#FridayNightFrills 18th Century wedding ensemble, c.1780 via @ChertseyMuseum
If you're anything like us, you have probably been really into the moment the color pink is having in fashion this summer, thanks to a certain iconic doll. It's been really fun and inspiring to see people from all different aesthetic groups and fashion spaces
Woman's overdress of hand-painted and dyed cotton, Coromandel Coast, ca. 1760-1770
I've been posting fashion plates from the late 1700's over the past several months; many depicting the styles that were popular during the time of Marie Antoinette and thought it would be fun to throw in some real costumes from the time. I've had a bit of costume adventure in the past few days and posted a large assortment of historical costumes to my Pinterest account to keep track of them. You can see them all HERE. Museum websites are a great place to see authentic fashions from days gone by as are any number of blogs and fashion websites. Here are some of my top pics of late 1700 fashionable clothing that I've recently placed on my Museums Fashion - Pinterest board. Robe à la Française") c. 1780- France from The Kyoto Costume Institute I've chosen this rendition as the main image for this post since it contains many elements that point to the time of Marie Antoinette and French High Fashion of the late 1700's; including wide panniers, high hair and whimsical hair ornamentation such as the ship on top. See and read more about it at KCI -HERE or see it on my Pinterest board HERE Back in March 2012, I did a post about "Naughty" French Fashions showing fashion plates of decolletage so low that a ladies breasts were exposed. Many museums do not show good examples of this trend but I've found a few and here they are. 1780 ensemble "bares" it all. Image from American Duchess.blogspot.com This great example of a low cut "Caraco" was found on The American Duchess blog HERE It's a great blog so I hope you pull it up and visit a while. 1770-80 PINK SILK BROCADE ROBE A LA FRANCAISE. Sack back open gown A wonderful Museum quality vintage garment from Augusta-Auction This view give you an idea of how exposed this garment makes the wearer should she choose not to wear any additional "modesty" accessory. And here is the garment with "modesty" left somewhat intact. 1770-80 PINK SILK BROCADE ROBE A LA FRANCAISE. Sack back open gown It's amazing what a little scrap of cloth can hide - wink. I've also posted this dress to my Pinterest board HERE Undergarments of the late 1700's c1780 "Unmentionables" stays and panniers - from LACMA Here is a nice example of what a 1780's lady may have worn under her garment. The stays would have ciched you in and puched you up; presented a pretty bosom while the panniers would have exagerated the hips and supported yards of fabric. Note how the extra fabric under the stays are basically all that keeps her from exposing her "charms" - here again it was not uncommon for ladies of this period to expose their breasts but museums seem to have a difficult time showing this common fashion trend. I find it a fun game to see if I can spot them out regardless. Here is an example of exposed breasts via a vintage fashion plate. Others can be seen at my post "Naughty" French Fashions" French Fashion plate from c1780 showing just how low the ladies would go. Here is a famous painting of Princess Lambella showing the low bodice fashion of the late 1700's Marie Therese Louise de Savoie Carignan - Princess de Lamballe - wikimedia It was not uncommon for families and museums to "touch-up" such portraits to disguise how revealing these fashions were during this period, so it is a treasure to locate one that has not been "overly" restored, in order to save our modern sensibilities. These "exposed" portraits are a bit difficult to locate; however they do exist from the late 1500s through the early 1800s *************** The late 1700's were full of high fashion and more modest designs. Many of them of rich fabrics and amazing trims. Fashion plates are lovely; however they just can't show the details of lace and metallic thread like the real thing. Here are some beautiful examples that have survived for our viewing pleasure. c1765 Robe a la Française - from LACMA c1760 Robe à la Francaise - from LACMA c1765 Robe à la Française with panniers - from LACMA c1765 Dress (Robe à la Française) - from The MET Portraites and paintings are another great way to view vintage fashions. As in the portrait of Princess Lamballe (seen farther up in the post), we get an idea of style, texture and detail that is more in-depth and real than what is seen in a fashion plate. c1748 Sophie Marie Gräfin Voss by Antoine Pesne found at GrandLadies 1775 Marie-Antoinette by Jean-Baptiste-Andre Gautier d'Agoty (Versailles) found at GrandLadies Lots of other great portraits showing the fashion of the day can be seen at the GrandLadies site. *********** Men's Fashions of the day were every bit as elegant as the ladies costumes. I'm constantly amazed at the amount of embroidery, braid and trim on gents fashions. Many of them; especially court costumes were walking works of art. 1775-89 Court Coat of wool, metal, silk and glass - The MET c1760 French Mens Ensemble - from LACMA c1770-1790's "Habit a la Francaise" - from AntiqueDress 1750-75 Court Suit (back) - French - Silk and Metal thread - The MET This is just a small sampling of some of the amazing period costumes you can view out on the web. I hope it inspires you to do some web searches of your own and start your own Pinterest board of your favorite finds. I'm constantly adding to my own board, with vintage fashion finds of all time periods so you never know what you might find by dropping by. *** Right now one of my top favorite finds are several pairs of super sexy, thigh high boots from the early 1900's. Several comments refer to these as CanCan dancer boots but I'm not convinced and am trying to find out for sure. I hope to post more about them one day when I do Victorian and Edwardian Fashions. Here is just one pair for you to see. I bet you never found a pair of these in your grandmother's closet. 