Cardigans through time

By | December 14th, 2022|Categories: Fashion, Women's History|Tags: , |

‘Tis the season to be cozy! To many of us, that means wool socks, space heaters, and when we finally leave the house, cardigans.  A salute to the origins of the cardigan I love a good fashion history origin story! Especially those that involve accidental trends started by literal fires. Remember the story of the [...]

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 [...]

Want a Regency-inspired fall? Try a Spencer jacket.

By | September 12th, 2021|Categories: Accessories, Fashion, Regency Era|Tags: , |

What is your favorite Regency fashion? I think mine might be the Spencer jacket, though it took some paper dolls from the period to show me... Last weekend I wrote a fun piece about early printed paper dolls, Little Fanny and her cohorts Little Henry and Naughty Ellen. The dolls were accompanied by charming storybooks [...]

A short history of the hand muff, one of history's cutest accessories

By | December 15th, 2020|Categories: Accessories, Fashion, Victorian Era, Victorian Fashions, Women's History|Tags: , , , |

Last year I wrote about the various ways that women and families stayed warm during the cold months in Victorian times. I mentioned the little-known use of hot ceramic bottles sometimes placed in a hand muff and said that I’d love to come back to write more about this particular fashion accessory. Well, hand muffs [...]

100 Years of Winter Coats

By | December 8th, 2020|Categories: 1920s fashion, 1950s Fashions, Fashion, Victorian Fashions|Tags: , , , |

There is no denying that winter is here. For the past year and a half I have lived in Denver, Colorado and I am still learning about how to dress for the chilly months and I’m enjoying it more than I thought I would. I was raised in Arizona and before moving to Denver had [...]

Staying warm in the Victorian winter

By | January 14th, 2020|Categories: Victorian Era, Victorian Fashions|Tags: , , , , , |

A few weeks ago I bought my first pair of snow boots and cannot believe the difference that they have made in my overall comfort this winter. I have recently moved to snowy Denver after five years in Australia and had to accept that my Converse Allstars aren’t really the best for walking around icy [...]