For Your Amusement: Edwin Abbot’s take on the Bustle

In case you are unfamiliar, Edwin Abbot wrote what was considered by some to be the first Science Fiction Novel, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, in 1884.
Abbot’s metaphysical novel uses dimensionality and abstract characters to instruct and enlight. ‘Flatland’ is a two-dimensional universe, inhabited by geometric characters. Our hero is a ‘Mr. Square,’ with [...]

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The Heroic, Platonic Ideal and Historical Costuming

It’s National Historical Costumer Appreciation Day!*
People are nuts about Tolkien. They love the empowerment of the individual, the watermark of his tales. No hero embarks of a quest whose outcome he or she knows. But they fight anyway, willing to stare into the abyss, and with the ever present jugdement and threat of self-death above [...]

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Venetian Courtesan, 1600

I’m going to bite the bullet and start posting past work. It’s a daunting task because there is a lot of it. This one comes first because it was the easiest to grab.
The Venetian Courtesan gown has a heroic background similar both to the 1875 bustle gown and to the character who would have worn [...]

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What Giselle can teach us about Historical Costuming

First, this post is about the ballet, Giselle, not the supermodel. Second, I can’t believe I forgot to mention Giselle in the context of the 1840s!
Let me start by saying that I love Giselle. It’s a beautiful ballet. But, I love Giselle the same way I love foie gras: it’s something of a forbidden pleasure, [...]

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Static of the 1840s: What were they thinking?

After consuming a significant number of books on scientific advances in the 1840s, I wonder why, in such a highly charged atmosphere of innovation and energy, their clothes and hairstyles were so dreadful.As much as I enjoy championing the champion-less, I would take up the cause of this decade begrudgingly, and only out of a [...]

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Alpine Hikes & 19th Century Costume

I wanted to post an 1885 photograph showing a group of tourists – including women with bustles – crossing the Mer de Glace. I don’t have a scanner, so I was hoping to find something like it online. But instead, I found this: a wonderful article on a team of intrepid climbers who chose to trace [...]

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Proof of a Train

I decided to re-examine the back of the gown today. If there were a detachable train, I thought, there would need to be a method to attach it’s sides to the dress so the train didn’t fly up like a superman cape. Lo and behold, I found the method. There are a series of small [...]

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Inspiration in Olive, Part III

The Skirt Exterior
 
This is the fun part… Since the skirt is asymmetrical with overlapping pieces and numerous interconnected layers, I will go clockwise around the skirt with the descriptions/explanations.
The base skirt is gold/tan cotton, the top of which can be seen at the waist. The base skirt is gathered into the waistband and sewn by [...]

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Inspiration in Olive, Part II

Bodice Interior
 
 
The bodice is interlined with gold-colored silk with a slight herringbone pattern. The exterior seams are piped with olive satin piping and interfaced in olive satin. The interior seams are finished off with gold whipstiching. A piece of wool tape is attached to the seam excess on the inside (see middle of bodice inside [...]

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Inspiration in Olive, Part I

After examining my olive gown (see first post for background), I have concluded that she is a Natural Form gown going into the second bustle period and not a late bustle. That would put her at about 1884 to 1885. When you are young, objects seem larger, and I remembered a great deal of space [...]

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