What makes chocolate cups different from teacups or coffee cups? Does it really matter? Absolutely!
Those who regularly read my blog will know I have a fascination with strong historical characters – and especially women. I suppose this reflects on my belief that I am a strong woman – and would have made a great ruling queen back when ruling queens and kings wielded real power. Of course, had I […]
What gentlemanly professions were open to the younger sons of the gentry?
British Amazons? In the Regency? Not possible--or was it?
Sombre snapshots from the nineteenth century reveal the trend for portraits taken in the throes of grief at a time when Queen Victoria led England's mourning of her husband Prince Albert.
1480s Florentine gown Renaissance costume
As Peter Morgan's The Crown grips the nation, Vogue explores our fascination with the royal family and asks: are they really so different to the rest of us?
Naval service was different than the other branches of the military, and naval officers different than army officers.
A gentleman's education set him apart from lesser men, even in his early life. What did that education look like?
Headdress Mid 19th Century MFA
New England Block by Becky Brown New England Block can remind us of Louisa May Alcott's and her fellow New Englanders' early enthusiasm ...
Regency Era Masquerade Balls and a gallery of costumes.
Headdress Mid 19th Century MFA
As soon as I heard about the Degas, Impressionism and the Paris Millinery Trade exhibit at the St. Louis Art Museum I had…
By Lisa J. Yarde When the Normans crossed the Channel and invaded England in 1066, they brought a new culture, language, architectural style and legal codes to the conquered country. They also replaced at least ninety percent of the landed aristocracy with members of their own class. The new Norman nobility could afford to be fashionable with their increased lands and wealth. At first, they wore costumes that would have been familiar to their English counterparts, having encountered the Norman retinue of King Edward the Confessor prior to the Conquest. The types or colors of dyes used for fabric, the quality of the fabric, and embellishments including embroidery or colored, ornamented braid known as passements, indicated class distinctions. For instance, the nobility had access to fine linen, woolen cloth and later, silk, but the average person would have worn a homespun cloth of russet or coarse wool. Clothing styles for women often changed; the tight-fitting sleeves for women’s dresses in the late eleventh century became elongated during the reign of King Stephen, only to revert to the former fashion in the late twelfth century. The Crusades also influenced fashion, with the introduction of silk and the surcote, modeled on twelfth-century Persian garments. From 1066 through the 1130’s, the dress of a Norman noblewoman followed the example at the left, a representation of Queen Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror. In this representation of William’s diminutive queen, she wears a white robe as her outermost garment. Embroidery decorates the wrists and neckline of the robe. The bodice is form-fitting, while the skirt widens at the hips and falls in folds. Although not visible, it's likely she wears a camise / chemise next to the skin as an undergarment. The material for the undergarment would be chainsil, made from flax into a fine cloth. The girdle, which the Normans also introduced, drapes her hips with tasseled ends trailing almost to the floor. The blue mantle covering the robe also bears the same rich embroidery on its border. Mantles were a distinct mark of the nobility. Cords fastened them across the shoulders. A thin veil, the Norman couvrechef, covers her head. The Normans typically used white cambric or chainsil for the veils. A Norman noblewoman might have worn a circlet of silver or gold to hold the veil in place. The costume of Queen Matilda's granddaughter and namesake from the late twelfth century is shown on the right. She was the daughter of Henry I and fought her cousin Stephen for the English crown during a period known as the Anarchy. Her outermost garment is the bliaut, fashioned from silk and dyed in varying colors. The most noticeable difference is the addition of voluminous sleeves, fitting closer at the shoulder before widening to the wrists. The bliaut also has a wider skirt with many folds. This one is also lined inside with a green material. A billowing red mantle falls around the shoulders and back. A sleeveless corsage over the bliaut seems to have gold or jewels on its surface. Another change is the visible hair in an elaborate style of nearly floor-length braids bound in gold ribbon. The girdle of previous decades remains, but the veil is no longer strictly white. Fashionable Anglo-Norman women also enhanced their costumes with brooches, fastenings for their mantles and girdles ornamented with pearls, gold and silver, precious gemstones and enamels. One standard remained the same no matter the decade. Women always wore long garments covering them from neck to ankles. Lisa J. Yarde writes fiction inspired by real-life events. She is the author of historical novels set in medieval England and Normandy, The Burning Candle,based on the life of Isabel de Vermandois, and On Falcon's Wings, chronicling the star-crossed romance between Norman and Saxon lovers. Lisa has also written Sultana and Sultana’s Legacy, novels set during a turbulent period of thirteenth century Spain,where rivalries and ambitions threaten the fragile bonds between members of a powerful family.
From simple barbettes, crespines, and wimples worn in Anglo-Saxon times to the pillbox hat popularized by Jackie Kennedy in the mid-twentieth century, hats and headdresses have — for centuries — played an important part of a lady's wardrobe. This informative and meticulously researched book provides an authentic record of more than 1,300 years of changing fashions in women's hairstyles and headwear in England.More than 400 of the author's own drawings — rendered from ancient sources — trace these evolving fashions. Finely detailed images depict turbans; horned, heart-shaped, and butterfly headdresses preferred by fifteenth-century English ladies; seventeenth-century hoods and veils; elaborate hats and hairstyles of the Georgian period; early Victorian-era bonnets; net and lace caps and small hats of the late nineteenth century; and the emancipated look in both hairstyles and hat styles of the early twentieth century.The author has written a separate introduction for each historical period, placing headdresses and hairstyles in the fashionable context of their time. Pages of drawings are accompanied by detailed notes on the styles illustrated, including information on the materials used and the varying methods of manufacture. A brief glossary and bibliography add to the book's effectiveness. For those who want to get their historical details accurate, this profusely illustrated guide will be an invaluable reference. "Designers for any media and students of history will use and enjoy the book." (Choice). "Remarkably entertaining." (The Economist)
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Queen Maude of Norway’s Coronation Gown - detail - 1906 - by Vernon and Silkehuset. Source
