How do you spend time with family and loved ones over the Christmas holiday? Are there games or traditions that you enjoy? Do any of them involve trying not to catch on fire? In the Victorian era, that is exactly what one could anticipate with the playing of a popular Christmas eve parlour game, snapdragon. [...]
I have loved blogging for Recollections for the past two years! One of the things that has been so special is that I have had the chance to do a lot of research into holiday traditions of the past. This has added a lot of depth to my holidays and I noticed at Thanksgiving dinner [...]
Do you hang mistletoe in your home over the holiday season? Do you know that of all the holiday traditions that have both ancient and pagan roots that this is one is among the oldest? Or that it was ever-so-saucy Victorians that turned it into the kissing ritual as we know it today? The history [...]
Because I know so many of our customers love costuming, I have wanted to write a post on the early history of sewing patterns for a while now. Little did I know that the printed pattern industry can be traced back to the innovations of a forward-thinking activist who stood at the top of a [...]
I have had a lot of fun exploring nightclothes from the past for the blog this year. And as always, I am a true lover of all things Victorian. As such, the topic of Victorian wrappers has been on my mind for some time. I love that they mimic the shape of the popular dress [...]
Flirting in the Victorian era was a very involved affair. Rather than the very direct ways that we might express our interest in someone today, looking for romance in the 19th century was about looking for one of the few socially-appropriate ways to engage with the opposite sex and then behaving even more carefully. I [...]
I recently wrote a blog post on Victorian nightgowns and found them so fun to look at. I love the idea that so much thought and care was put into garments that wouldn’t be admired by many people. And of course, there is the simple fact that so much of what women wore in the [...]
I love antique etiquette manuals and advice columns. I collect both digital and hard copies and enjoy the beautiful way things are written and seeing how things have changed. There is a really interesting mix of advice that I think is quite timeless and standards that have been outdated for decades depending on the book. [...]
Last year I wrote about the history of the cape and how it has come and gone through fashion history. I noticed that during the Victorian era, one’s opera cape held great significance and that they were grand sights to behold. A post about Victorian and Edwardian opera attire has been on my mind ever [...]