Costuming, anyone?

angeliz2k

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So this is only tangentially related to historical writing, but it is related. Have any of you dressed in period costume, either for the fun or to get a better idea of how people dressed and how it felt/functioned?

I'd had it in my head for ages to put together an authentic (or mostly authentic) Civil War-era outfit. (As far as not-accurate, see: split drawers; unlike what's-his-face in Harry Potter, I do not like a healthy breeze around my privates, thank you very much!) In any case, I finally got on top of that and gathered the things I needed: a hoop skirt (bought cheaply; not a really period-correct item, but it ends up looking the same and saved me hundreds of dollars, so yeah), a corset, a chemise (sewed by yours truly), and a dress (I now have two, one that was ready-made, one that I sewed myself). (I also have some additions, like a snood and stockings.)

For more on the adventure of sewing the dress, here's my blog post.

In any case, I learned, or had reaffirmed, a few things. Corsets of the era weren't particularly uncomfortable--they're fine if you don't over-lace. Hoop skirts are a nuisance, but fun and pretty. The dresses are actually pretty comfortable and breathe nicely. But most of all, I admit, this was for the fun of it.

Also for the fun of it, and as a gift to myself, I went to Gettysburg and got a wet-plate photograph taken (a tintype). I blogged about that, too, naturally.

In any case, I'm curious if anyone else has any costume-related adventures to share. Or heck, just some costuming insight about your era!
 

mrsmig

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Because in Real Life I'm a professional actress, I've worn any number of period costumes. I can tell you that:

1) corsets not only improve your posture and the fit of your clothes, but in my experience they actually improve your singing (see posture).
2) it takes practice to fasten up busks, and corset stays WILL eventually work out of their appointed place and jab you, usually under the armpit or boob, and always in the middle of an important scene
3) it's hard to sit in modern chairs wearing a bustle.
4) paniers force you to turn sideways to go through doors.
5) the single most uncomfortable undergarment I've worn was a modern one-piece shaper with stockings held up by garters (picture a 1950/contemporary hybrid). I couldn't go to the bathroom without getting completely undressed. Garter belts with stockings are a close second, neck-in-neck with elastic-topped thigh-highs.
6) Elizabethan ruffs can give you a nice neck rash.
 
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lonestarlibrarian

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Mostly, I avoid wearing things that either (a) I can't dress/undress myself, or (b) I can't hop in the car and go from Point A to Point B without getting changed first.

However, I do have an Elizabethan Power Dress. One of the things that's different between Elizabethan corsets and Victorian corsets is that for Elizabethan corsets, the thought behind it is to change your shape into a cylinder and flatten/raise the bust. Victorian corsets are for giving you a fashionably slender hourglass figure.

In general, my Elizabethan was very comfortable to wear. However, due to the fact that the seamstress forgot the seam allowance--- I wasn't quite able to breathe well for the day. Then I started my family a year or two later, had a couple of kids, haven't quite shed all the baby weight... I haven't re-worn it. :)

In general, my go-to is a 14th c cotehardie, although I've got some middle-class Elizabethan in the closet as well. Current sewing project is a German Cranach dress, but it keeps getting pushed to the back in favor of other projects for other people...
 

angeliz2k

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Because in Real Life I'm a professional actress, I've worn any number of period costumes. I can tell you that:

1) corsets not only improve your posture and the fit of your clothes, but in my experience they actually improve your singing (see posture).
2) it takes practice to fasten up busks, and corset stays WILL eventually work out of their appointed place and jab you, usually under the armpit or boob, and always in the middle of an important scene
3) it's hard to sit in modern chairs wearing a bustle.
4) paniers force you to turn sideways to go through doors.
5) the single most uncomfortable undergarment I've worn was a modern one-piece shaper with stockings held up by garters (picture a 1950/contemporary hybrid). I couldn't go to the bathroom without getting completely undressed. Garter belts with stockings are a close second, neck-in-neck with elastic-topped thigh-highs.
6) Elizabethan ruffs can give you a nice neck rash.

