A Most Beguiling Accomplishment

My latest project is a proposal for a book written specifically to help out costume designers and writers of historical fiction - a fashion history manual for 1700-1940 that focuses on visuals and on how the clothing works. The first chapter, on the early 18th century (1700-1739), is my sample, and it's making me realize how brushily  we tend to deal with the period before the changes of the 1770s, and especially before the 1750s. I'm pinning down a lot of stylistic changes to at least halves of decades, but I'm finding stays surprisingly difficult. Like a lot of other aspects of fashion I've had to work out, the issue's complicated by museum dates that seem overly broad or just plain wrong. And for stays, there are considerably fewer artistic representations than there are for gowns, caps, etc.! I think I've been able to identify the differences between early-century and 1775-1795 stays - which was tricky, because a lot  of earlier stays were dated later. W...

Big news! Following Julie's success at managing the Ohio Regimental Military Ball , we've decided to attempt holding a Midwest Historic Costume Conference in 2018. I'm so important, I got to sit at the President's Table! (Mrs. Lincoln, far left.) To that end, we've put up a survey to gauge interest. We do  have a bunch of plans, we just want to see what others think of various options before we solidify anything. Follow the MHCC page on Facebook to keep up with the con, and please tell your friends!