All posts tagged: 1890s

Wow madam…those are some shoes

Some vintage items really challenge our cultural perceptions of an era.  Take these boots. We think of the Edwardian women as status and propriety bound carryovers of the Victorian era, clad in layers of white and pastel frills, and encouraged to be eminently retiring and delicate and feminine.  These boots turn all of that on its head.  They are feminine, that’s for sure, but there is nothing retiring, pastel, or frilly about them! They are so loud, and high, but the lack of ornamentation is also very elegantly restrained.  And the curves!   They are basically the shoe version of Camille Clifford’s figure! Can you imagine the sensation that Camille would have cause if she had worn these?  My legs certainly don’t have the right curves to pull them off! I wonder who did wear them, or what market they were intended for?  Perhaps they were the sort of shoes that ‘nice’ women would never consider. Hehe, turn-of-the-century slapper boots!

The Corset Model Class of 2011

I got photographs of all the models wearing their corsets on Saturday against a plain cement wall. Every time I have looked at the photos since then, I have cracked up. They remind me of the kind of pictures you take in Elementary School for a ‘me, myself, and I’ project. You have the kid who can’t stop grinning, the kid who closes their eyes in every picture, the kid who won’t smile because they think they look better without one (that would have been me), the kid who won’t stand still for even a moment, and the kid who probably should have been a model. We all look ridiculous, and absolutely gorgeous, all at the same time.  It’s a total celebration of personality, and all the different facets of beauty that exist. Without further ado, I present Ms Oakes’ Corset Model Class of 2011. And finally, the erstwhile instructress: Ladies, you can teach me anytime!

Rate the dress: shocking pink Victorian

Last week you were torn on on the Pingat mantle: as a solitary garment it it was a bit odd, but most of you liked it quite a bit better worn over a dress, so it rated a 6.6 out of 10. I hadn’t planned to publish this dress for a while yet: I’ve done a lot of late Victorian lately and thought I needed a change.  But this published by accident last week and some of you snuck in comments, so it seems unfair to hold out on you. I know this isn’t the best image of this dress, but even flat, the garment is too distinctive not to have shown you.  It’s shocking pink!  With black velvet stripes!  And a bustier top!  And huge puffed sleeves in black velvet!  And jet trim! Not much is known about the dress, but this much I am sure of: the woman who wore this must have had some attitude! Attitude, yes, but taste?  What say the readers? Rate the dress on a scale of 1 to …