Yes, I've heard that modern versions of corsets can actually be really uncomfortable because they aren't fitted to the person. If it hurts, it probably doesn't fit properly, and standardized sizing only goes so far.

Mostly, I avoid wearing things that either (a) I can't dress/undress myself, or (b) I can't hop in the car and go from Point A to Point B without getting changed first.

However, I do have an Elizabethan Power Dress. One of the things that's different between Elizabethan corsets and Victorian corsets is that for Elizabethan corsets, the thought behind it is to change your shape into a cylinder and flatten/raise the bust. Victorian corsets are for giving you a fashionably slender hourglass figure.

In general, my Elizabethan was very comfortable to wear. However, due to the fact that the seamstress forgot the seam allowance--- I wasn't quite able to breathe well for the day. Then I started my family a year or two later, had a couple of kids, haven't quite shed all the baby weight... I haven't re-worn it. :)

In general, my go-to is a 14th c cotehardie, although I've got some middle-class Elizabethan in the closet as well. Current sewing project is a German Cranach dress, but it keeps getting pushed to the back in favor of other projects for other people...

Yep, I can't drive in my hoop skirt, that's for sure! There isn't room for it to fit into the driver's seat with me.

Later Victorian corsets were much more about the hour-glass shape. The mid-Victorian corset was relatively modest as far as cinching the waist, compared to the 1890's-1900's!
 

Belle_91

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I work at a historic house museum and have to wear a costume. We represent the 1880s.

I don't find it unbearable, but I still think it's a little uncomfortable. When guests asks if my dresses are uncomfortable, I tell them they're not meant for comfort like we think of them. Also, I would probably be more comfortable in the clothing if I had grown up wearing this stuff. I think 1880s women would probably find my leggings and sports bra uncomfortable.

I find I do burp a lot in the corset. This might be because I eat Doritos in it...:Shrug:I have let out some spectacular belches in that thing, sometimes while talking about difficult history. When I give tours and have to wear my costume, I find I'm not really that hungry. I might nibble on a sandwich or some type of snack. One woman I work with just drinks a smoothie while giving tours.

As far as comfort goes, where it's at is Regency. I don't like the look of it, but it's super loose and way less form fitting then the 1880s.

I really wanted to wear a 1770s dress, but from what I understand you have to be like sewn into it.
 
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mrsmig

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I really wanted to wear a 1770s dress, but from what I understand you have to be like sewn into it.

Laced into them, yes - sewn into them, no.
 

benbenberi

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A lot of straight pins were often involved too, to attach the separate pieces of the garment -- smoother and simpler than laces
 

Alessandra Kelley

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A lot of straight pins were often involved too, to attach the separate pieces of the garment -- smoother and simpler than laces

Hmm, so that back and forth in the musical “1776” between Samuel and Abigail Adams about the desperate pin shortage in New England is about an actual vital supply shortage?
 

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I got into LARP and that lead to making leather armor and wearing metal armor. The biggest thing I learned is that, if you can't bend over, lie down, get up, touch your toes, sit down and generally do everything else, it's not real armor. A lot of decorative armor exists and you can't sit or bend over in it. If you drop your weapon in battle, you are dead. If you fall over, you are dead. You do get used to armor if you wear it enough. It does slow you down, but you can still run, just not as fast or far. Roman Lorica is great armor for comfort. Hardened leather armors are quite noisy because they creak when you move or breath.

There is so much stuff that we think of incorrectly because of Hollywood. I've worked in film and I get why they do it but there are some terrible tropes out there that just won't die. Horns on helmets. Biker fetish gear for Vikings. Everything was brown before 1920. Swords go "schwing" when you draw them. (Swords do ring when they strike metal. That is honest and it's an amazing sound.) And the worst is that armor basically doesn't protect anyone. Armor is actually really good at taking hits, and two armored knights could possibly pound on each other for a while without any injuries being inflicted. Gladiators wore a lot of armor and didn't die as often as any movie depicts. They were too expensive to throw away. Of course they probably threw away a lot of criminals against the proper gladiators.

