The charming history of Christmas in July and what the future holds

By | July 28th, 2021|Categories: Christmas, Holidays|

It has been another great Christmas in July here at Recollections! I loved sharing more tips on creating a great Mrs. Claus costume and loved that I got to share something brand new with you; Frank Baum’s Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. I thought that it might be fun to end the month with [...]

Bonnets through history: can you tell them apart?

By | July 25th, 2021|Categories: Accessories, American West, Edwardian Era, Edwardian Fashion, Fashion, Hats, Old West, Pioneer Dress, Regency Era, Victorian Era, Victorian Fashions, Women's History|Tags: , , , , |

Last summer I had quite a fun time exploring how the straw hat went from an accessory used mostly by laborers to a shabby chic accessory still enjoyed today. I discovered that bonnets have a similar history, although they started out being used to protect hair while working, were extremely chic for a century or [...]

L. Frank Baum's Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

By | July 20th, 2021|Categories: Christmas, Entertainment, Holidays, Victorian Era, Victorian Era Celebrations|Tags: , , |

Did you know that Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum wrote an entire novel on the life and times of Santa Claus? I had never heard this before and came across a reference to it while doing some online research on the history of Mother Goose. The novel, The Life and Adventures of Santa [...]

Shellie O'Neal: bringing Fanny Crosby to the stage

By | July 14th, 2021|Categories: 19th Century Literature, Customer's Fashions, Entertainment, Recollections, Women's History|

Recently one of our customers reached out to us to purchase a new blouse to refresh a costume she uses in her most interesting of one-woman shows. She got her blouse and sent lovely compliments our way as well. When we learned that she was a long-time performer portraying 19th-century writer and missionary Fanny Crosby, [...]

The anatomy of a perfect Mrs. Claus costume

By | July 10th, 2021|Categories: Christmas, Entertainment, Holidays, Women's History|Tags: , , , |

Christmas in July is here! While many of us will be celebrating with warm pool parties or cocktail get-togethers, it is also a great occasion to start putting together a Mrs. Claus costume to use later in the year. I know a lot of our readers enjoy dressing up, and the world can use more [...]

Victorian letter writing rules

By | July 6th, 2021|Categories: Victorian Era|Tags: |

I am still quite a fan of snail mail and look forward to using the holidays as excuses to send cards and letters to people in my life. And I do so with quite a bit of freedom. I choose my own paper, my own color of ink, and allow my personality to come through. [...]

Victorian riding habits: more than meets the eye

By | June 27th, 2021|Categories: Fashion, Victorian Era, Victorian Fashions, Women's History|Tags: , , , |

Last week I wrote about the Victorian home workout and the various attitudes about female exercise of the time. I included illustrations from exercise 19th century fitness manuals which showed women performing various exercises in their full proper dress of the time; corsets, petticoats, and all. Clothing had not yet evolved to a point where [...]

A chat with the American Prohibition Museum

By | June 23rd, 2021|Categories: 1920s fashion, Roaring 20s, Women's History|Tags: , , |

I recently had the great opportunity to sit down with Travis Spangenburg, creative and production manager for the American Prohibition Museum in Savannah. We had a memorable chat about why the Prohibition Era is such an important part of our country’s history and how the museum is keeping its memory alive. As a Prohibition enthusiast [...]

The Victorian home workout

By | June 19th, 2021|Categories: 19th Century Literature, Victorian Era, Women's History|Tags: , , |

It may seem highly modern, but did you know that Victorians enjoyed home workouts? Women especially were encouraged to exercise at home, petticoats and all.  I have gone digging and have uncovered several early exercise manuals for women. They reveal a lot about 19th-century culture,  and attitudes on health and women. Plus, they are quite [...]