All posts tagged: 1860s

Rate the Dress: Elizabeth Taylor does Civil War in Raintree County

Last week the usually popular 1910’s wasn’t quite so popular. The collar was compared to an ectoplasm, and the whole thing was deemed disjointed. Despite this, it rated a not-totally-abysmal 5.2 out of 10, mostly because a few of you redesigned the dress in your mind and then rated the redesign! That’s cheating! At least give me a rating before the redesign to work from! This week I wanted to show you something that would knock your socks off: something of utter gorgeousness that you would all be compelled to rate 10 out of 10. Unfortunately, despite the fact that I come across completely covet-worthy frocks all the time, finding one on demand is difficult. So I’m showing you something I have had in my ‘rate the dress’ folder for months. This is Elizabeth Taylor as a spoiled southern belle in 1957’s Raintree County. Turns out Vivien Leigh didn’t have a total monopoly on playing those. In the film she gets to wear a completely over-the-top, pink-and-white, 1950s-does-late-1850s frock, complete with matching parasol and massive …

Rate the dress: a girls party frock, about 1865

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week I presented a painting of a wealthy young Englishwoman of the 1750s, and the vast majority of you rated it very highly, and it achieved a 7.3 out of 10. You know what though? I’m disappointed in you! So many readers criticised it, and then gave it a 9 out of 10 anyway! What does that mean? Shouldn’t a 9 be almost absolutely perfect ‘must-have-now’ with just the tiniest tweaks needed? I think you are all just brainwashed to think that anything 18th century is fabulous, and don’t stop and think “but is this a good example of 18th century?”! So this week is about pushing our usual inclinations. You, dear readers, have been rather disapproving of historical children’s clothes in the past. But I’m feeling brave, and am wondering if I can’t tempt you out of ingrained likes and dislikes. So I’m presenting a striking girl’s dress of about 1865 in muted red and white. I imagine this would have been worn by a girl of about 9 or 10. So, do …

What’s with the Megs?

Published by The Dreamstress

Two weeks ago my poll asked which Little Woman you were. I was quite surprised with the responses. The poll responses looked like this: Meg: 12 of 29 Jo: 11 of 29 Beth: 2 of 29 Amy: 4 of 29 I can’t believe it! The largest amount of you identified with Meg! I thought no-one identified with Meg! She was always the most boring of the March girls to me. Sure, she was the prettiest, but other than that, as far as I could see she didn’t have a lot going for her. She wasn’t bright or witty or talented like her sisters. As I read the book, she idolised conventional society, and had to be basically bashed over the head with lessons to make her realise that it wasn’t all it was stacked up to be. She didn’t even realise that she loved Mr Brooks until Aunt March warned her off him. And then she married him and settled down and was a boring, conventional Victorian mother. Blah Me, I have all of Jo’s …