A Most Beguiling Accomplishment

This past week, The Choll (at Thread-Headed Snippet ) gave me the Very Inspiring Blogger award.  It means a lot to me!  I know I don't sew very much - and now that I've started a job as a full-time temp receptionist I will probably sew even less, even for my Etsy store - but by posting the Galerie des Modes and other fashion plates and miscellaneous information I do hope to inspire people. The instructions are to give seven random facts about myself, and then nominate 15 other bloggers who inspire me. 1. I am a very messy person.  My bedroom is just full of stuff (mostly books and clothes), and about half of the family room is covered with supplies and scraps for all the white cotton collars and ruffles and chemisettes I've been making.  I just have a tendency to spread out everywhere and take up all available space. 2. Sansa Stark is my favorite character in all of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, and in Game of Thrones .  I have been known to get...

Taffeta lévite, fitted and trimmed with gauze around it; fashionable belt.  The woman is coiffed with a Spa hat.  The dancing master in an informal suit in the fashionable color, and coiffed en herisson. (1780) The times are no more when one was obliged to specify on ball invitations: ladies without hoops .  Dancers present themselves in short petticoats and fitted gowns.  Such is the turn-out of this amiable student.  Over her fashionable lévite, simply ornamented with a trim of gauze, she passed a spotted ribbon ending with tassels and fringe in the guise of a belt.  Her arms raise the corners of a light gauze apron.  Collar, equally of gauze, knotted in a bow whose ends, after a charming route, are lost under the parfait contentement .  Coiffure in a racine droite , with three curls on each side, of which one is fashionable and falling.  Spa hat, pulled up as a tricorn and surmounted with three plumes which fall softly over the coiffu...

So I've unfortunately hit the end of the copy of Galerie des Modes from Bunka Gakuen (I would have been linking to the original page each time I posted, but the site is not set up to facilitate that).  All is not lost - they have a second copy of the entire thing!  But.  There is a but. The second copy, which is where I've been getting the color plates from, is not perfect.  I think it's a reprint from the 1910s.  There are inexplicable omissions (inexplicable because I don't even know what the plates are of - I can just see from the table of contents that some are missing) and, most irritating of all, some amount of the original long descriptions have been replaced with text from Louis-Sebastien Mercier's Tableau de Paris .  I can't be sure how frequent it is yet as I've only translated the first couple of books.  Tableau de Paris looks to be an extremely good source for historical context, but it lacks what I consider the best parts of this proj...

Young Girl in a little jacket à la Paysanne of Buras, trimmed with Ribbons, she has in front a Gauze Apron, she is coiffed with a black Hat with a colored Ribbon; the little Brother seen from the back is dressed in a Matelot, his hair, curled and frised negligently, without a hat. (1780)

This little Girl is dressed in a Fourreau of painted Linen trimmed with Bands and pulled up à la Polonaise over a white petticoat trimmed with a large Muslin volant; her Coiffure is a Bandeau over the hair en herisson.  The youngest of the Children is coiffed with a Toquet à l'Anglaise. (1780)

The little Girl seen full-face is dressed in a Fourreau of Taffeta trimmed with Gauze; she has a Gauze Apron; her Fourreau is made à l'anglaise.  Henri IV hat.  The other little Girl has a Buras Fourreau pulled up à la Polonaise.  The little Boy has a simple Matelot with pulled-up Sleeves. (1780)

The littlest of these children is dressed in a chemisette or blouse dress, very convenient for children of this age, especially in summer.  The Girl is dressed in a Lévite and the little Boy has a sailor suit with bavaroises of another color.  Corsica hat . (1780)

Young Governess of a child helping a very young child to walk; he is dressed in a little S ailor suit, but he is equipped with a Pudding Cap and also wears leading strings. (1780)

Young Lady carrying her child in a Cradle to breastfeed while walking.  She is dressed in a Lévite whose Collar is painted all around and trimmed with Gauze, as are the parements of the Sleeves.   (1780)

