Revealing how a modern notion of fashion helped to transform the novel and its representation of social change and individual and collective life in nineteenth-century Britain, Lauren Gillingham offers a revisionist history of the novel. With particular attention to the fiction of the 1820s through 1840s, this study focuses on novels that use fashion's idiom of currency and obsolescence to link narrative form to a heightened sense of the present and the visibility of public life. It contends that novelists steeped their fiction in date-stamped matters of dress, manners, and media sensations to articulate a sense of history as unfolding not in epochal change, but in transient issues and interests capturing the public's imagination. Reading fiction by Mary Shelley, Letitia Landon, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, W. H. Ainsworth, Charles Dickens, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, and others, Fashionable Fictions tells the story of a nineteenth-century genre commitment to contemporaneity that restyles the novel itself.

Even if you are not a fashion historian, you have likely seen images of the clothing people wore in the past. Whether you saw them online, or in your own family photos, the outer garments of indiv…

Let me start by reminding my readers ( if I have any) that I am not a professional costumer, nor am I an expert in historical costuming or costuming in general. These are my drawn-out musings and ponderings. Now to the post... The Romantic era was notorious for its extreme hair styles. Curls, braids, loops, and twists were manipulated and decorated in a manner of ways. The were big, they were loud, and they defied the rules of gravity. I've been trying to figure out how to replicate these styles. The Apollo Knot(s): that big bunny-ears thing....often accompanied by forehead curls Portrait of a Lady miniature on ivory, 1832 by Carl Von Saar Evening dress, 1827 France, La Reunion On Helena Bonham Carter in Les Mis The Turban: or other weird head devices... Just wrap that stuff around your head. Evening dresses, 1830 On Lady Harriet in Wives & Daughters February, 1831 The Hats: (just curl up your bangs, plop on a bonnet and you're done!) 1830 1827 Late Romantic: these ones are pretty relaxed. Soft curls and modest buns. 1838 1838 1841 Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaievna And that's not even the beginning of it! There are so many different styles out there for this period! But how do we replicate this? I'm still trying to figure that out. I found a few costumers who shared their creations on the internet. Some are just result pictures and some have tips and tricks: This lady made use of her own hair as well as false pieces: http://fashionephemera.blogspot.com/2011/12/1830s-wig.html This one shows you how they made a base for the Apollo Knot: http://labricoleuse.livejournal.com/116796.html?thread=451900 A very talented Deviant Artist: http://ladycafelfenlake.deviantart.com/art/1830-s-extreme-hairdo-252544195 A blogger: http://madamemodiste.blogspot.com/2011/03/1830s.html If you're going for a Turban look: it looks like this Regency look could also work for Romantic with some fiddling. http://americanduchess.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-to-tie-regency-turban.html Most Romantic styles (original or reproduction) use fake or added hair pieces. The curls won't be too hard to find out there, but some hair pieces you have to create on your own. But how? I'm not quite sure... Some theories: -Fake/extra hair bent over buckram loops and attached with hair pins. In The Young Victoria, you can see a pale material inside the Apollo knots of royal ladies. There is scene later on showing the knots actually being unpinned from their buns. Look at her bun. Doesn't that look like buckram or something? -Starched hair loops. Like how people starch their shirts, collars, and petticoats to make them stiff. -Wire woven into braid loops. Millinery wire, perhaps? Well, that's my rant. I'll be trying to make my own hair pieces soon enough. Does anyone else have ideas or tips for re-creating Romantic Era styles? Over and out.

