All posts tagged: 1880s

Rate the Dress: Batgirl goes Victorian

Published by The Dreamstress

I suspect that y’all found last week’s featured Cranach rather boring.  Seven votes in it, and it rated a 7.8.  I grovel in front of you and humbly beg your apologies. And then cross my fingers and hope like heck that you don’t find this weeks Rate the Dress equally boring. It is, after all, a fashion sketch, in black and white.  But oh, such an interesting subject! It’s an 1880’s batgirl costume!  What do you think?  Are short, pleated skirts, and bats at bust, temple, and shoe fronts fabulous, or fail-worthy? Rate the dress on a scale of 1 to 10

Those crazy Victorians – take 3: Sanitary toe socks

Published by The Dreamstress

Remember toe socks?  Those 70’s monstrosities that became a fad again in the 1990s?  It turns out they weren’t a new invention! Click on the image to learn more than you ever wanted to know about weird Victorian health regimens. I now must find a way to incorporate toe socks into a steampunk ensemble.  I wonder if you could have steampunk-esque slippers?  Or sandals?  In an awful way, I’m liking the idea of ‘crunchy’ steampunk.  Enter the steampunk hippies! * If you are wondering what ‘Take 1’ and ‘Take 2’ were, check out these posts.

Rate the Dress: 1885 Ice Goddess

Published by The Dreamstress

Wooooooh dearie!  You guys may like Judy Garland, but you DID NOT like her dress last week.  You gave it a hearty “Clang, clang” and dubbed it “pooposterous”.  Judy only ranked 3 out of 10.  Poo. This week’s Rate the Dress is in honour of my Mum.  She saw this dress and immediately said I should do it as a “Rate the Dress”. A smart woman always listens to her mother. The stereotypical Victorian society mother would certainly approve of this frock.  It covers everything from the chin to the toes, wrapping wrists in froths of lace, and disguising bosoms beneath swaths of marabou feathers. The colours of the gown add to the effect of imperious purity; the wearer would have been an ice goddess in aqua and palest gold. The only suggestion of a more passionate nature beneath the frosty exterior of the gown is the detailing of lacing holding the fronts of the faux jacket taut, hinting at the corsets beneath the gown.* Ooh la la.  Mother would not approve. But do you? …