1900-1920 Sexy, leather and cellulose, tall, button boots from Paris - The MET I believe these to be vintage boots tied to an "interesting pursuit" but would like verification; if you know what they are and can send me some links about this style of early 1900 boot, I'd love to know more. Fetish Boots from 1900 - LACMA Update - 08-17-12 - This similar pair of vintage "fetish" boots were at LACMA - the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in a special exhibition, showing them as belonging to a member of the demimonde, possibly of a "courtesan" profession. More on that exhibit including a leather corset can be seen- HERE I love vintage "fetish-wear" it's so intriguing to get a gimps into this side of our predecessors and it makes fashion history all them more interesting. -wink. Till Next time...
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…
The 18th century saw the peak of the Age of Enlightenment. This was focused very much on reason (in various forms, some of which we don’t really use today), but also on values such as liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity and more. These values were all based on the (re)discovered idea that humans had power over […]
I adore vintage fashions and am especially intrigued by those items not usually seen in old fashion plates such as undergarments. I was thrilled to come across an interesting fashion plate from the 1770 - 1780's showing quite a bit of the ladies stocking and the ribbon garter she is about to use to anchor her legwear back in place. Naturally I wanted to have a bit of fun with the image, so I created this fun scene showing her trying to entice her escort in a peek. "Trying not to Peek" by EKDuncan using vintage 18th century fashion plates A bit about 18th Century Stockings Since undergarments aka "unmentionables" were not freely discussed or shown in print for polite society there seems to be a bit of speculation about where a lady would "tie" her stockings. Stocking length of a few inches above the knee seems to be the general concensus on the correct length for a ladies stocking; it is the point of where the garter was placed that seems to be in question. It is widely believed that women used a buckled garter of some type, or a ribbon to tie their stockings off, just below the knee or possibly just above knee. My guess is a lady would "tie off" at the place that was the most comfortable and that which had the least amount of risk for letting the stocking fall about her feet as she moved about. Anchoring just below the knee was a benefit since the calf is generally the larger part of the lower leg and by tying off the stocking just below the knee; the fleshy part of the calf would assist in keeping the stocking from dropping below that point. Anchoring above the knee would require a tighter tying off of the stocking so it would not easily drop or slide below the knee; however if a stocking was not well "fitted" to your leg this method would have had a greater chance of falling out of place. My vote would be for placing my garter below the knee; since this would allow the best chance that my stockings would not drop to the ground as I walked or moved about. Risque images and paintings of the time generally show a ladies stocking being tied off just above the knee or slightly higher. It is possible that artists did this for the titillation factor of showing more leg rather than to depict the historically accurate placement of a ladies stocking garter. Elastic and spandax type materials did not exist at this time. Knit stockings relaxed and stretched as you moved around causing them to shift which is why garters were required. Without the advantage of elasticized garters like those decoratively worn in weddings today; the 18th century garter was usually a tied piece of ribbon or a buckling strap made from leather or decorated cloth. Note - It was not till laterer in Victorian times that ladies stockings covered higher into the thigh area due to the garters extending down from the corset itself rather than encircling a ladies leg. Attaching stockings to a garter belt would be the most modern version us 21st century ladies would be familiar with; but this was not the case prior to Victorian times - just in case you were wondering. Here are a few artistic images showing a ladies stockings and garters from the 18th century. Jean-Honoré Fragonard - The Swing 1767 We get a glimpse of ladies stocking, tied off with a ribbon just above the knee. This is actually a very provocative painting for the period. Notice where the gent is sitting and just imagine what kind of view he has. (remember during this period in time women did not wear undies, bloomers, pantaloons... I think you get the picture. - grins) Francois Boucher-La Toilette - Garter 1742 In the above painting we see a lady tying off her stocking above the knee with a ribbon. Notice she does this in a double wrap style around her leg. Here again this is an artist interpretation of a lady at her toilette. She is dressing for the day since she still wears a bed jacket and I don't know about you but I don't think I'd put my shoes on before