SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
Insight from an exhibit specialist
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There are a
few blogs I keep up with. One of them belongs to a historic clothing
exhibit specialist in the UK. Here is what she wrote regarding a
Regency Era exhibit she is working on.
- The provenance of many of the dresses indicate that the
original owners were from the bourgeois and middle classes of society.
You can gain more of an insight into the fashion history of a cross
section of the population rather than just the clothes of the
aristocracy.
- These dresses answer many questions about Empire/ Regency
fashion and by displaying them in this way you get a sense of how the
dress could have been actually worn. On a few occasions when putting a
dress on a mannequin we could see there was something not quite right
about the way it fitted. Closer examination showed this was due to the
use of pins or brooches to fit the bodice. Many of the dresses had
evidence of tiny pin holes. On portraits and miniatures of the period
you can observe that belts, jewelery and even decorative flowers were
used to aid the fit of the bodice, especially in the center front.
Stays of this period had a center front busk which provided a solid
point on which to pin the bodice to stop it riding up from under the
bust line.
- I have often heard it said that people were smaller in the
past. Maybe on average they were, due to factors including health and
diet. Many of the women would have been born in the later part of the
18th century and would have been from the 'stayed' generation. Some
would have grown up wearing a form of stay or corset and this
constriction would have had an effect on the growth of the ribcage.
However at least ten of the dresses in the collection were worn by
women who were at least 5ft 6inches in height and their dress size
would be an English size 10-12, so not so small.
Thanks to Natalie Garbett for the insight into gowns from the Regency
Era!
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SEPTEMBER 13, 2010
Fall Photo Shoot
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This past weekend, we completed
a Fall "mommy and me- 1860s style" fashion shoot at the historic Clisby
Austin House (c. 1850) in Tunnel Hill, Georgia. Most of the pictures
looked like this one....
It seems trying to keep an active toddler who just started walking
still for a photo shoot was a bit more challenging than we thought.
However, we did get a few good shots. Here they are. Enjoy!
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