There is something about hat boxes that adds such a nice touch to a room or a feeling of sophistication to a scene. While they may not elicit as much excitement as vintage hats themselves, they are elegant reminders of a time past. A time of daily formality and attention to detail. A time when [...]
A brooch is the perfect finishing touch to any Victorian dress or ensemble. I know I have regretted not having one more than once when dressing for a 19th-century-themed event! We have some great options here at Recollections, my favorite is the fairy cameo below. Vintage Fairy Brooch The cameo style is a very distinctive [...]
One thing I love about my Recollections dresses is the deep pockets hidden in the pleats and folds. They are absolutely perfect for carrying my iPhone and lipstick. The pockets are one of the subtle modern conveniences that make Recollections so great. While they are great examples of 19th-century clothing, in truth, dresses from that [...]
It is an example of one of those things you don’t notice until someone points it out to you, and then you see it everywhere. The wonderful founder of Recollections recently suggested that a post on Victorians and plaid may make for a fun read. I had never really thought about it before, but when [...]
I love wearing petticoats! Recently I wrote a post about the history of petticoats and discovered that our readers love them as well. I am also a big fan of the history of the corset and its variations over time. It is therefore surprising that I have never done much digging into the history or [...]
The Victorian era saw many extreme fashions that came and went relatively quickly. I have covered my favorites for Recollections, including the rise and fall of the bustle, which took place in the 1880s. I have tended to focus on extreme styles that emphasized the various trending silhouettes over the years, but there were also [...]
Some people like to dress up, and some people don’t. Personally, nothing makes me feel more regal and confident than a full skirt with a petticoat underneath. Besides this, most of the fashion trends that I have studied involve women’s clothing that required a petticoat to wear properly, yet I have never done much reading [...]
I love parasols. They are dainty, delicate, and automatically find you feeling demure when using one. While still in use today, they very much peaked in popularity in the Victorian era, when they were seen as status symbols, indications of a sense of style, and yet another flirting tool. I have been looking forward to [...]
The travel bug has bitten me once again! I have been a world traveler my entire adult life and found it challenging to stay put the last two years, though I did gain a lot from doing so. My first trip since the beginning of the pandemic was my glorious Christmas holiday to Tombstone Monument [...]