Reproduction block with a paisley star by Becky Brown Tintype of a woman in a cashmere shawl, about 1860 What we call paisleys derive from woven cashmere shawls, which originated in India’s Kashmir region, home to soft wools and deft weavers. Vintage British quilt about 1820-1840 Traditional patterns included stylized botanicals focusing on a cone or seedpod shape, seen in the lilac border on the right. This oval with a curled tail was known as the botha or boteh (from the Hindi buta for flower). Textile manual in German from the New York Public Library The botanical source for the boteh design is in some dispute. Some textile historians see it as a pinecone, others as a gourd or the shoot of a date palm, possibly associated with fertility. Portait of a woman by William Powell Frith. Is she wearing an expensive Kashmir shawl or a European knock-off? European factories from Lyons and Rheims to Norwich and Manchester produced machine-woven shawls, but Scotland specialized in them. Pieces made in the west coast town of Paisley earned a reputation as the best. Soon the Kashmir shawl became known as the Paisley shawl and the characteristic boteh shape was called a paisley. The fashion for wool shawls also inspired imitation cotton prints, first known as shawl prints. Mid-19th-century quilters developed a passion for cotton prints that imitated the colors as well as the designs of the shawls. Reproduction with the document swatch from my Civil War Homefront collection. Madder dyes used in wool shawls also worked well with cotton printing processes. The prints were popular for dressing gowns (wrappers) and furnishings for the boudoir so there were many sewing scraps, but the style was so important for quilts that much yardage must have been sold just for patchwork. Vintage block about 1870-1890 One sees these madder-style paisleys in quilts from the 1860s into the 1890s. The high point of the style seems to be the 1870s and ‘80s. Vintage print from the last half of the 19th century Paisley figures were often set in striped sets, which quilters liked for borders and strips and everything else.... Block dated 1875 Vintage print from the 20th century Cone shapes were also set in what textile designers call a tossed set. Paisley dresses from 1968 A serious paisley revival took place in the 1960s; the cones here in a tossed set. Vintage quilt about 1870-1900 Sashing strips include a tossed paisley on the sides and a stripe paisley on the bottom. Paisley from the early 19th century set foulard style, or in a staggered half-drop repeat. Reproductions Shawn used a paisley center as a contrast to a lighter foulard background. Terrific reproduction of mid-century madder style taste. Flying Geese from Nancy's Quilts webpage, 1998. You need tossed sets, stripe sets and foulard sets in your paisley collection Detail of a paisley reproduction by Roseanne Smith Rue Indienne by French General for Moda Three of mine: Striped set, tossed set and grid set Another of my repros in a stripe set. Reproduction star by Becky Brown The dark paisley foulard in the background is from Alice's Scrapbag, my fall Moda collection. The repro is the redder print in the corner. The other is the original. Sales reps are showing this collection to shop owners right now. It's both a paisley and a foulard. And a madder-style print too. Two of Nancy Gere's many paisley repros. Paula Barnes does border stripes and neat stripes. Pam Weeks Moda Collections for a Cause: Charity Jo Morton's Caswell County: Foulards and Paisleys Voila by Jo Morton Border is the Leesburg indienne print below in a different colorway Jo Morton Leesburg Atelier by 3 Sisters A tossed set in colors popular in the 1880s and '90s, a different brown with more green in it than red. More on bronze colors later. Paisleys Gone Wild by Becky Brown What to Do with Your Stack of Stars? Alternate with a Nine Patch. The star is based on a Nine Patch with a proportion of 1:2:1 so a block based on the same geometry goes well. My sewing group alternated stars and nine-patches in our Summer Birthdays William Morris quilt. Summer Birthdays by the Sew Whatevers I found the same idea in Quilts by Katlin, A few years ago Moda's Three Sisters did a Hollywood and Vines quilt alternating the star with a four patch in the middle of the nine patch One More Thing About Paisley Prints Sandra Dallas’s 1995 novel about a quilting club in Kansas during the Great Depression established the name Persian Pickle for the boteh design. I could find no 19th-century references to “Persian Pickle” or anything that didn’t have to do with Dallas’s book. That’s the thing about good fiction—it can make you believe it’s all very real. See a discussion of that name in my post and in the comments. In Russian they called the boteh a Gherkin. http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2010/04/persian-pickles-and-shawl-prints.html

From Stella Rubin's inventory. About 1820-1840 When I dream about getting really good at piecing I dream I will make a quilt like t...

Карл Бегас (Karl Begas, 30.09.1794 — 23.11.1854) - немецкий художник родился в Хайнсберге (Heinsberg). его отец, юрист по профессии, очень хотел, чтобы сын пошел по его стопам, но со школьных лет у Карла обнаружились способности к рисованию. он делал прекрасные наброски, и в 1812 его отправляют в…

Introduction to the history It gives us great pleasure to offer you an insight into our “treasure trove”.Continue Reading "History of the house"

“It’s Friday Treat Time and we’re heading into the virtual stores to hunt out more treasures requested by our lovely followers! Silk satin wedding dress by Mrs O’Donovan of New York, 1900 👰 A light green woven silk dress with gigot sleeves, ca. 1835 🍃 #MuseumFromHome”

This 18th-century Dutch Delftware serving dish is decorated in blue and white with a semis of lush flowers, surrounded by scrolls in the Delft taste. The lip showcases a frieze of further flowers and geometrical ornaments. with a large size and bold decor in a classic colour combination, it is the perfect piece to hang on a wall.

