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Pride and Prejudice 1995: The Little Things

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I did threaten to write about the Ehle/Firth Pride and Prejudice , and since I'm in a writing mood without a topic I decided to make good. Regency adaptations tend to go for an overall accurate look, interpreting age and income within the confines of realistic silhouettes and colors, and so they avoid the scrutiny and reputation that a more obviously artistic and unrealistic production garners. But just as this version of P&P  is not entirely faithful in every respect (e.g. the added Darcy-perspective scenes, the actors nearly all being significantly older than their characters - perhaps the most egregious example being Julia Sawalha in her late twenties playing teenage Lydia), Dinah Hill's costuming is not entirely accurate - mainly in ways that make the period more appealing to modern tastes. The exact date when the story is set is never given; generally, the movie's taken to be set in 1813, when the book was published. I'm not going to go into the full story of...
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Announcing 2020's hottest new event

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Putting it in writing to make sure it happens - next summer, I'm going to be hosting an 1830s picnic in central New York! Hyde Hall - this was in April when it was still very cold, so it will be more lush, I promise! Hyde Hall is a gorgeous mansion on Otsego Lake in Springfield Center. It was built between 1817 and 1834, which makes it a perfect place to have a pre-Victorian event. It also has a great big grassy lawn, and I've already mentioned this to the staff there and they think it would be pretty cool! Why am I posting about this so early? Well, mainly because I planned to do it this year and it never happened (though in fairness, I spent half of July out of town, so ... that made it hard to plan or prepare), and I want to make sure that I do pick a date and that it gets held. This is also not a period that most people sew for, so it might take us all some time to create our ensembles. With that in mind, I'm going to be writing a series of posts on 1830s dres...
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A Difficult History: Corsetry and Feminism, Part One

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Recently, I began following a couple of Tumblr blogs focusing on waist training and daily corset wear. Daily wear is not for me, waist training even less so, but I find it an interesting practice. It is also a controversial one. For example, a recent Huffington Post article, " Corset Queen Penny Brown Loves Getting 'Waisted' ," drew comments which were nearly all extremely negative, as do most articles that bring the practice to mainstream attention. Usually, the mental states of the women who waist-train are called into question, and there are numerous references to feminism as incompatible with corsets. The general idea is that the first wave feminists of the late 19th and early 20th century would be horrified by women today wearing them, and that their assumed reaction is an objective statement on the practice. My feeling is that the subject is complex, and cannot be simply declared feminist or unfeminist. There are far more factors than the average internet comm...
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