We are in an era of “do what you want” when it comes to women’s hair. I think that it is just as common to see a woman wearing a full up-do or otherwise styled hair as it is to see one with a ponytail and no prep at all. But it certainly wasn’t always [...]
Fashion today is largely presented to the public by showing how it looks on live humans. But it wasn’t always that way. Before the 1900s, mannequins, dolls, and drawings were used to give buyers an idea of what the final product would look like once on. The first fashion show is believed to have taken [...]
Does anyone else feel that it has been a long winter? It really is great to have the sun shining and to know that warmer days are ahead. It has me thinking about afternoons in the sun and relaxing under wide-brimmed hats with Aperol spritzes without a care in the world. All of this daydreaming [...]
Joanna Syrokomla on set I recently had the opportunity to have a fun chat with Joanna Syrokomla, the costume director for Murdoch Mysteries. Joanna has been in her role since season 12 and is as in love with her job as ever. As a new fan of the show and of course as a fashion [...]
Last week we started to unveil our new Regency fashion pieces. I started to explore the basics of what constitutes “Regency dress” and why we love it. This conversation very easily gives way to the hot topic in costuming and historical fashion right now: the Netflix series Bridgerton and how it got the clothing right [...]
We love Regency fashions and are so excited about releasing an entirely new line of styles from the early 1800s for you this week. This, and the fact that we know how much our fans love Bridgerton helped me to decide to do a short series on Regency fashion fun. In today’s first post, I [...]
I somewhat randomly came across the curious Victorian trend of maps of human conditions and experiences, including marriage and being a woman. The Open Country of a Woman’s Heart is of particular interest to me. I thought it would be a wonderful post in the lead up to Valentine’s Day and research soon followed. The [...]
It has been such a fun year of writing for Recollections! About this time one year ago I did a lovely series on the delightful documentary A Very British Romance featuring one of my favorite historians, the fabulous Lucy Worsley. One of the things that I learned whilst watching the documentary is that at the [...]
I have a lot of favorite fashions from the past. Big hats, also known as the Merry Widow Hat, are one of them. I think I just get such a kick out of how extreme the fashions of the Victorian and Edwardian eras were. Many women were looking for as many ways to stand out [...]