Imagine a sweltering summer day in Victorian England. It is not a difficult stretch of the imagination today as we push through August, but in the 19th century, with the burden of heavy clothing and without the convenience of air conditioning, relief was more difficult to find than today. One of the joys were street vendors [...]
The 1930s was a key era in the evolution of women's fashion. This decade was characterized by a shift from the extravagant and ornate "flapper" styles of the 1920s towards more refined, sleek silhouettes. The glitz and glamour of Hollywood played a significant role in shaping fashion trends in the 1930s. Chic evening dresses, tailored [...]
WHAT IS COSPLAY? By Christine Skirbunt , Guest Writer First, let’s try to answer the seemingly simple question of “What is cosplay?” Cosplay (shorthand for “Costume Play”), in its simplest definition, is that it is the practice of dressing up as characters from anime (animation that first originated from Japan), manga (the art in comics [...]
Recollections is moving into the 21st century! (and we're not talking about clothes) A year ago, we set out on a mission to revolutionize our manual cutting processes. Each piece of clothing - be it a dress, skirt, blouse, or jacket - necessitated meticulous hand cutting using our decades of cherished patterns. It was a [...]
True, Victorian blouses are a common sight in period films and TV series, but did you know that they weren't in vogue throughout the Victorian era? They emerged in response to the Victorian Dress Reform movement. Tired of the discomfort of bustles, hoop skirts, and painful corsets, women gradually adopted a more refined corset. The [...]
I enjoy figurines and trinkets, still buying various types to decorate my home. It is not important to me that they are collectible or valuable, I just go after items that hold meaning to me. That is how people in the 18th and 19th centuries felt about the now-famous Staffordshire figures. These trinkets from time [...]
Have you ever wondered how Victorian women (and those before them) kept their pre-elastic stockings up? Let’s talk about the history of garters! Do you love fashion from the past? Sign up for our newsletter so you get first access to all of our style guides. The history of garters The timeless need to keep [...]
Welcome to the next edition of Color in the Victorian Era! This week we will be taking a look at yellow. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I began my research and discovered that it was among the more popular colors during the era, at least according to all of the examples of it [...]
I don’t think I would be incorrect to generalize that personal belongings, especially those that were carried around every day, held more meaning to people in days gone far by than today. We have studied some of these items on the blog in our ongoing “trinkets” series. In researching the origin, meaning, and purpose of [...]