All posts tagged: fashion plates

Girls Attire for May 1906 from the Girl’s Own Paper

Published by The Dreamstress

I’ve finally managed to find the time to scan all the fashion pages from my Girl’s Own Papers from 1905-07, and I’ll be posting them over the coming months (themed to the correct month, of course!). I found the pages at a car boot sale in Napier during Art Deco weekend.  Sadly, they were loose papers, and the magazines are incomplete.  I’ve done my best to sort them based on the months given, and the page numbers, and to date them, but I’m not always 100% sure I’ve got the year correct. I’m reasonably sure today’s pages are from 1906, thanks to some help from the incomparable Daniel in definitively dating a  page I shared a few years back to March 1906.  The page numbers suggest these two pages  are from the same year (though those also repeated on an annual basis, so these may be from 1905!). These images are as large as my blog format will support, so hopefully you can read them. Some delightful excerpts: The white cloths and velvets and other …

Rate the dress: a 1680s fashion plate

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week’s 1850s rate the dress met with general mild approval, with the level of enthusiasm dependent on whether or not you like 1850s silhouettes.  The bronze-brown confection came in at a 6.9 out of 10.  However, even the people who love midcentury styles and gave the highest scores felt that the dress needed accessories.  Showing a dress fully accessorized is what fashion plates are for: they demonstrate for us, and for the ladies of the era, everything that the elegant dresser of the time should wear with their outfit. So this week’s rate the dress is all about accessories, and what to wear with your historic frock.  Our 17th century fashion model is shown in a striped red, white and blue frock, with gold fringing and a whole plethora of accessories: bows on her headdress, a scarf to protect the hair, lace sabot cuffs with red bows, a folded fan, creamy yellow gloves, and what appears to be a fob-watch dangling from the waist. What do you think of our lady and her accessories? …