All posts filed under: 19th Century

Corsets, crinolines & kitty cats

Published by The Dreamstress

How to tell if you have awesome friends: If they stop by your house on the weekend for a cup of tea and you say “Oh, I was just about to climb into a chemise and corset, any chance you’d be willing to take some photos of me?” and they spend over an hour helping to lace you into a corset and directing poses  and snapping photos: The resulting photos are  evidence of how truly fabulous  Emily of Ever So Scrumptious is!  I hope she had as much fun as I did helping me document me wearing  my 1860s chemise (finally!) and new stockings and drawers, and red elliptical crinoline (even more finally!), and paisley petticoat (also finally). We got some lovely atmospheric, romantic period stuff: And some adorable stuff with Felicity (because how could you possibly pass up the chance to pose with Felicity?): And some fun stuff with me being silly (this is me immediately after saying “I don’t know what to do with my hands!  I feel they should be doing something! …

A pair of ‘crap, these probably aren’t right at all’ drawers for Nana (and bonus stockings)

Published by The Dreamstress

Other than finishing the corset, the last piece of my Nana ensemble to assemble was the drawers. The drawers are now done, only well, they are slightly problematic.  How so?  Well, look at them: And the back view: So.  Ummm, yeah. Sexy they are not. Now, the whole colossal  camel toe +  super saggy bottom thing is just kinda how most mid-19th century drawers fit, but this pair is taking it a little to the extreme.   The problem is the cut.  1870s closed drawers were just open drawers with the centre seam sewn up, and so they have this weird quarter-circle shape with lots of extra fabric in the crotch area. Looking at Manet’s Nana, the line of her chemise is quite smooth over her front and hips.  With such bulky drawers, that simply won’t happen. So how to achieve Nana’s look? Well, one possibility is that she isn’t wearing drawers (I mean, she is Nana!).  However, the way the lace is falling at her hem makes me think she definitely is. The other …

Rate the Dress: Bad or Best of News in Blue?

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week I showed an asymmetrical bustled 1880s dress that combined three fabrics.  The dress was rather all over the place, and so were your ratings.  There were so many different bits, and some of you liked some bits, and some of them others.  The overall verdict was 6.5 out of 10.  Not terrible, but certainly not great. This week we’re looking at a painted frock that may be the artists fantasy, though the details are so precisely rendered, from the laced bodice to the seam-lines and creases at the hem, that one wonders if the dress actually existed. There are two versions of the image, one which shows the whole scene, and a smaller cropped version. As you may have guessed, we are rating the attire of the blond woman in white and turquoise  at the centre of the image. Both she and her friend/attendant are dressed in luxurious, fashionable garments which reflect the strong strong classical influences, particularly in their hair and jewels. In addition to addition to looking back to Classical Greece …