Author: kendra

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Lumieres Russian Dinner

On Saturday, Lumieres (our 18th century role-playing group, for lack of a better description) held a dinner at the court of Catherine the Great of Russia… or Babushka restaurant in Concord!  It’s a small restaurant out in the burbs, but perfect because the food was great, the staff were super accomodating (they even dressed up in loaner costumes!), and the decor (if you ignored the disco elements) was oldey-timey enough to look great by candlelight!

It was an absolute blast — everyone was literally resplendent in gorgeous gowns, fabulous wigs, and sparkling jewels.  There was lots of in-character banter (my favorite), nice champagne, and flirting.  Francis and I got together ahead of time and practiced the minuet, which we learned a few months back, and we performed it for the guests with only one false start!

I wore my this-old-thing black francaise.  I was itching to do a c. 1780 super powdered wig like one of these Roslin portraits, so I set to work with a blond wig I had bought a while back, hoping powdering over blond would maintain some warmth and work better on my skin tone.  Well, I can report that powdered blond hair is still blond — duller, yes, but still blond — which totally doesn’t work on me.  So that wig will get finished and sold on Etsy!  Instead I pulled out the 1760s tete de mouton wig I styled for the Vampire Ball, which actually fits the era of the dress better, and powdered that.  So nothing new, just a slight tweak.  In the candlelight, it ended up looking like this:

(C) Linda Wenzelburger

Although here’s a flash photo that shows the warts & all — I’m posing with Trystan’s fabulous husband Thomas:

(C) Trystan L. Bass, via Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/trystbat/8441051749/

We were welcomed by Catherine the Great herself:

(C) Diana Habra via Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11524510@N04/8444027212/

And there was a LOT of scrummy scrummy costumes:

You can see the rest of my photos on Flickr!

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Historical Hair Did-You-Know?

In doing research for my 18th century hair/wig-styling book, I’m coming across a lot of weird and/or hilarious bits of info that aren’t going to fit into the book. So this is just a random accumulation of bits and bobs that are making me laugh!

Did you know…

  • “Dildo” was a 17th century term for the sausage corkscrew curl of a man’s wig
  • In the 1860s there was an attempt to scare women off of wearing their hair in chignons by claiming there was a particular “chignon fungus” you could catch by wearing that hairstyle
  • There was a Russian hairdresser working in London in the 18th century named Ivan Peter Alexis Knoutscheffschlerwitz
  • There were dog wigs marketed in the 1960s
  • Mono-brows were fashionable in classical Roman times as well as in the Arab world (not sure exactly which periods, but I know it was fashionable in the Ottoman Empire in the 17th-18th century)
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New Research Article Posted: 18th c. rumps

About a year and a half ago, I wrote an article for Foundations Revealed: The Corset Maker’s Companion on late 18th century skirt supports (called “bums,” “rumps,”  and “culs” in the period).  I’ve been interested in this topic for a long time, as the shapes I had seen and used didn’t seem to create the same effect that I saw in paintings and fashion plates.

I did a lot of research and pulled together as many sources as I could find, and then set about making test mock-ups to see how the different shapes would work.  I ended up making a small version of each shape as well as a large, and then photographed each on an appropriately-sized model.

It’s long past the Foundations Revealed embargo period, but it’s still taken me forever to cross-post this article to my own site, as it’s so image intensive — but I finally have finished it.  So, if you’re interested in what they might have worn under their skirts in the 1770s-1790s, please check out the article.

And since you might be wondering… I have ditched my “bumroll” shape (shape #2 in the article) in favor of #3 for 1770s-85, and and #7 for 1785-95.  You can see more examples of me wearing these two shapes under my 1780 polonaise (shape #3), 1775 Maja costume (shape #3), and 1787ish roundgown (shape #7).

Happy rump-ing!

The Bum Shop, 1785. Lewis Walpole Library.
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TV Review: The Paradise (2012-)

Starring Joanna Vanderham, Emun Elliott, and Elaine Cassidy.  Costumes designed by Joanna Eatwell.

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Based on a novel by Emile Zola, this series tells the story of poor, country girl Denise, who comes to London in the 1870s and finds a job at a department store called The Paradise.  You follow her transition from country mouse to city girl who turns out to have a flair for the burgeoning world of shopping and selling, plus learn about the various characters whose lives connect through the store.  In particular, these include her handsome, charming boss, the older manager of her department who tries to stifle her, and various co-workers, some of whom support her and some who compete. The plot-lines are very interesting and it’s all a great premise, as there’s many different characters and stories to follow.

The costuming is overall really quite good, probably an A-.  I LOVE the shopgirl uniforms, which are these stunning black natural form dresses with little Chinese brocade shrugs. The store owner’s love interest (played by Elaine Cassidy), the wealthiest female character, is a mixed bag. Some of her dresses seem too limp, like they need more petticoats/a better bustle, and sometimes the trimming seems too heavy handed. Other times, she wears very chic dresses with cute little waistcoat effects.  By mid-season, I was starting to get annoyed that ALL of her dresses were (at base) white, and wondering if they were just retrimming a couple of white dresses; but near the end of the season, her character goes through some changes that are reflected in her costumes, so I now believe it was a conscious, thoughtful choice.  They also did a great job creating the department store, which is absolutely gorgeous!

My review:  5 (out of 5)

If you like this era, you might want to check out my other Victorian costume movie reviews. For more bustle prettiness, I specifically recommend The Buccaneers (1995), Daniel Deronda (2002), and Portrait of a Lady (1996).

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TV Review: Bomb Girls (2012 – present)

Starring Meg Tilly, Jodi Balfour, and Charlotte Hegele.  Costumes designed by Joanne Hansen.

Buy this and other costume films from Amazon and support this site

This is a Canadian TV series (set in Toronto, I believe?) about various women who work at a munitions factory during World War II… and it is complete soap opera, and I love it!  The lead character is Gladys, daughter of a wealthy family who wants to get involved in the war effort and rebel against her parents, so she gets a job at the factory.  There she meets many working class women, from Lorna (the older supervisor with a difficult home life, played by Meg Tilly) to Vera (the flightly girl who faces a big challenge) to Betty — the strong independent woman, who falls for sheltered Kate, running away from an abusive family.  The stories follow them into the factory and out as the war complicates their lives, does a beautiful job showing the many opportunities and challenges that the war caused for women, and has some excellently soap opera-esque storylines to keep you hooked.

Best of all, the costume designer did a BRILLIANT job.  Everything from the factory outfits to the street and dress-up wear, hair, makeup, etc. is appropriate to the period.  In particular, they either have a stock of vintage rayon prints or a source for making stunning reproductions, because the women wear dress after dress that makes you go, “WHOA, that is SUCH a 1940’s print!”

My review:  5 (out of 5)