Just the big rants there. It is really cool to study and wear historical clothing and learn about it. And we aren't the only ones to make non-functional armor. I saw a Japanese decorative suit. It was beautiful but much to heavy to actually wear. So "bad" armor did not start today.

- Mark Charke
 

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I have costumes from ancient Rome up to the 18th century with a brief outlier in 1918. I love historical clothing. I have 13th century armor too. Even though I mostly write science fiction I still try to have the clothing be a part of the story.
 

CWatts

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I was researching 19th century mourning clothes and ran across a link to this primary source, The Art of Dressing Well from 1870. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t3zs3k18q?urlappend=;seq=102
Apparently the black dye was unstable and bled off to stain bare skin. The remedy here is effective but poisonous.

There may have went my idea to have my dance hall girl wear a mourning band to cover a scar on her arm, but hey it's always good to throw in more complications - especially if the poison turns up in a murder....
 

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Wearing clothes was so complicated back then. I would've wound up dead for sure.
 

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There may have went my idea to have my dance hall girl wear a mourning band to cover a scar on her arm, but hey it's always good to throw in more complications - especially if the poison turns up in a murder....
Dressing in mourning, even with only a symbolic black band, is supposed to indicate that you are not really taking part in worldly things. I don't know that it would be really appropriate for a dance hall girl to wear at work. If it's just to cover a scar, how about a lacy garter on her arm? Or one on each arm, to look more 'costume' and less 'cover up'.
 
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CWatts

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Dressing in mourning, even with only a symbolic black band, is supposed to indicate that you are not really taking part in worldly things. I don't know that it would be really appropriate for a dance hall girl to wear at work. If it's just to cover a scar, how about a lacy garter on her arm? Or one on each arm, to look more 'costume' and less 'cover up'.

Excellent idea. I was already thinking lace and doing both makes sense - especially given the coverup is as much to not be ID'ed by the Pinkertons as strictly cosmetic....
 

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Excellent idea. I was already thinking lace and doing both makes sense - especially given the coverup is as much to not be ID'ed by the Pinkertons as strictly cosmetic....
If she cuts her gown low and her skirt high, how many men will be concentrating on her face or her arms? :evil The dress doesn't have to be modern-day 'sexy', just a little more so than the rest of the girls.
 

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I haven't (yet) dressed in period costume, but I did find a great resource at the "Reconstructing History" web page:
https://reconstructinghistory.com/

I don't have the talent or patience to try out the patterns, but I did buy her "Assembled Historical Notes for 16th-century Irish men and women" and her "16th century Irish Women's Getting Dressed Guide" (I'm writing about the first decade of the 17th century, but it's close enough). She also has lots of patterns and historical notes for the 20th century, Medieval Europe, the Ottoman Empire, Heinan Japan etc.
 

Layla Nahar

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I'm currently on my 2nd version (mockup) of the Butterick stays/pair of bodies pattern. That's about the extent of it so far for me. Thanks for this thread, tho :)
 

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I'm part of an am-dram society and had to be dressed onstage as Anne of Cleves! Our wardrobe department based the costume on a real portrait, so I had a smock/shift, kirtle, dress, belt and hat (I was able to 'sleep' in the smock, so that was okay!). Aside from a couple of non-period fastenings, such as the metal eyelets (not invented until the Victorian period, I believe, and that and steel-boned corseting helped contribute to tight-leaving), it was all pretty accurate (to pass onstage - no one in the audience needed to know we didn't dare wash the smock afterward because some of the decorative banding had been coloured with felt-tip pen!). The main things I noticed are similar to above - the kirtle in this case was boned, acted as the corset, and was fairly comfortable, but the real thing was the weight of the whole thing. It was made from a couple of sets of old curtains because the fabrics were perfect, and it was properly padded. It was March, and when I was wearing it, I was nice and warm! Same play featured Katherine Howard getting changed on stage, so she also had to have appropriate stays, etc. (made specifically for the actress and very prettily-trimmed).

