicated looking outcome.

c. 1870 Dress at Smith College
c. 1870 Dress at Smith College
Pleated trimming on c. 1870 Dress at Smith College

Did you look closely? The pleats are actually just box pleats whose outward pleats have been pressed up or down respectively at the very edges to create the diamond shapes. It’s so neat! I do hope to be able to use this pleated motif on a reproduction dress at some point. I’ll have to scrounge up lots of patience to make yards of a trimming that will be so detailed… but it will be amazing and if I do it in manageable sections it actually does sound like fun!

Pleated trimming on 1860s gowns

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I absolutely love the use of pleating as a trim motif in the 19th century! I also admire the immense amount of time and fabric required to edge the dresses of the 1800s in pleated trim.

Take a look at the dress below and note the rolling wave pattern of the pleated trim on the skirt as well as the pleated trim on the sleeves. You can see that the trim is made of the same fabric as the dress, which was a technique often employed in the 19th century for the trimming of gowns.

c. 1862 Afternoon Dress at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Now, take a look at this dress from 1860-1861 (which was also include in this post). Doesn’t the trim style look familiar? Yes, it’s a more bunting-like placement of the trim, but the idea is exactly the same as the dress above!

1860-1861 Dress at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

So now that we’ve looked at a few actual garments with the pleated trim, let’s look at some fashion plates. You know, I went through about 50-100 fashion plates from 1860-1865 and I was surprised by the lack of plates that included dresses with pleated trim! Considering that I have frequently seen pleated trim used on existing garments I am intrigued by their relative absence in fashion plates… I wonder if pleated trim is just challenging to execute when creating a fashion plate? Certainly I found some with bands of trim, and perhaps those could have been executed with pleated trim when constructed?

Godey’s Fashions for September 1861
Godey’s Fashions for September 1862

In both of these fashion plates the ladies on the far left are the ones I’m looking at and think that they are wearing dresses with pleated trim. The one from 1862 as especially clear detail that shows the trim being pleated. It is interesting to note that these two fashion plates correspond directly with the two existing dresses at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Braid trimming on 1860s gowns

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I have noticed a particular style of trim used on multiple 1860s gowns that I find interesting and want to share with you.

This first gown was also included in my post Bolero and Zouave jackets of the mid-19th century. The bolero style of the bodice is exceptionally well suited to the 1860s: you can read more about that by clicking on the link at the beginning of the paragraph. What I find most fascinating about the dressmaker’s choices in this dress is the fabric and trim. The pale yellow background is wonderful, but to me the foreground (with the cinnamon colored lines and bunches of flowers in between) as well as the small flowers on the background create quite a busy look all on their own. And then to add the green trim on top, with a repeating vertical line motif… but there’s even more! There are tassels and the yellow and green twisted cord zigzagging between the points in the green trim. It’s just a lot going on, and I do think the end result is lovely and congruous, but I think if I was designing a dress I wouldn’t be able to envision all of these elements coming together in such harmony.

c. 1862 dress at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

This second dress is actually a dressing gown. The trimming is not exactly like the bolero dress above, but it is strikingly similar. It is a narrow braid that is used as a border trim in horizontal repetition with points where the trim pattern lifts up into diagonal lattice patterns. The trimming is really quite stunning on it’s own, but consider the time it would take to actually trim a garment in this fashion!

c. 1860 Dressing Gown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
c. 1860 Dressing Gown trim

Bolero jackets in the 20th century: 1930-1950

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Evening Ensemble designed by Elsa Schiaparelli 1938

A few posts ago, we took a look at Bolero and Zouave jackets from the mid-19th century and Bolero jackets from the 20th century: 1900-1909. While I was looking at images related to those posts I found a few amusing boleros from the mid-20th century and decided to share those with you as well!

Let’s start here: with this evening ensemble designed by Elsa Shiaparelli at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My first thought about this was something along the lines of the following: “The dress has a lovely shape. What’s the abstract embellishment on the bolero?”

Gymnast bolero designed by Elsa Schiaparelli 1938
Well, look carefully at the Bolero picture. It’s decorated with gymnasts!
Evening dress by Elsa Schiaparelli 1938

Here’s the back of the dress without the bolero over it. Such lovely lines. In the picture on the right, you can also see the texture of the dress fabric. It’s difficult to discern what it is. Looks to me like it might be a jacquard  or watermarked fabric. Do you have other ideas about what the fabric is?

This next bolero was designed by Balenciaga in the 1940s. Its style is much more traditional than Schiaparelli’s gymnast bolero. The beading and other trimming on this Balenciaga bolero is exquisite!

Balenciaga Bolero 1946-1947
The Oxford English Dictionary includes these quotes regarding boleros in the definition. They are good context for the style and use of boleros in women’s clothing during the mid-20th century.
1941    ‘R. West’ Black Lamb I. 407   The boleros the women wore over their white linen blouses.
1968    J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 35   Bolero, a short jacket reaching to the waist, worn open over a blouse‥sleeved or sleeveless‥worn by Spanish dancers and bullfighters.
I’m including this final bolero just for fun. I can envision it with a slinky black bias-cut 1930s evening gown with a low cut back… It even has a matching belt! This bolero strongly reminds me of the style of Ginger Roger’s dresses in her videos with Fred Astaire. I’ve also included just a few fun pictures of Ginger’s fabulous dresses below so you can see her general style. Beautiful!
Evening Bolero 1933
Evening Bolero 1933
Belt to go with Bolero 1933
Top Hat 1935
Carefree 1938
Flying Down to Rio 1933

National Museum of American History First Ladies Exhibition behind-the scenes video

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This video is a behind-the-scences look at the creation of the First Ladies Exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

It’s a really neat video! You get to see some insight into how the dresses and other pieces are displayed, how the dress forms that display them are created, as well as some great pictures of First Ladies and some very lovely dresses!