Démodé

historical costume projects & resources

18th Century Court Ensembles Project

IMPORTANT NOTE! Most of us who stuck through this project completed our ensembles in 2014 and 2015. Therefore, I’m not going to add anyone else to this page. There is a Facebook group for this project, and a few people are still planning their dresses, so you may want to join there if you’d like to play along!

Want an over-the-top, crazy/huge/fabulous 18th century ensemble?  Who doesn’t!  Well, I’m making one for the Costume College 2014 2015 gala, and you’re invited to join me!

How It Worked

Make a court ensemble — men’s or women’s, doesn’t matter — from any country, from any period of the 18th century.  It can be historically accurate or complete fantasy, you decide!

Want to Play?

Make an 18th century court ensemble!  The deadline is Costume College 2014 2015, but you don’t need to attend Costume College to play!  Just post photos and information on your outfit on your blog, Facebook, Flickr, wherever by then!  I’ll do a round-up post on all the finished outfits, and also let people know if you’re blogging about your project as you go.

If you’re coming to Costume College 2014 2015, then it’s court dresses for the Gala, baby!

To make sure we don’t end up duplicating each other, send me an email if you’d like to stake a claim to a particular outfit, whether it be extant or in a painting/fashion plate/whatever.

Participants & Claimed Outfits

Resources

I’ll be blogging about 18th century French court dress over the coming year.  In addition, check out:


Fastes de cour et ceremonies royales (French Edition)
The Cut of Women’s Clothes: 1600-1930
Dressed to Rule: Royal and Court Costume from Louis XIV to Elizabeth II
Magnificence of the Tsars: Ceremonial Men’s Dress of the Imperial Russian Court 1721-1917
Court dress collection: Kensington Palace
Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution
Mrs. Delany and Her Circle (Yale Center for British Art)

Participating Bloggers

 

73 thoughts on “18th Century Court Ensembles Project

  1. Ok… So I have changed my mind and it’s go big or go home. The dress I chose, though I adore it, is just not huge enough. I have some seriously sparkly silver fabric that is begging to be put over some huge panniers. I just wanted to let you know, as a courtesy, since I “claimed” a different gown. I can’t wait to start on this 🙂 Too fun!

    Caroline

  2. I would love to see all the finished dresses compiled into one place! Does that place happen to exist?

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