tying up my stockings. I have to assume a bit of the titillation factor was the point of this piece considering the provocative placement of her legs and that she already has her heels on. Close up of the Stockings and shoes from the above painting "La Toilette" by Francois Boucher My previous post "Showing a Bit of Ankle" has several fashion plates where the hemline on the dresses are at or above the ankle. Due to this fashion trend of shorter skirts; stockings and shoes became a more noticeable fashion accessory. More care was taken with these items since they were easily viewed due to the shorter skirts and considerably more money was spent in acquiring these items. Generally a lady would have worn white stockings or those in a color that matched her ensemble. Pastels such as pink and powder blue were very much in favor. William Hogarth - A Rake's Progress - The Rose Tavern a brothel in Covent Gardens This is a part of the painting showing one of the "working girls" with her skirts pulled back showing her garter and stockings. These show stockings tied off above the knee as well as a bit of exposed thigh to tease the viewer. (If you are wondering about the "patches" on her face - patches were commonly used during this time period for a bit of fun and to add beauty marks. They were also frequently used to disguise marks on a person caused by "the pox" aka syphilis - which was a very common STD in the 18th - 19th century, especially for prostitutes. It was also one of the top killers of men at the time.) On a brighter note - Notice the decoration on her stockings these are referred to as "clocks" and were an expensive addition to have on your stockings. These probably cost her dearly and so she continues to wear them even-though they have holes and tears in them. Mid 18th century Stockings with "clocks", Shoes and French Buckles - Bata Shoe Museum Toronto Here is an example of actual stockings with fancy clocks as well as shoes and buckles from close to the time of Marie Antoinette. Notice the slightly "fitted" look of them in the calf area. This should have helped to keep the upper portion of these stockings from slipping below the the calf. I'm trying to spot evidence of where they would have tied off but I'm seeing the possibility in the areas both above the knee and below; however there seems to be a significant amount of creasing on the stocking tucked under the top one. Those bunched up creases just above the calf area could be from garter placement below the knee; but your guess is as good as mine if that is the case. *********** Now for the images I used to create my ArtScene "Trying Not to Peek" "Trying not to Peek" by EKDuncan using vintage 18th century fashion plates I used two french fashion plates from the late 18th Century to create my scene. Late 18th Century French Fashion Plate (I flipped and slightly altered this image to use in my scene) Striped stockings were a high fashion accessory for men at this time this fashion plate displays a gentleman all decked out in the latest without crossing the boundaries into being a "Peacock". Back in the times of Marie Antoinette a man of extreme fashion would have been called a "Macaroni" the equivalent in the Regency would have been a "Dandy". For the most part in either time period a man who was refereed to as a "Peacock of Fashion" was also having his masculinity placed into question, so there was a fine line between being a man of fashion and being a peacock. French Fashion Plate showing a lady about to tie her stockings in place with a ribbon This is the original late 18th century fashion plate I started with to create the lady in my "Take a Peek" scene. I removed her background and then created a variety of color options to play with. Here are several png colorized versions I created using the above image. (Notice the stocking color changes to match each outfit) png version of the original fashion plate EKD Periwinkle Version EKD Rose Version EKD Green Version - used in the scene EKD - Purple Version EKD - Blue Version with Green Feathers EKD - Grey Version with Purple Feathers I hope you have enjoyed my take on stockings during this time period as well as this great image that shows quite a bit of leg for a fashion plate of its day. I'll be back a little later on with more great French Fashion plates from the time of Marie Antoinette. Till then...
The Rococo fashion period was filled with floral dresses, a delicate and pleasant inspiration of nature. Many artists have tried to display such beauty in their works. On photos You can see quite simple casual that period dress. On model dress is without the corset. Tailored from soft good natural fabric. This costume includes linen flowered dress. Optionally, we can tailor dress with corset, with chemise, bumroll (bumpad), underskirt. All needed accessories You can find in our shop. Dress in stock is best for measurements: Bust 84-90cm Waist 64-70cm Height 165-175cm If You wish dress in stock, please write us the measurements, we will sew hooks on the bodice to Your size. Rococo period cotton chemise can be ordered here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/886314026/woman-chemise-mid-18th-early-19th Bumroll (bumpad) can be ordered here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/885772816/18th-century-bum-pad-bum-roll-false-rump Corset without tabs: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1186171862/rococo-stays-corset-of-18th-century Corset with tabs: https://www.etsy.com/listing/801534375/rococo-stays-with-tabs-tassets-corset-of If you have any questions or would like to place an order, please, write us!
