All posts filed under: 19th Century

Remember the Nana corset?

I started it oh, more than a year and a half ago. Here is what it looks like today: (hint: it’s the blue one) Yeah. It’s still not quite done. The problem is that I got it perfectly finished to the point of wearability, didn’t have an event to wear it to, and thus haven’t been really motivated to finish it. It is (obviously) inspired by Manet’s Nana, which rather amuses me, because I’m pretty much as far as you could get from Zola’s Nana as a person! So what does it need to be finished? Sleeves straps. That’s it. I’m hoping the ‘Wood, Metal, Bone’ challenge will motivate me to finish it, though in retrospect I should really have finished it for Literature! Still, even not-quite-done, I think it looks rather spiffy on me. It’s so, so, so comfortable! 1870s corsets with gussets really are amazing. Compare it to the original: And my favourite of this series of boring-white-wall timer shots:

Rate the Dress: Stripes & fringe and pleats and ruffles (and more stripes) ca. 1880

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week one suit faced off in a Dudes Dress-Off with two different looks: the first, as Joanne put it, Mr Darcy, restrained with a matching waistcoat, and the second Sir Percy Blakeney, with bright coral waistcoat and pompadour hair. While Joanna preferred Sir Percy, ultimately we’re all suckers for Mr D (which is not, as it happens, why my Mr D is Mr D), and the simpler styling came in at 8.4 out of 10, compared to 7.5 out of 10 for the pink waistcoat. The biggest criticism of the suit with the bright waistcoat was how the LACMA had styled it: everyone agreed that the corsage was a thing of horribleness and a eyesore forever. Be glad I didn’t post the close-up of the corsage! It was beyond hideous… This week, I’m presenting another corsage-bedecked bit of finery, but with this one the corsages are original to the garment. This striking natural-form evening gown makes use of at least three corsages, and pretty much every other type of trim possible. There is pleating, …

A hat re-make for Polly / Oliver

Published by The Dreamstress

It’s Re-Make, Re-use, Re-fashion fortnight on the HSF, and I have so.many.things that need re-fashioning, because I’m always buying hats and shoes that look historical – if only I re-trim and re-shape them, and old clothes made out of historically plausible fabric that need to be re-fashioned into historically plausible garments. I’m starting with a simple re-fashion. I took this broad-brimmed wool hat: And re-made it into this spiffy number for Polly / Oliver: Now, I know you are thinking “Hey, wait a minute, didn’t you post pictures of you in the completed Polly / Oliver outfit, with a hat a month ago?” And yes, I did: However, much as I am ashamed to admit, the hat in the Polly Oliver photoshoot was entirely held together by an elaborate collection of safety pins. Naughty me! So this week I got my act together and actually finished the hat properly. My inspiration for the hat, in an attempt to combine 1880s accuracy with the aesthetic of a tall military shako, were this swish little black number: …