As you are most likely aware we have a passion for genuine early nurseryware and childhood antiques. These pottery mugs, jugs and plates were often given to young children as a christening gift or as a reward for diligence, good behaviour etc at Sunday school. Therefore each one is very special and also charmingly beautiful. We love to see the different fonts and decorative flourishes that were used during this 1820 to 1840 period. This fabulous pink lustre mug was produced in England circa 1820. This is one of the most desirable types of nursery ware, a NAMED mug! This mug would have been given to a young Thomas. The mug features a geometric transfer printed orange/red transfer printed design reading ‘Thomas.’ The mug also features a hand painted pink lustre border to the interior and exterior of the mug. This is an extremely rare mug, due to the very nature of children’s china very few examples have survived. This is the perfect item for anyone who collects early nurseryware or anyone with a Thomas in the family. Measuring: Width including handle 3 1/8 inch (8 cm) by height 2 5/8 inch (6.5 cm). Condition: Very Good. Minor old graze to rim. Minor nibbles to foot rim, a few minor perfectly stable firing faults to foot rim. Minor old little air bubble firing fault to handle. ITEM ID:14627

Carl von Steuben (1788–1856)

Article: Pennsylvania In The Heart Of Texas by Johanna McBrien & Phil S. Grant on Incollect.

Dress, aubergine coloured silk, made in England, ca. 1825-1830

From the seller: An exquisite 1810-1820 muslin high crown day cap. The front of the cap has a panel of white embroidery. The front brim and neckline are trimmed with lace trimmed ruffles. The back crown has a circle and embroidered insert. The circle is outlined with lace. The day cap has white silk chin ties. The day cap is in very good condition. There is no age discoloration and no holes in the muslin fabric. There are a few tiny breaks in the lace trim. From Me: With the pleats giving more height to the back of the cap rather than giving it a baggy look, this is probably early 1820's. Here are some similar hats and bonnets from the late Regency, early Romantic Era. National Trust 1820s cap Met Sunbonnet 1825 Women's Cap 1820's

Пока вы все еще находитесь под впечатлением от вчерашнего Дня всех влюбленных, думаю, очень кстати будет мой пост про шпильки для волос и броши «Стрелы амура». В XIX веке женские украшения, как сказали бы сегодня, были частью стильного образа дам. Например, когда вслед за…

Here is a scrumptious early 1820s ballgown (when all the puffs and furbelows really came into style with a bang!). Look at all the detailing on this gown and imagine the work! The slashed sleeves are simply a feast for the eyes, and the cording on the bodice just amazes me with its perfect stitch