On Saturday, I went to the Formally Invited tea at the Vanderpoel House in Kinderhook, put on by the Columbia County Historical Society and Clermont State Historic Site.  It was wonderful!  The whole first floor was cleared, with one room for the tea, punch, and food, one room for coats (and a full-length mirror, so you can make sure your outfit is all right), and the doors between the parlors opened to create one long space for dancing. The food was fantastic - butter cookies, seed cakes, a pound cake with currants, salmagundi, syllabub (first time I ever had syllabub), strawberry ices, and these little chicken tart things - and there was a whole selection of teas, including the custom Vanderpoel and Clermont blends, which were the two I tried. My favorite part of the afternoon, apart from getting to talk to so many other enthusiasts, was learning to dance.  Sadly, I can't remember the names of the two dances I learned, but I did learn two!  I could pro...

First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, & Sixth Figures. This Book, which is no less interesting than the Galerie des Modes , presents diverse clothing for Children, which actually exist and whose summary descriptions are found in the captions which accompany each Print.  We add here, however, some words, and on the revolution carried out over several years, relative to the manner of dressing Children, and on the monument which was just raised to eternize the memory of its illustrious Author. A Child is scarcely out of the laboratory of nature when one hastens to overload it with clothing.  These first Garments are known as Suits: they are composed of swaddling cloths folded over each other, and held on with wide bands, intended rather to fetter the Child than to clothe it. However, it seems that the usage of these suits is very ancient, as observed by the Author of a Work printed in 1773 by Debure: [Observations historiques et critiques] sur les erreur...

Camisole à la Polonaise, of Indian Muslin, lined with pink Taffeta .  Reversed tapé, surmounted by a Constant Heart Hat, in striped black gauze, and Belted with a rose-colored ribbon . (1780) CAMISOLE A LA POLONAISE .  The camisole was, in the past, nightwear for Women.  The open Gowns, that are worn at present in the fullest dress, were what one called deshabillés : they were named Robes de chambre .*  It is true that they were without trimming, but as they were, they were never seen outside, and made the pendant of the Robes de chambre or Men's deshabillé of which we spoke in the previous article. It was under the Regency of the Duke d'Orléans that these Gowns took flight, and were shown in public.  The first were worn to the Tuileries, where the young Monarch resided, and this novelty experienced singular contradictions. The Cardinal de Noailles was then Archbishop of Paris.  He attempted to prevent the fashion of the new Gowns, or open Gowns...

Last weekend I gave you the January fashion plates from my bound 1875 Godey's - this Saturday, in honor of My Vintage Visions 's trip to Gettysburg, as she was looking at hairstyles, I thought I'd share the hair pages from my 1864 Godey's, all through the year. Fig. 1 - Spring coiffure for a young lady.  The hair is waved, brushed over frizettes, and caught into a puff by a fancy side comb.  The back hair is dressed waterfall style. Fig. 2 - Fancy evening coiffure.  The hair is arranged over a cushion in front, and a large bow falls low on the neck at the back.  A bouquet of flowers is placed directly over the forehead. The front hair is divided in three parts, and arranged loosely over frizettes.  The back hair is twined and caught up in two loose loops.  This is one of the newest spring styles. Fig. 5 - The Clarissa coiffure.  The hair is rolled off the face in front, and the ends braided.  The back hair is arranged in a large b...

Dressing Gown with sleeves en Pagode, of painted Linen, lined with Taffeta.   Wide Shirt collar, turned down over the Cravat. (1780) R OBE DE CHAMBRE .  This is Men's deshabillé: it also called a Nightgown.  This is what we learn from Brantome, in speaking of a certain King, "who never went in good fortune, was in his secret galleries at Saint-Germain, Blois, and Fontainebleau, that he did not have his favorite valet-de-chambre, called Griffon, who carried his spear before him, with the torch, and after him, his great Cloak in front of his eyes, or his Nightgown, and his sword under his arm, and making to place his spear and his sword near his bedside, and Griffon to the door, well closed, who sometimes was the lookout, and sometimes slept." A singular anecdote: one would almost dread the lot of the Great People of the land, since their pleasures are mixed with as many concerns. At any rate, the Dressing gown or nightgown has taken diverse forms, since ...

