18th century

I am so sorry that I have been horrible with updating. This summer has been…interesting, but still amazing. I think I took my doctor’s orders to slow down and relax a little bit too seriously (they’ve actually been telling me this for like 10 years, but I am stubborn). However, my body definitely needed it. Because, YAY CHRONIC ILLNESS! I am desperately trying to get back into somewhat of a routine for myself BEFORE my kids start school right after Labor Day.

So a lot of things are happening, and I am super excited for all of it. As you know, at the end of January, I will be going to France for my art residency. My husband had set up a GoFundMe, and the goal for the residency was met super fast. I was honestly shocked, but of course so thankful. I will be updating the goal in hopes that whatever extra funds come in, they will go straight toward travel costs and such.

But for now, I wanted to share MORE amazing images from my 1790’s portrait series shoot with my friend and fellow historical costumer/photographer, Michele Quigley!

So about two months ago I posted about my friend, Michele Quigley’s 1790s portrait series and shared the first two images that she edited and the fashion plate that I recreated, now there are more!

So for one, I was gifted this session, and even though I am a photographer myself, I am absolutely horrible at setting up scenery and photographing myself, even though I can make magic happen in almost any space I am in! Anywho! When I found out, I started scouring through Pinterest and Google for fashion plates of that era. I didn’t necessarily have a particular look I was going for, but I wanted something that screamed out to me. And then, I found it!

“La Belle Espangole” (‘La belle Espagnole, – ou – la doublure de Madame Tallien’) – this drawing is of Maria Garcia, a dancer and tightrope walker. It was drawn by James Killray, a caricaturist in 1796. This was the first time that I came across an actual fashion plate from that era that featured a model of color. So of course I wanted to recreate this look!

To begin with, the gown itself was very simple to make. It’s basically a rectangle (one piece in the front, and one piece for the back), with a channel sewn along the top of the back to gather it, and then the trim went from the gathering in the back, over the shoulders, and to attached to the front. Very similar to a bog dress that is commonly worn at an event I go to called The Pennsic War in the SCA. I really need to write a blog post about the construction.

The challenge for me was making that neckline SUPER low, and to sew it so that it forms the natural swoop following the curve of the breasts, but also, NOT to have my girls fall out because I am wellllll endowed in that department. 😅

Even though I already had a pair of Regency era short stays, they didn’t create the silhouette that I wanted for a 1790s gown; and since I will be doing more 1790s projects, I bit the bullet and purchased a set of 1790s mid-length transitional stays (from The Paupers Modiste on Etsy, I HIGHLY recommend! ) – and they were perfect. The straps were also removable, which was ideal because the gold strap was thinner in width than the straps for the stays.

The gown itself is made out of a brown cotton Swiss dot fabric that I scored on Etsy. I made a simple yellow satin petticoat to wear under it. The waistband, arm bands, wristband, and the trim along the neckline and the straps were made out of various gold trims, some layered on a solid piece of gold trim. The necklace was a bib/collared neck piece that I got off of Etsy, but I do want to try to recreate the neck piece that she is wearing in the drawing. The shawl was too pashmina shawls sewn together (and I still need to add the gold trim along the edge as well). I found the PERFECT red shoes for this on Amazon (actually, if you search women’s mules on Amazon, there are A LOT that are passable for historic footwear for quite a few fashion eras). And while I did not have gold hoops (forgot to pack them), I wore my pearl drop earrings by Dames a la Mode.

So for the pictures, the first one is my absolute favorite, and this is the one that’s going to be printed and framed for the gallery exhibition that Michele is hosting.

If you’ve stuck around to read all of this, thank you!!!

My 1790s portrait session ensemble!

One of my friends who is a fellow historical costumer and photographer like myself has been doing a portrait series based on the fashions of the 1790s: Michele Quigley 1790s Series. I was lucky enough to be gifted a session, and was super excited about it. As soon as I found out, I began scouring fashion plates from the 1790s. When I came across this one, La Belle Espagnole, I was in LOVE! For one, I just love her gown in general, but for me finding a fashion plate that has a woman of color was like hitting a gold mine.

So I set to work recreating the gown for my photoshoot. I used a brown Swiss dot cotton for the gown, the petticoat was a yellow satin, the shoes were red mules from Amazon (I need to go back and stitch on the gold trim to them). The straps and my arm cuffs were made from different widths and types of gold trim and gold patent leather.
Now it is RARE that I am on the other side of the camera as the subject, but when I saw the edited images that she posted while I was at a camping event for my birthday last week, I screamed. Full on OMFG I CANT BELIEVE THIS IS ME!

Other than adding the gold trim to the shoes like in the fashion plate, I really want to try to nail down the neckpiece/collar that she has on too!