Fasion of 1780's
I’ve been interested in working class dress lately. And more specifically 18th century maids costumes. searching the net I’ve found lots of pics of pretty outfits and great pattern mixi…
Dress 1780s The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Redingote, c. 1790, LACMA M2009.120 Friends, I haven't wanted to sew for awhile. Burn-out is a real thing, especially failing miserably on the last two 18th century gowns I tried to make (the irony). So I'm giving myself a break (in France) and letting the inspiration
Parasol with wooden sticks and silk cover, England, ca. 1775-1785
Pet-en-l’Air 1780s Manchester City Galleries
While searching through my vintage French fashion plates I came across a nice selection that displayed shorter skirts and the showing of a ladies ankle. I discovered that for a period of time starting in 1778 and extending into the 1780's "showing a bit of ankle" was quite fashionable, especially in dresses of the "Polonaise" style. The Polonaise style involved the swagging or ruching back of the over-skirt using a variety of methods such as hidden tapes or loops to achieve the desired effect. This trend toward "shorter under-skirts" could also be found in other styles through the 1780's. c 1778 French Polonaise Style with shorter skirts and showing the ankle Pre-Revolutionary France was quite daring with their fashion trends. This post is all about the raising of the hem while my previous post Naughty French Fashions concentrated on the lowering of the bodice and extreme décolletage. Yes, you will see a combination of both extremes by looking at that prior post since several of the low bodice creations also sport the shorter hemline. Here is an assortment of ankle exposing fashions from 1778-1787 in the Polonaise Style Shorter skirt with a more "flounce" inspired look This one has more of a "robe a l'anglaise" style with the shorter underskirt Polonaise Style with a very low bodice Polonaise Style Shorter skirt with a bit of the "robe a la francaise" feel due to the draped back Polonaise Style Polonaise Style Polonaise Style Polonaise Style Polonaise Style possibly French Casaquin in style Polonaise Style Polonaise Style? possibly French Casaquin in style Polonaise Style with a "robe a l'anglaise" feel I love altering fashion plate colors digitally just because it's fun but at the same time if calls to mind that back when these fashions were created a lady did not usually have a dress made to look exactly as shown in a fashion plate. Instead she might alter any number of things to make a gown suit her or the occasion it would be worn. Colors and fabric choices were just one of many alterations that would be decided in making an ensemble to please that patron. It's fun to see how a dress changes as you alter just the colors alone and since I'm not fond of the original color pallet used I thought this would be a fun one to play around with. Here are the variations I came up with. (I can't decide between the first and the last one as to my favorite color combo) Next time I've got an interesting "leggy" fashion plate to share and a bit about stockings during this period of time. Thanks for joining me on my continuing journey into fashion plates from the time of Marie Antoinette. till next time...
Fichu of embroidered muslin, England, 1780s.
Because I love green, and always like time lines of fashion. This is by no means a complete overview of clothing in a certain era, but just a list of my own favorites. 15th century 16th century 17t…
Self-portrait, Katarina Ivanovic, circa 1830s. Marie-Anne de Châteauneuf - mademoiselle Duclos - actress, in the role of Ariane, by Nicolas de Largillière, circa 1712. Mary Stuart, the Princess Royal, studio of Gerrit van Honthorst, circa 1647. Lavinia Fenton, actress, by George Knapton (?), circa 1739. Lady Anne Montagu, by Daniël Mijtens, 1626. Mrs. Thomas Edwards Freeman, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, circa 1778. Louise Françoise, duchesse de Bourbon, "mademoiselle de Nantes", by François de Troy, circa 1688-93. Augusta, Princess of Wales, by Jean-Baptiste van Loo, 1742. Mademoiselle Louise Jacquet, actress, by Jean-Étienne Liotard, circa 1748-52. Portrait of a Woman, by Juan Carreño de Miranda, circa 1650-70. Portrait of a Woman (Balia dei Medici?), by Paris Bordone, circa 1545. Queen Isabel II of Spain, unknown painter, 1858. Princess Margarita Ivanovna Dolgorukaya, by Vladimir Borovikovsky, 1811. Portrait of a Lady, by Rose-Adélaïde Ducreux, circa late 1780s.
