All posts filed under: 19th Century

Rate the Dress: Maria Christina in lace, lace, more lace (and some diamonds)

Published by The Dreamstress

Oops!  Sorry!  I’m sure many of you woke up this morning and went to check on the Rate the Dress, and there was nothing there.  The sad truth is that I was so tired last night that I got confused and thought Rate the Dress wasn’t until tomorrow. Last week I posted a simple 1860s gown, and the initial consensus was that it was so boring that it was neither wonderful nor dreadful.  But then Tenshi pointed out “It’s not a ballgown, so it shouldn’t be judged like one” and a rather interesting conversation about ordinary clothing developed.  The eventual rating acknowledged, that yes, it was the simple, practical dress of its time, but a reasonably good one at that, and it rated a 7.4 out of 10 This week I’m playing with the idea of not every dress being made for a pretty young thing on her way to a ball, but taking the concept almost as far as it can go in the opposite direction.  I’d like to present an outfit that very …

The last princess of Hawaii

Published by The Dreamstress

I drove a friend to the airport today – she’ll be flying through Hawaii and stopping over for a few days.  Rather than staying on Oahu or going to Maui or the Big Island, like most tourists, she’s going to Molokai and is even going to see my parents.  I’m so jealous I could cry.  I love Wellington, and I love my life, but I miss my islands desperately. As I drove away from the airport, back to my little house to spend an afternoon baking, I thought of another island maid, torn between two cultures and dreadfully homesick for her own islands as she studied in a cold land halfway across the world.  Ka’iulani, the last princess of Hawaii, also loved her temporary adopted homeland, but she must have missed her home as much as I do: missed the tradewinds, and the easy warmth of the people, missed the endless green lawns of her home, the soft sound of the waves hitting the shore. But I’m getting ahead of myself just a little.  This …

Glimpses of the past

Published by The Dreamstress

Whenever I am down in Nelson I go shopping for old photographs.  I don’t know why I can’t find an antique store near to me that carries them, but for some reason they don’t. I collect old photographs as costume research, and as visual stories. Usually I find a lot of sweet late Victorian and early 20th century images, but this time I managed to find a selection of 1860s-1880s photographs, which I’m quite excited about. I particularly collect images of people in fancy dress, and women in work clothes, but I also have a keen interest in people in unattractive and ill-fitting clothes, as an illustration of the imperfections of the past.  We tend to romanticise past fashions, and old clothes, and think of everyone as being glamorous and beautifully put together, in perfectly fitted clothes, and that simply wasn’t true. Even taking into account that informal photography was quite rare, and most people would have chosen to be photographed in their best clothes, you get ensembles like this: It’s terribly unflattering on her, …