Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, were born 200 years ago as of 2019. So it only makes sense that their namesake institution, the Victoria and Albert Museum (better known as the V&A), should celebrate as well.
victoria's secret fashion show 2010
(1) The Ansorena Fleur de Lis Tiara , by Ansorena of Madrid, was a 1906 wedding gift from King Alfonso XIII and began life as a coronet, but Ena had it restructured into a tiara. (2) The Cartier Pearl tiara was purchased by Queen Ena from Cartier of Paris in 1920. (3) The Chaumet tiara, by Chaumet of Paris, was also wedding gift from Alfonso XIII, and originally was a spike tiara in the form of stylized lilies with turquoises mounted in platinum. Ena later replaced the turquoises with diamond brilliants. She sold the Chaumet tiara, and it was resold in 1984 by Christie's Geneva for eleven million pesetas, or approximately $85,000 US dollars. It was reportedly acquired by an "international jewel collector of royal origin." Nothing more than that is known. (4) The arch-shaped Cartier tiara was purchased by Queen Ena in 1927 from Cartier Paris; it contains seven loops or arches with a large pear shaped diamond at its center. This is a recreation of what the original tiara looked like. The current whereabouts of this tiara are unknown.
A suite of Queen Victoria’s emerald jewels and two tiaras of royal provenance go on show at Kensington Palace for the first time on 30th March.
Amazing news out of London yesterday- the Victoria & Albert Museum has acquired Queen Victoria’s Sapphire Coronet after a temporary export ban was placed on the piece last year. In honour…
67.89 carats Look for flashes of color in the 116 facets of this pear-shaped, champagne-colored diamond. Cut from a 240-carat crystal, it is suspended from a chain of 108 diamonds that total about 45 carats. The necklace was designed by Baumgold Brothers, Inc.
Looking for a bridal hair accessory to romanticize your look? Hair accessories with bows, pearls, and crystals capture a coquette aesthetic and make elegant selections for brides. Shop our editor's picks from brands like Jennifer Behr, Lele Sadoughi, Khaite, Merve Bayindir, BHLDN, and more.
Victoria Emerson bracelets add sparkle and shine to any outfit, including one of my favorites - safari chic.
Her cupid, earrings and dress was amazing. She never looked better, well she may look better today in her wedding. Her dress was from Elie Saab collection.
67.89 carats; Premier mine, Transvaal, South Africa; A 116 facet, pear-shaped champagne colored diamond. Cut from a 240-carat crystal, it is suspended from a chain of 108 diamonds that total about 45 carats. The necklace was designed by Baumgold Brothers, Inc.
A suite of Queen Victoria’s emerald jewels and two tiaras of royal provenance go on show at Kensington Palace for the first time on 30th March.
A suite of Queen Victoria’s emerald jewels and two tiaras of royal provenance go on show at Kensington Palace for the first time on 30th March.
Queen Silvia, Prince Carl Philip, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel represented the Swedish Royal Family at this event. Queen Silvia wore a small purple cocktail hat with silk flowers and …
I had originally planned to buy some white knee high socks and wear them under my dress, but after deciding that I was going to have a good stab at make a late 18th century wardrobe I added stockings to my list. Prior to this I had never sewn with stretch fabric, and I wasn't looking forward to it. The fabric sensed my fear, and this project turned out to be one of those that fights you every step of the way. I started researching last year, looking up extant examples and reproductions. I loved the colours and embroidery on the clocks, much more interesting than a modern white sock. MFA. Pair of clocked stockings. European. c.1650-1750. MFA. Pair of Clocked Stockings. French. c.1790-1800. MFA. Pair of Clocked Stockings. European. c.1750-1800. I bought some fabric off Trademe (New Zealand's version of Ebay) that was described simply as a 'soft cotton knit fabric'. It was only NZ$5 for three metres so I took a chance and bought it. The picture on the auction showed a nice white fabric, but when I got it, it was pale blue! It was certainly knit, and certainly nice and soft, but not white. I decided to make a pair of blue stockings as practice, then bleach the remaining fabric to make one or two white pairs. I searched around for a pattern to use. I loved Before the Automobile's Late 18th Century Stockings, which were self drafted. La Couturière Parisienne's article on 18th Century Stockings had instructions to self draft a pattern, but the most thorough explanation of self drafting I found were Rebecca Manthey's instructions. Although aimed at serious New England re-enactors, there is a wealth of detail and research in her instructions, and they're easy to follow. I made up a pattern for the long gore stocking. This was before I had a real grasp on what part of the 18th century I wanted to focus on, and these stockings aren't really suited to my 1780's wardrobe, being popular up to the 1740's. I cut out the fabric and started to make a mockup of a single stocking, to check the fit. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this process, but you can be assured it was a painful one. I whipstitched the edges together by hand, a slow process that I wasn't very good at. I worried needlessly about the stitches preventing the stockings from stretching, and if I was using the right techniques for stretch fabric. When I finally finished my mockup, there were problems. A few measurements had gone wrong somewhere, and there wasn't enough fabric to even cover my toes! I'm not sure if this is an issue with the instructions, or my bad maths skills. You can see on the pattern above where i've drawn arrows to indicate another inch or so needs to be added to the toe area. My whipstitching was also far too loose, and didn't look nice at all when it was stretched. I practiced whipstitching with the knit on a few scraps, making sure to have tight, close stitches. Then I cut out the pieces for my proper pair of stockings. I took extra care with the slippery, stretchy fabric, and managed to get some neat pattern pieces for the blue fabric, and left enough fabric to bleach. As you can see, the long gore stockings are not good for fabric conservation and don't make for easy cutting. My original idea was to do some nice embroidery along the gores. Nothing on the same scale as the extant examples, but something small to decorate the gores with. I whipstitched the gores into place, leaving the rest of the stocking open for easier embroidering. I (somehow) got the stocking onto my embroidery hoop and started embroidering. I'm almost too embarrassed by the mess I made to show it here, but I will. We all make horrible misinformed mistakes... After documenting and unpicking my failure I left the unfinished stockings in my stash for a few weeks. I came back to them with a much simpler idea. Looking closely at Before the Automobile's stockings, I saw that she had stem stitched the edges of the gores with white embroidery to hide the seam. I decided to do that in a contrasting colour, and then add a small monogram. The stem stitches were great at adding some extra stability to the gores; you can see here how they stop the seams from rolling. The monogram was also done in stem stitch, with some simple swirls on either side. I loved the rose and yellow coloured extant example from the MFA, so I chose a pale yellow to contrast with the blue. The pink of the swirls completes the pastel look. 18th century stockings could be extremely gaudy, so mine are very tame in comparison. A stem stitched gore and a small monogram worked out much better than my original attempt, and I was starting to feel more confident working with the knit. After finishing all the embroidery, I whipstitched the back seam. I had deliberately made the toes two or three inches longer than I needed, to avoid them turning out too short. After the back seam was done I tried the stocking on, and measured where my toes came up to. I cut off the excess fabric on a diagonal, to better fit the shape of my feet. I then whipstitched them closed. I wasn't quite sure what to do with the top of the stockings. Costume in Detail by Nancy Bradford has one example with the top edge left raw, and another with a hem. In the end I decided to fold the top edge over twice, then secure it with a running stitch. These stockings were a nightmare to make. From research to completion they took me about eight months! For most of that time they sat in my cupboard after some disaster happened when I tried to work on them. I so happy they're finished now, and all the mistakes just means the next pair will be easier. I hope.