This Woman is dressed in a fitted Levite, Belted with a white Scarf, she has a Muslin Apron with a large volant, called à la Gouvernante.  Hat of tinted straw, trimmed with Plumes. (1780) PLAIN LEVITE, covered with an apron à la gouvernante .  Scarf or belt knotted in a chain.  Kerchief of Italian gauze, placed en cravate , forming a désespoir . Hairstyle à la réforme , that is to say, very low in the front.  This fashion was pushed, all of a sudden, to excess; Women seemed to have passed the word to abdicate the grand Coiffures; but this revolution was too extreme to hope for a long reign: scarcely three months are passed since its first appearance, then it was dismissed.

English Redingote with three Collars and Bavaroises. (1780) LÉVITE REDINGOTE.  These Redingotes have succeeded the Backmanns, and make the grand négligé.  The color light blue has been affected to them: they must have the short cut, three scalloped collars, situated in tiers.  Revers separated from the collar, held with self-fabric buttons.  Sleeves en fourreau , having a little parement en botte , opening underneath to the elbow; the whole edged with a gance of a matching color. Gilet with bavaroises , crossing on both sides; breeches of cloth of black silk.  Hat à la Charbonniere , trimmed with its bourdaloue buckled in front.*  The hat of a fashionable color: these colors have been grey, puce, tiger-orange, etc. Hair rolled au compas ;** the queue in a cadogan: kerchief knotted en cravate ; chamois gloves; shoe buckles à la d'Artois ; shoes à la Mariniere . * A charbonniere is a charcoal-maker; a bourdaloue is, besides a woman's chamberpo...

New Levite of plain Taffeta, with amadis sleeves, the Trim in striped Gauze. (1780) LÉVITE A PAREMENT .  The bodice closed, held in with a bow.  Sabot cuffs à la Bayard , * with bows at the join of the arm: these are the most gallant of all the sabot s.  Amadis es matching the petticoat;** very large parement on the Gown, and trimmed en pi e douche ; † the volant sewn, uniform with the parement . Non- busquée belt, bell-cord style, ending with gold tassels, tufted with sequins in diverse colors. Coiffure à la Cybele ,†† with a ribbon bandeau, pinched and held in with a star of brilliants; a tuft of flowers coming out of the bandeau. * Possibly a reference to the Chevalier de Bayard (1473-1524), le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche ; there is something historicizing about the cuffs. ** The colorist should have made the lower half of the sleeves green. † "in pedestal style", referring to the way the parements are the same size the whole way down (unlik...

AuntieNan left a comment on my Godey's post that I started to answer, but realized it was going to be long enough (and could do with illustrations) that it'd be better served as a full post. I had a costume history teacher who talked about the development of feminism and how a burst of power for women was usually followed by a period of excessively feminine line for women--the long Victorian period that came after Mary Wollstonecraft, the 1950s after the flappers and freedom during the big wars. She also said that in times of feminist freedom, fashion played down the more assertive lines of a woman's figure--that a woman could only take the reins if she looked as much like an androgynous creature as possible. I don't know if that's true, or accepted thinking, but she sure had some good examples to back her up!! I remember coming across this in The Beauty Myth , and at the time it seemed to make a lot of sense to me, but I've since done a lot of s...

Polonaise of light Satin, trimmed with bands of other Colors, and Gauze Trims.  Cap à tuyaux, belted with a rolled ribbon, attached with a Brilliant rosette on the front and trimmed with Flowers. (1780) TRITON POLONAISE.*  The Author of historic Essays on Paris, said that in the sixteenth century, Men adopted the fashion of large stomachs, and Women of large bottoms.  This latter fashion is renewed in our days: not only have Women taken bouffantes under their Gowns to appear fatter, but they have applied, in the back, pads to give more roundness to the Gown, and to create the curved Mermen's tail. This fashion owes its return to the Polonaises, and other pulled-up Gowns.  It gives grace to the retroussis , to give it the form of agreeable draperies; and there is no better expedient than imagining a domed machine on which can be arranged, in the back, the fabrics of which the Gowns are made. It is thus that Fashions are reciprocally linked, and that one inv...