All posts filed under: Learn

Dust coat, England or France, 1905-1908, Tussah silk, satin, floss silk, Victoria & Albert Museum, T.333-1987

Terminology: Tussah Silk

This post didn’t start out as a terminology post! I was going to show you more images from my Spring 1915 Standard Mail order catalogue – and thought I would do some terminology explorations along with it. I started writing about the dresses and the terms mentioned, and the post got longer, and longer, and longer… So I’ve cut it apart, and will just focus on one term: tussah silk. It’s featured in my least favourite dress on the page: the brown floral number with the ruched midriff. Tussah Silk (also Tussar silk, Tushar silk, Tassar silk, Tusser silk or kosa silk) Tussah silk comes from a variety of silkworms that eat oak leaves, and other leaves high in tannin, rather than mulberry leaves. The tannin in the leaves gives tussah silk its characteristic pale gold colour. The filaments of tussah silk are much thicker and stronger than standard silk, and are oval instead of round. Because the initial threads aren’t as fine, tussah silk cloth has a coarser hand than regular silk, and often …

The Victorian Era: a timeline of world history, and how it intersects with fashion history

Published by The Dreamstress

When I teach costume and fashion history one of my primary goals is to show that fashion doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Clothing is changed by what’s going on in the world, and what people wear can also change politics, trade, and world events. So I start every lecture with a timeline of major world events in the era I’m discussing, and reference back to those events as I lecture. I’m teaching Costume History for the Costume Construction Course at Toi Whakaari online for the next wee bit, and I’m trying not to make my students have to sit through hours of camera lectures a day – so I’m mixing up lectures, blog posts, quizzes, and other formats. I’m also trying to take advantage of the benefits of online teaching, rather than using it as a poor substitute for in-person. One place where a blog post is better than a lecture is links. And timelines with lots of links are the perfect thing to put online. The Victorian Era: Choosing themes for lectures is always …

Pictoral Review, April 1916 thedreamstress.com

Fashions for Staying at Home, 1916 Style

Published by The Dreamstress

Today was the first day of New Zealand’s lockdown. It will go on for at least 28 days. I work from home a lot, so other than Mr D being there, it wasn’t much different from many days: except I knew it was. It’s night now, and I’m feeling a little melancholy. Mr D is out taking groceries to someone who can’t go out at all, and the stress of the last few weeks has gotten to me. I’ll get past it. I know how incredibly privileged I am: we’re financially stable, we have a lovely warm house, a yard big enough to hang out it, and the lockdown rules allow us to go for walks in our neighbourhood. And it’s a pretty neighbourhood (pretty much all neighbourhoods in Wellington are pretty. It’s a very pretty city). But, like so many other people, I’m worried about family and friends, and grieving for those already lost. For now, I’m going to keep doing what I do: working on ways to help practically, just working (because I’m …