19th Century, Admire, Sewing

A hoopskirt photoshoot – a few of my favourite shots

Every time my friend Theresa visits Wellington we dress up and do a photoshoot together.  She was in town this weekend, and one of the top things on her to-do wish-list was to take photos with me.

I know that one of her lifelong dreams has been to wear a hoopskirt, and I’ve never actually worn my Greek Key ensemble, so massive crinolines was the theme for the day.  I wore my new engageantes and 1860s bonnet, and put Theresa in the 1850s Raspberry swirl dress, which she fit beautifully.

We went first to the park where Madame O & I photographed the pet-en-l’aire ensemble, and then to the Massey Memorial, which is a much better photoshoot location at sunset than it is at high noon!

Here are a few of my favourite images from the shoot:

The 1860s Greek Key afternoon dress thedreamstress.com

1850s raspberry swirl ball dress thedreamstress.com

The 1860s Greek Key afternoon dress thedreamstress.com

1850s raspberry swirl ball dress thedreamstress.com

I particularly love these two because Theresa and I each took almost precisely the same image of each other:

The 1860s Greek Key afternoon dress thedreamstress.com

1850s raspberry swirl ball dress thedreamstress.com

The light was just amazing as the sun set.

The 1860s Greek Key afternoon dress thedreamstress.com

1850s raspberry swirl ball dress thedreamstress.com

Sadly, we didn’t have an artsy fashion student to photograph  us together, but we did manage to get a couple of kids out for an afternoon run to take some photos of the two of us at our first photo location:

1850s & 60s dresses thedreamstress.com

And then at the Massey Memorial we talked a group of teenage boys who showed up to enjoy the views and sunset with  a big bottle of “apple juice” into doing the honours with our cameras.  I think they felt we ruined the ambiance they were looking for, as they didn’t hang around for long…

1850s & 60s dresses thedreamstress.com

I hope you enjoyed those, and there will (of course) be more!

15 Comments

  1. TOS says

    The photos are lovely! How much fun you two must have had. 🙂

  2. Claire says

    Such wonderful dresses call for an afternoon tea occasion. Very beautiful indeed.

  3. Lynne says

    The dresses, the models, the location, the photos – all beautiful!

  4. Great lighting! What a beautiful background for those amazing dresses!

  5. The Memorial really is beautiful at sunset, and you ladies fit so wonderfully into the classic composition. You know, like the composition of the architecture/sculpture makes a fantastic backdrop.

  6. Yot two look wunderful!
    Perhaps you could need one more Petticoat to smooth the silouette a little more.

    I love the greek inspired dress.

  7. How lovely to have a friend who has such a high priority for the important things in (sewing) life! 😉 I rather think your ambiance better than the “apple juice” variety, myself. Lovely photos.

    Best,
    Quinn

  8. What a fun photo shoot! The dresses are absolutely gorgeous – beautifully made! 😀 Well done!

    -Rebecca
    mn2nz.wordpress.com

  9. It’s a privilege to dress up in your gowns and model them. SO glad we were able to do such a great shoot.

  10. Hi, found your site from Theresa’s blog. Love the photos – I’m totally Gone with the Wind geeking out all over this…the keyhole dress is sublime. Can’t wait to see more of your photos from other costumes!

  11. Pamela says

    These are absolutely lovely photographs with two very lovely subjects.
    I love the way the sun and clouds enhance everything. The dresses and workmanship on them is beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

  12. You took both look lovely and the dresses are amazing, you did a amazing job on them. I hoped those guys appreciate seeing you two, personally I would love to see a girl dressed like this one day. It’s so classy and elegant looking.

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