This post is a year overdue but better late than never! I went to a Victorian-themed weekend with friends in Newport, Rhode Island. They had just finished filming scenes from "The Gilded Age" season 2 right before we got there, so many locals assumed we were part of the filming/extras. We all stayed at an incredible BnB and walked to the various historic houses and the famous Cliff Walk. Overall it was a beautiful weekend where we felt very glamorous- if a bit "on display" because the locals and tourists were a bit too excited to talk to us. I had a couple particularly icky incidents (in ..read more

My final entry for Queen Adelhait's Persona Challenge is this early 16th century dress in the German style.   I was primarily inspired by these gowns as painted by artists like Barthel Beham, Albrecht Durer, and the Cranachs. I wanted a center front closing dress out of wool and trimmed in velvet. I plan to add a gold brustfleck later on when I wear it to fancier events.  Barthel Beham (1502 -1540) — Portrait of a Young Noblewoman Bildnis der Barbara Schedlin, 1524 Albrecht Dürer   Detail of a painting by Lucas Cranach   My fabric is a lightweight worsted wool in a ..read more

For my third entry into the Atlantian Persona Challenge, created by Her Majesty Adelhait, I have chosen to submit this gown I made in July 2022, that is heavily inspired one from the Kaisheimer Altarpiece. It is from 1502, painted by Hans Holbein the Elder, and the gown is featured on what is likely one of the donors or patrons who supported Holbein when this was being painted.  I see several layers in this outfit. There is a red/orange damask or cloth of gold kirtle, which can be seen at the back skirt and along the sleeve cuffs, plus some of it shows above the hemd at the neckline ..read more

    This is a dress based on paintings of women in Swabia (modern Southwestern Germany) in the last quarter of the 15th century. My primary image sources are the manuscripts from the workshop of Ludwig Henfflin dating to the early 1470s. You can see similar styles in portraiture until around 1500. Some manuscripts show women in very luxurious fabrics like silk damasks and velvets, but I opted for a fine worsted wool in bright scarlet red, as I felt it was close to what I saw in the below manuscripts. Plainer wool gowns would also have been worn and I wanted a fabric that I could we ..read more

  An Early 16th C Saxon Gown in the style of Lucas Cranach the Elder by Jane Fox, Barony of Tir y Don In late 2019 I set out to make my first 16th century Germanic style garment and I chose a gown in a style frequently painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder and worn primarily by the nobility of Saxony. I have previously made other garments from 16th century European fashions so I had some experience with this era. I set out to make this gown in a more historically plausible manner to challenge myself. I tried new-to-me fabrics and construction techniques which I will expand upon in this paper ..read more

This summer I finished a long term project: a "pair of bodies", which is an early form of stays. Some people also say it's an early corset but I hesitate to use that term. I will use the term bodies in this post because we know that was being used to describe this kind of garment circa 1600 in England. The purpose of this garment was bust and back support and to provide a smooth foundation for the clothes, not waist reduction. These bodies are inspired by the ones used on the effigy of Queen Elizabeth I from 1603. You can read all about these bodies in the book "Patterns of Fashion 5 ..read more

Caterina Sforza lived from 1463 – 1509, primarily in Central and Northern Italy. She was a noblewoman with several titles, including the Countess of Forlì and Lady of Imola, and she was the daughter of the Duke of Milan. A well known painting by Lorenzo de Credi titled “Dama dei Gelsomini”, or the Lady of the Jasmine Flower, was painted in the later 1480s and is thought to depict Caterina.   I chose to attempt to replicate her clothing and portrait for an A&S project. I did not intend to copy it exactly, but rather to emulate it only with materials I already possessed. Therefore ..read more

In late 15th century Florence, the waistline for the bodices of gamurra (kirtle or underdress) and giornea (the draped overgown) are still very close to the natural waist. They are not raised as high as we see in Venice at this time period. This makes the basic supportive dress rather similar to what we see in England and Northern Europe at the turn of the 16th century.    Domenico Ghirlandaio, detail from Birth of John the Baptist, 1480s, Florence Santa Maria Novella. Abside. Cappella Maggiore. Chapelle Tornabuoni. Costanza Caetani, in the style of Domenico Ghiarlandaio, 1480 ..read more

 The accessories for  Northern Europe and the Holy Roman Empire are similar to the English ones but have their own regional differences. While both have caps, aprons, and partlets, the terms used are not the same. The main areas I am focusing on are what we now call Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. I am not going to cover the distinctive dress of the "Trossfrau", the women who followed the Landsknecht soldiers, as their style is very unique to their station.         Splendor Solis, 1532-1535. Kupferstichkabinett Berlin. The term tha ..read more

 Now that we've covered the basics of the kirtle, I'm going to talk about the layers and accessories that complete the English look. This style is suitable for the middle classes during the first half of the 16th century. Firstly is the garment worn against the skin- a shift. In the 16th century, linen was used to make undergarments. It wicks moisture away from the skin much better than cotton. Shifts can be made with different necklines. They can be square, rounded, gathered on a neckband, or high with a collar. The collar can also have a ruffle attached, which is what I chose to ma ..read more