Bloomers: the national controversy of the 1890s

By | January 13th, 2022|Categories: Fashion, Underpinnings, Victorian Era, Victorian Fashions, Women's History|Tags: , , , |

This weekend I have been hard at work preparing a presentation for Historic New England titled: The Dress Reform Movement: Who, What, When, Where, and HOW. One of the points I love making in my presentations is that the radical nature of the bloomers and the public outcry that they caused when they momentarily returned to [...]

Irene Castle: Flapper Era’s Best Dressed

By | December 15th, 2021|Categories: 1920s fashion, Edwardian Era, Edwardian Fashion, Entertainment, Fashion, Roaring 20s, Women's History|

I have often seen references to "Irene Castle Corticelli" in my research for Recollections blog posts but didn’t know much about the woman behind the brand. I love studying the lives of women related to the fashion industry of the 1910s and 1920s so have had her on my list for a while. I was [...]

Edwardian motoring fashions

By | December 8th, 2021|Categories: Edwardian Era, Edwardian Fashion, Fashion, Women's History|Tags: , , |

I recently gave a presentation on women and the Victorian bicycle craze and explored the way that women’s fashion was examined as the popularity of the bicycle. At the end of the presentation, I touched briefly on the next craze on wheels that hit the public, the automobile. I showed a selection of images from [...]

Madge Syers: breaking the ice on women’s figure skating

By | November 29th, 2021|Categories: Women's History|Tags: , , |

I love studying the beginning of women and sport, especially as it relates to advancements and social change that took place in the Victorian era. Last week I was preparing to give a presentation on women and the bicycle craze of the 1890s and as the temperatures were dropping each day I started thinking about [...]

Ellen Demorest: Victorian fashion icon

By | November 27th, 2021|Categories: Civil War, Fashion, Victorian Era, Victorian Fashions, Women's 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 [...]

Elegance at home: Victorian wrappers

By | November 21st, 2021|Categories: Fashion, Underpinnings, Victorian Era, Victorian Fashions, Women's History|Tags: , |

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 [...]

A brief history of dollhouses and their influencers

By | October 24th, 2021|Categories: History of the home, Women's History|

If you follow the Recollections blog, you may have noticed that I enjoy writing about dolls and novelty items from history. It’s true, I like all things cute. The history of dollhouses has been a topic I’ve looked forward to covering here for some time. I collect dollhouse furniture and have said for many years [...]

Fanny Fern: celebrity journalist

By | October 21st, 2021|Categories: 19th Century Literature, Victorian Era, Women's History|

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. [...]

One hundred years of nightgowns: from the Victorian era to the 1950s

By | October 3rd, 2021|Categories: 1920s fashion, 1950s fun, Edwardian Era, Fashion, Roaring 20s, Underpinnings, Victorian fashion, Women's History|Tags: , , |

There is something about cooler temperatures that always gets me thinking about pretty and/or comfy sleepwear. Even though it has been just one week of fall here in Denver, I am already dreaming about flannel nightgowns, terry cloth robes, and Uggs. As often happens, I started to think about the evolution of the clothing item [...]