A Most Beguiling Accomplishment

Hi, everybody – it’s Cassidy! I started this YouTube channel months ago but I’ve been really lax about actually making videos. But we’re far enough into the Coronavirus that I’m ready to work on getting into Youtube. It is hard for me, because I’m not really used to watching myself … except that I am getting more used to watching myself due to all those Zoom meetings.  (Please tell me that other people obsess about how they look even though they know nobody’s watching them …) What I’m going to try to do to get more familiar with this whole format is adapt some of my posts from AskHistorians into videos (which in theory should work a lot better than trying to do podcasts about fashion history, like I was doing for a while (and thank you to everyone who supported that venture!) since I can add in visual aids, which are pretty important to this subject). AskHistorians is a forum on Reddit where people can come in and ask questions about any aspect of human history and while they’re n...

January 10, 1787 No-one can deny that our French Ladies cause their fashions to be adopted by Ladies of nearly all other Kingdoms; however, we must admit that there are restitutions that they make to nearly all. Did they not borrow, at least two years ago, Polonaises , Anglaises , Turques , Chinoises ? Now they borrow Espagnoles . It is true that they return versions that are much better than those they received, and, to be exact, they only borrow the names, and they create the things themselves. When they copy, they correct and embellish. When they imitate, they create. From a too inventive imagination, too fecund to stick slavishly to their models, they borrow, they create. They become, in a word, the masters  of the originators. This talent shines in the modern Spanish hats and cap, as it shined in the robes à la Polonaise , in the English hats, in the Turkish caps, and in the poufs à la Chinoise . The Woman dressed in a pink satin gown wears a hat à l'Espagnole . This hat...