You know all of these dress posts are going to take many parts each… There are a dizzying number of different terms applied to female attire of our period. Some of these terms were used in the period itself, and others have been subsequently applied by historians of fashion. From these fashion terms, one would think that women literally had an outfit set aside for every specific occasion they might conceivably come across: walking dresses, carriage dresses, riding dresses, visiting dresses, dinner dresses, opera dresses, and so on. I’m not going to adhere too tightly to these terms, except when there seems to be a good, practical reason to make a distinction between, say, an opera dress and a ball gown, or a carriage dress and a walking dress. In today’s post, I’m just going to start addressing the outfits that were considered informal dress, that is, day dress (in contrast to evening dress). I’ll do my best to distinguish between informal and formal dress, but sometimes it’s tough when I have no description to go along with the picture, so a few dinner dresses might slip into this post unnoticed. :) I will only look at dresses for now, not coats, pelisses, or capes (though distinguishing between pelisses and day dresses can also be tough), and I will try to restrict myself to the dresses without bothering yet about matching accessories like pelerines. I think the easiest way to organize the vast amount of information I have on these topics is to talk about day dresses in general, and then address each feature of these dresses in particular. It will take several posts to cover all of this, because I have a million examples, both of fashion plates and of extant garments. I also want to do a few full case studies of some of the representative garments that are more fully documented through photographs. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City) and the Victoria & Albert Museum (London) are, as usual, some of the best sources for these well-documented garments. Let’s begin with a general overview of the day dress. Remember the desirable hourglass silhouette of this period… …and the complex undergarments required to create this shape: So what goes over those undergarments? I will include in the category of “day dresses” any kind of dress that is, well, worn during the daytime. That is, including dresses like “promenade” dresses and “morning” dresses, but not “opera” dresses or “ball” dresses. In other words, I am treating day dress as almost a synonym for informal dress. These dresses could vary a great deal in materials, level of detail, fabric patterns and designs, and shape/size of various components (sleeves in particular). There were dresses worn for “informal” purposes that we might perceive as quite fancy, especially those made of silk, but technically they were meant for showing off in the Luxembourg, not for dancing the night away at Mme de X’s high society ball, and so they belong with the day dresses. These dresses include the following types: morning dresses; walking or promenade dresses; carriage dresses; visiting dresses; and all manner of other unspecified types of informal dress. In general, there are two types of garments seen among all these: the first is a stiffer dress that looks almost like a pelisse or coat, often lined with fur and looking like a winter garment for outdoor use; the second is a lighter garment made of silk, cotton, linen, etc., which is more of a summer outdoor garment and is often paired with a pelerine or other type of modesty shawl. Before I discuss the individual components of these dresses, how they’re constructed, and so on, I feel like I should just give a general idea of the shapes, the colors, and the styles that you’ll commonly see in these dresses. I’m going to spend this entire first post just literally laying out tons of fashion plates, because that’s the easiest way to get a feel for the “look” of this decade, without worrying about details yet. Of course these are idealized images, not to be taken as evidence of what people actually wore or looked like, but they do drive the fashions that people would like to wear. These are the styles and shapes that 1825-1835 wanted to be the representation of itself. And taken as a sort of art form of their own, they can be extremely beautiful drawings, especially when done by expert artists. I won’t yet talk about other sources like portraits and extant garments, which would indicate what people actually wore. Let’s just focus on the ideal silhouettes for the moment. So here we go. I’ll list them chronologically, to the extent that I have that information, so that you can see the shift from the silhouette and fashions of 1825… …to those of 1835… and everything in between. A note on fashion plates themselves in this period: they were printed in monthly “women’s magazines” like the Journal des dames et des modes. These periodicals existed in several different countries, but they generally took their cues from Parisian fashions, and the Parisian fashion magazines became the main means of spreading those fashions from France to other countries. For instance, English fashion magazines would advertise “the latest fashions from France” and sometimes even directly copied fashions published in French magazines. The Parisian fashion magazines were also a way to advertise locally to Parisian consumers: they often included information at the bottom of each plate, indicating the dress shop that had designed the dress and sometimes even the hairdresser who had designed the hairdo on the model. And in a time before fashion mannequins were common in dress shops, fashion plates and fashion dolls were the only real way to advertise or even describe the product to the customer. These magazine fashion plates, of which there were only a couple included in each issue, were usually printed as special plates on a heavier stock of paper than the rest of the magazine and colored by hand with watercolor (I assume it’s watercolor–that’s what it looks like). It’s perfectly likely that several copies of the same fashion plate may still exist today, since a number of them were printed at the time, and the likelihood of that goes up the more popular the magazine was. I have a few extant examples here from the 1820s that were not colored, but most everything after 1830 seems to have been colored. One more thing to note: many of these plates are from the same magazines in the same years, and hence used the same artists, so if the women all start to look quite alike, that’s one reason why. Let’s just say that these artists, while skilled at rendering clothing detail, didn’t strain themselves too hard to move beyond the idealized female face. So here we go… 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 Uncertain date (ca. 1830-1835) Undated Achille Deveria prints from the early 1830s (not exactly fashion plates, but at least partially so–intended as idealized portraits of feminine beauty and fashion): There’s obviously lots and lots that I could say about the various details and such on these fashion plates, but it’s better if I leave that for the next post and instead limit myself here to some comments on the general chronological changes going on with these dresses. The dresses from the earliest parts of our period still have a faint flavor of the Empire-style dresses of the 1810s: a relatively high waist (higher than the natural waist), with a narrow skirt that is gathered noticeably more to the back than to the front, with the front of the skirt falling pretty straight and flat. These skirts are long, usually covering most of the shoe, and their hems are stiffened by different varieties of poofs, pleats, and other decorations. The sleeves are slightly puffed at the shoulder and narrowed at the wrist. As the decade goes on and we move into the early 1830s, there are a couple of key changes occurring in these basic shapes. The waist of the dress continues to drop, coming closer to the natural waist. The skirt broadens and fills out into more of a bell shape, gathered all around the waist, though still slightly more in the back than in the front. The hem of the skirt also rises to the ankle or even just above the ankle, showing the shoes pretty clearly in the most fashionable skirts (this will become even more evident when we get to evening dresses and ball gowns). The sleeves are the most bizarre and characteristic change occurring in this period: the wrists remain tight and narrow, while the shoulders balloon out into increasingly impractical massive poofs, called gigot (literally “leg-of-mutton”) or imbecile (“idiot”) sleeves. These unique sleeves, often ridiculed and caricatured by both modern commentators and contemporaries, are actually designed with incredible creativity and beauty and can vary quite a bit in their design elements, and we’ll certainly have to take a closer look at them in upcoming posts. So now that we’ve covered the basic idea of what fashion was “supposed to” look like ca. 1830, I’ll break it down in future posts. In the next post, we’ll see what actual garments from this period looked like, and how well they conformed to the ideal. From there we can look at individual components of the dresses (skirts, sleeves, bodices, etc.), details of design, and then practical aspects like construction. Whew–still a long way to go yet!