Blonde, a-b pair of sleeve ruffles each with three flounces; c and d two fragments (pinned to dress: 43.1643a).
This pannier cage can be used for creating right shape to Your 18th century "robe à la française" style dresses. For tailoring we take white or black cotton fabric. The waist measurement is required for tailoring pannier, please, write us into note to the order. Thank You! We use for 3 strong hoops in each pannier. If you have any questions or would like to place an order, please, write us!
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…
Explore Francis Specht's 6427 photos on Flickr!
Today’s post focuses on a project that I did a terrible job of documenting (to be honest, that’s been most of my projects recently). It was also completed more than three months ago, an…
Marie Antoinette and Madame de Pompadour 18th Century fashion usually gets pegged as being full of pink, light blue, ruffles, skirts wide enough to get caught in doorways, lots of escaping bosoms, …
Period Corsets c. 1770 Salon Ensemble www.periodcorsets.com/catalog/the_salon.php
I've taken one of my favorite 1770's French fashion plates and converted her into a PNG image that now allows me to use her digitally in a variety of projects. I really like this particular image since it truly has that over the top Marie Antoinette look; with the big powdered hair, wide pannier skirts and all those ribbons and lace. Ooh La La. This post also includes several more French fashion plates from the late 18th Century as well as a variety of PNG images of this Ball Dress in several color combinations. Enjoy! High Style during the time of Maire Antoinette - digital art by EKDuncan I created this digital scene in Photshop using a vintage 1774 French fashion plate, an altered 1809 curtain from Ackermann's Repository, a photograph of an oriental carpet and a damask patterned background I'm using as wallpaper fro the scene. I also scanned in a fun frame so I could use it digitally to finish off my artwork. Here are some other Extravagant French Fashion Plates from the 1770's and 1780's 1776 French Fashion Plate - Style: Cirassienne "Robe a la Cirassienne" which is a version of the "Robe à la Polonaise". "Cirassienne" is a specific looking version of the "Polonaise". The Cirassienne has more elaborate decorations; specifically trim such as fur or tassels, which distinguish it from the typical Polonaise. 1779 French Fashion Plate "Un Grand Domino" A Domino was a large hooded cloak worn with an eye masque. This allowed a person's identity to remain private and were often worn to masquerades or any place a lady would not wish to be recognized. 1787 French Fashion Plate "Grande Robe a la Sultane" - in the style of a Sultan The bodice has a closed front. The skirt is drapped and tucked with knots and tassels. The headpiece is in a turban style c1774 French Fashion Plate This plate depicts Princess Marie Therese de Savoy dressed in a "Robe de Cour" - in Court Dress c1774 French Fashion Plate "Jeune Dame de Qualité en grande Robe coëffée" A Young Lady of Quality in a Grand Gown This last fashion plate is the one I used to create my PNG; which I then used in my digital artscene. I removed the background items to first create the PNG, then I had some fun changing the colors in Photoshop so that I had several choices to use later on. Here are the PNGs for this image This is the PNG in the original color combination Periwinkle Version - I used this version in my artwork Violet Version Green Version Turquoise Version Gold Version Silver Version Here again is another look at the digital artpiece I created using the periwinkle version of this fun fashion plate. My artscene using the 1774 fashion PNG in the new color I hope you are inspired to create some fun art of your own using some of these vintage fashion plate images. till next time...
I made a new 18th century jacket this week, mainly because I wanted to have something new to wear at Isokyrö 18th century fair. I finished the piece just in time (read: stayed up until 3 a.m. on Friday night to put last stitches on it...) and it was a joy to wear. There were plenty of good reenactor photographers at the fair yesterday so I expect to get some nice pics of the whole get-up in action soonish, but meanwhile here are some I took today. The jacket is a modified version of my earlier black swallowtail jacket. I made the petticoat this week too. I might embroider the hem later. I changed the shape of the hem for this one, making it round rather than pointy The fabric is the same Ikea bed sheet I used for my flowery anglaise. I still have heaps of it left... The jacket is pinned close and it has a separate stomacher with ribbon decoration. Since I dressed up for photos of the jacket I wanted to try some different styles with it. Here's what I came up with: My Parisian chic Party version of the anglaise The anglaise doesn't have proper ribbons to pull the hem up, here it's just pinned and looks a bit strange. Don't look at the hair too closely. I just threw some pins and hair rats at it and didn't style it properly.
