1908 (September) Les Modes - Robe d'interieur par Paquin - photo by Reutlinger. From gallica.bnf.fr; fixed spots & flaws w Pshop 1386X2081.

Edwardian Lady Gwendolyn Lilliette Garland

· Jan 14  ·

This amazing antique Edwardian era white pleated silk lace appliqué ruffle trim bell sleeve bodice blouse dates from 1910. It is made of an off white ivory color silk fabric with pleating, drawn thread cutwork, ecru cream color lace appliqués, chiffon ruffles and pink floral roses print silk moiré ribbon trim details. This fabulous fanciful frilly lace bodice blouse has a pouter pigeon layered trimmed front, a high neck lace collar, long full flared wide bell shape sleeves with pleating, chiffon ruffle trimmed cuffs, pink silk moire ribbon embellished trimmings, hook closures down the back. Paired with my light green dot silk antique Edwardian skirt.

I have to say, as like, a matter of personal taste, I am so much more upset by forcing historical settings in line with modern beauty standards, than I am with any other kind of historical inaccuracy. Not everything has to be about giving modern men boners!!! ENOUGH!!!! ENOUGH!!!!! JUST PUT YPUR HAIR UP AND WEAR THAT GHASTLY MAKEUP!!! IM BEGGING YOU TO MAKE YOUR HAIRLINE WEIRD!! COWARDS, ALL OF YOU!!!!

also lack of chemises. Stop chafing ur actresses jfc

There will never, in my opinion, be a less innovative orcreative Take on historical fashion than “we made it what modern people (especially men) find sexy and/or what will sell more overpriced formal-wear.”

N e v e r.

I want a version of Shakespeare in Love where Viola looks like the ~weird unimportant background ladies~ with faux-plucked hairlines and ruffs right under their chins. I want an 18th-century movie where all the ladies are genuinely swooning over some guy in a powdered wig and the shiniest, brocade-iest pastel waistcoat ever, and the narrative doesn’t make fun of him in the slightest.

I want 1840s over-ear hair loops and early 1900s pouter-pigeon bodice shapes damnit.

Appealing to modern sensibilities is OUT. Going balls-to-the-wall with both the most timeless and the weirdest Looks of yesteryear that your audience might be educated and artistically inspired is IN.

Exaggerate the differences or slap glitter on it or both. Or get it out of my face.

Street Style For The Spring...

Street Style For The Spring…

Here’s a little street style, 1890s or early 1900s style in New York. It’s not the best picture but it’s obvious that it must be in the warmer months judging from the chiffon day dresses that these two ladies are wearing. As for dating, most likely it’s either late 1890s or perhaps early 1900s- the sleeves are built up but it’s hard to discern the distinct pouter-pigeon look in the bodice so who…

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Wash and Wear in 1904: Fabric Catalog in the New York Public Library

One of the unusual sources of fashion history is the catalog put together for retailers by manufacturers to show all the fabric which they might offer to their customers. The New York Public Library has digitized some of these items in their collection, including this one from 1904 in a booklet entitled Enter Wash Fabrics from H. B. Clafin Company of New York. The cover is weirdly uninviting, with an old wooden door, but once opened, pretty cotton fabrics of various kinds are illustrated with fashion images form the period.

You see at top, two daytime dresses worn by grown women. The silhouette of that era was sometimes called “pouter pigeon” with the puffy bodice that looked like a pigeon puffing up its chest. Women sometimes wore rows of ruffles as underwear at the bustline to help fill out such a bodice. The sleeves are puffed too and lace, which was made by machine by then, marked edges, tiers, and seams. The waist was strongly marked, and skirts were trim through the hips and then flared below into multiple gores falling down to the ground. For years, women’s dress reformers had complained about the filth a women’s skirt were dragged through everyday, especially in an era when horses worked in the streets. But it wasn’t until the 1910s that daytime skirts came off the ground and stayed off.

The other images is of very young woman and then a girl. Notice how the silhouette is similar, but the skirts are off the ground, a nod to the reality of the  need for play and easy movement in the young. Not that grown women wouldn’t need such easy movement too, but they didn’t make it as easy for them. But then this was an era when a “walking dress” was a distinct garment and its slightly shorter and narrower skirt made it work. Our two women in the garden, in contrast, do not seem in much of a hurry.

Notice that both fabrics were named with French terms: Chaine leno and Oxford Nonpareil, a nod to the status of France as the fashion capital of the North Atlantic World.

You can find this whole booklet here at the New York Public LIbrary: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/enter-wash-dress-fabrics-mdcccciiii#/?tab=about

2-Piece Ensemble, 1900-1905

Black Bobbin Lace Over Net Over Black Silk. Bodice Trimmed With Off-White Lace, High White Lace Collar, Black Velvet Ribbon Trim. Hook and Eye Closures. Fitted Underbodice, Overbodice (Net and Lace) Fuller At Front - Pouter Pigeon Look. S-Curve Shape (Skirt Fuller At Back With Train But Not A Bustle Skirt).

1908 (December) Les Modes - Robe de visites par Margaine-Lacroix - Photo by Reutlinger. From gallica.bnf.fr; fixed spots & flaws w Pshop 1292X2100.

1908 (April issue) Les Modes Robe d'après-midi par Zimmerman - photo by Félix. From gallica.bnf.fr; fixed spots & flaws w Pshop 1469X2054.

1908 (4 Apr issue) La Mode Nationale - Pour le printemps. From gallica.bnf.fr 1548X1787

1908 (April issue) Les Modes Mme Anna Thibaud Robe de bal par Drecoll - photo by Félix. From gallica.bnf.fr; fixed spots & flaws w Pshop 1232X2037.

1908 (4 Jan issue) La Mode Nationale - Robe de visites 1556X1814. From gallica.bnf.fr 1556X1814.

1908 Condesa Meyendorff, Nadine of Meyendorff by Philip Alexius de Laszlo (Sotheby's - 7Jun05 auction Lot 65). From invaluable.com/auction-lot/philip-alexius-de-laszlo-1869-1937-condesa-meyend-65-c-2pc1kfpd5l; fit to screen 737X1400.

1908 Teresa Mestre Casas by Ramón Casas (private collection). From Wikimedia; fixed spots & flaws w Pshop 2272X3116.

1908 (May issue) Les Modes - Robe du soir par Lachatroulle - photo by Félix. From gallica.bnf.fr; fixed flaws & spots w Pshop 1413X1994.

1908 (May issue) Les Modes - Mlle Norel du Theatre des Capucines Robe de soirée par Zimmerman - photo by Félix. From gallica.bnf.fr; fixed flaws & spots w Pshop 1429X2038.

1908 (2 Feb issue) La Mode Illustrée - Paletot et robe de demi-saison Modeles de Mlle Louise Piret. From bibliotheques-specialisees.paris.fr/; fixed flaws & spots w Pshop 1734X2388.