Woman's overdress of hand-painted and dyed cotton, Coromandel Coast, ca. 1760-1770
While searching through my vintage French fashion plates I came across a nice selection that displayed shorter skirts and the showing of a ladies ankle. I discovered that for a period of time starting in 1778 and extending into the 1780's "showing a bit of ankle" was quite fashionable, especially in dresses of the "Polonaise" style. The Polonaise style involved the swagging or ruching back of the over-skirt using a variety of methods such as hidden tapes or loops to achieve the desired effect. This trend toward "shorter under-skirts" could also be found in other styles through the 1780's. c 1778 French Polonaise Style with shorter skirts and showing the ankle Pre-Revolutionary France was quite daring with their fashion trends. This post is all about the raising of the hem while my previous post Naughty French Fashions concentrated on the lowering of the bodice and extreme décolletage. Yes, you will see a combination of both extremes by looking at that prior post since several of the low bodice creations also sport the shorter hemline. Here is an assortment of ankle exposing fashions from 1778-1787 in the Polonaise Style Shorter skirt with a more "flounce" inspired look This one has more of a "robe a l'anglaise" style with the shorter underskirt Polonaise Style with a very low bodice Polonaise Style Shorter skirt with a bit of the "robe a la francaise" feel due to the draped back Polonaise Style Polonaise Style Polonaise Style Polonaise Style Polonaise Style possibly French Casaquin in style Polonaise Style Polonaise Style? possibly French Casaquin in style Polonaise Style with a "robe a l'anglaise" feel I love altering fashion plate colors digitally just because it's fun but at the same time if calls to mind that back when these fashions were created a lady did not usually have a dress made to look exactly as shown in a fashion plate. Instead she might alter any number of things to make a gown suit her or the occasion it would be worn. Colors and fabric choices were just one of many alterations that would be decided in making an ensemble to please that patron. It's fun to see how a dress changes as you alter just the colors alone and since I'm not fond of the original color pallet used I thought this would be a fun one to play around with. Here are the variations I came up with. (I can't decide between the first and the last one as to my favorite color combo) Next time I've got an interesting "leggy" fashion plate to share and a bit about stockings during this period of time. Thanks for joining me on my continuing journey into fashion plates from the time of Marie Antoinette. till next time...
Lady's silk caraco jacket, 1780s France
Woman's overdress of hand-painted and dyed cotton, Coromandel Coast, ca. 1760-1770
I have just finished my week long embroidery spree as I create a jacket and gilet for my up comming Der Schauspieldirektor photo shoot. You can read about the play in one of my previous posts, or f…
At the Kent State University Museum we have a permanent exhibition, “Fashion Timeline,” that surveys historic fashions from the 18th century through the mid-20th century. (Website). Be…
My favorite surviving 18th century stays can be found in the Victoria & Albert museums collections. As my previous stays were starting to show signs of wear, I thought it was a good time to make my version of them. The top layer is light brown cotton, the next two layers underneath are linen canvas and the lining is of fine white linen. They are completely hand stitched, mainly with pale blue linen thread, but I also used white linen occasionally and silk twist for the back lacing holes. The pattern is my own and, as I was drawing it, I tried to achieve a close resemblance to the original stays but also to achieve a better fit than in all my previous stays. I have an x body type, and my previous stays have been too tubular to fit me well. I used cane for boning. I was planning on experimenting with high land cattle horn for durability, but as I haven't had problem with snapping in my previous stays and these were to become almost fully boned, I chose 1/4 inch wide flat caning that I narrowed down to an almost tooth pick width of 2-3 mm. The front and back bones are narrowed down from a sturdier 1/2 inch wide flat cane. The seams are covered with narrow silk ribbon and the stays are bound with straight cut self fabric strips as it looks like it was done that way in the original stays too. Armholes are bound with ivory chamois leather. Close-ups The construction: First I outlined the pieces by stitching around the edges through all three layers. After they were outlined, I stitched the boning channels. Then I boned the channels. I turned under the center front and center back edges and made the lacing holes. Then I turned under the seam allowances and whip stitched them down. I joined the pieces by whip stitching, covered the seams and started binding the stays. I finished the binding an added shoulder traps. The last step was adding the lining.