Sometimes historical costuming takes you by surprise. You’re there watching one of your favorite science-fiction space dramas when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there’s historical cl…

For Māori, Te Henga or Bethells as it is also known, is a very important location. During pre-European times the Waitakere ranges including ...

Bumble Button Free download & print Victorian, Edwardian & Vintage Ephemera. For crafters & artists. Journals Labels, Greeting Cards, Scrapbooking.

See hats from VFG members on Etsy (paid link) Is a hat a frivolous accessory or a necessity? When looking into its history it quickly becomes apparent that it has been both. Headwear for women began in earnest during the Middle Ages when the church decreed that their hair must be covered. During the 18th …

This is a c. 1820 to 1840 10" redware plate with a coggled rim and yellow slip decoration that reads 'James'. It was most likely manufactured in Norwalk, Connecticut by Absalom Day or the firm Smith and Day. Please study the photos for condition. It is quite heavy and thick. There is a repaired break where the plate split in half and cracks emanated in multiple directions. It also rim chips and wear. This is priced accordingly and in better condition, this would sell in the $1200 range. It is a wonderful piece to display in the back of the cupboard, which is where I tuck my repaired pieces. There is a blob of clear museum wax on the back which I will attempt to rub off before I ship.

Isn't she lovely in her fan front bodice, with all the characteristic of 1840's fashion: her bodice long and tight with fan-shaped gathering, pointed in the front and fastening in the back, the neckline wide and shallow, the sleeves long and tight. I recently purchased a dress from an online dealer, described as "Edwardian" but it was clear even in the blurry photos that it was definitely from an earlier era...and made of stunning fabric too! I was so pleased when the box arrived and my thoughts were confirmed when this beautiful wool challis 1840's fan front dress emerged! The fabric is so outstanding, brilliant green with a pattern of botehs or paisley that increase in size from top to bottom. The dress is completely hand sewn, closes up the back with hooks and eyes. Tiny self fabric piping is found at the arms-eye, the shoulder and finishing the sleeve; larger piping finishes the waist. The only trim is a bit of fringe on the sleeves. The sleeves are cut on the bias, are lined and are one piece, with just a bit of gathering at the elbow for wearing ease - I've used this style of sleeve, which was briefly popular again in the early 1860's, on some of my reproduction dresses and it's quite comfortable. The skirt is not lined, with the exception of a polished cotton hem facing; there is no hem braid, the fashion fabric has been just slightly turned to the interior. The panels making up the skirt run selvedge to selvedge, and have been joined with a running stitch. The pattern was printed to allow for the pattern to match up when this technique was used, although the seamstress was a little off in her join in this case. The skirt was gauged at the waist. At some point, a modern alteration was made and the excess fabric at the front point was removed and added to the back of the bodice to enlarge the dress. While an alteration of this type was done in the period, after all, fabric was expensive, this particular example is so crude, I believe it to be modern. However, it could be easily reversed - the original hooks can be felt still in their proper places and the fabric could be used to restore some of the more damaged areas. This photo shows the princess seams used on the front and the clever and careful way the fabric was cut to emphasize a tiny waist. Here's a view of the bodice interior - even the basting stitches are still in place! Despite the modern "remuddling" and the damage to the fabric, especially the underarms, it's a beautiful dress and a wonderful example of 1840's fashion! Available for purchase here.