It's still one of my favourite costumes to have worn onstage because the shape and weight of it really gave you an idea of how people might have felt then - and how they kept warm in those draughty castles! (I've also worn Regency and Victorian costumes and can reiterate the fact that corsets can be comfortable if they're the right shape for you, and underskirts were sometimes there to ensure you don't flash anyone because the dress's fabric is too flimsy!)
 

Thorberta

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I've been writing in the late 18th century for a while now and the more research I've done for my descriptions, the more interested I've gotten in sewing and wearing some clothing from the time period. I just have to take the leap and buy some linen so I can start a shift and work up from there. I'm both curious and nervous about the stays. I have chronic back pain, but I know part of the function of stays was to protect/support the back and I'm interested to see if I find them comfortable or not.
 

angeliz2k

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I've been writing in the late 18th century for a while now and the more research I've done for my descriptions, the more interested I've gotten in sewing and wearing some clothing from the time period. I just have to take the leap and buy some linen so I can start a shift and work up from there. I'm both curious and nervous about the stays. I have chronic back pain, but I know part of the function of stays was to protect/support the back and I'm interested to see if I find them comfortable or not.

Stays (and corsets) should be comfortable if properly fitted and should help with back support. (An exception would the extremes of the late Victorian/Edwardian age.)

I didn't make my own corset; I didn't have the right materials and didn't have faith in my skills to create something that would stand up to the strain that a corset is put under. I just bought it. You can get high-quality stays or corsets from Red Threaded and such places, but I found a more modestly-priced (mid-Victorian) corset from Treadle Treasures. It's worth exploring your options. There are LOTS of costuming suppliers. I don't plan to be out every weekend reenacting, so I didn't feel I needed anything top-of-the-line, just something that gave the right silhouette and stood up to occasional wear.
 

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The novel I finished a few weeks ago takes place in the '20s. My town's sesquicentennial is this year and the celebration is coming up this next weekend. So the natural choice in costume is a 1920s one, but I'm no seamstress so I had everything made for me, the dress and hat, or were purchased. My purse and stockings are authentic from the 20s, and some of the makeup I will wear is from 1920s recipes or in the case of the lipstick, and authentic color. My Facebook album of my outfit. The stockings. The hat pin I'm not sure is 1920s or not.
 

angeliz2k

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Oh, I did (sort of) get to wear one of my dresses "out in the wild". "The wild" in this case being a costume party at the Gaylord National Hotel near DC, so, like, not wild at all. (I'm still thinking of setting up a photo shoot at a CW battlefield, some nice field, and/or at my brother's pre-CW house.)

It was, at least, the first time I wore the dress outside of my apartment:

http://www.elizabethhuhn.com/2019/06/and-costume-party.html
 

Tepelus

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Oh, I did (sort of) get to wear one of my dresses "out in the wild". "The wild" in this case being a costume party at the Gaylord National Hotel near DC, so, like, not wild at all. (I'm still thinking of setting up a photo shoot at a CW battlefield, some nice field, and/or at my brother's pre-CW house.)

It was, at least, the first time I wore the dress outside of my apartment:

http://www.elizabethhuhn.com/2019/06/and-costume-party.html

What a nice dress, and I'm glad you were able to wear it to something. And that nothing fell off. lol! I do not have any talents in the sewing arts at all, all I can do is just draw, and attempt to write.
 

Thorberta

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Stays (and corsets) should be comfortable if properly fitted and should help with back support. (An exception would the extremes of the late Victorian/Edwardian age.)

I didn't make my own corset; I didn't have the right materials and didn't have faith in my skills to create something that would stand up to the strain that a corset is put under. I just bought it. You can get high-quality stays or corsets from Red Threaded and such places, but I found a more modestly-priced (mid-Victorian) corset from Treadle Treasures. It's worth exploring your options. There are LOTS of costuming suppliers. I don't plan to be out every weekend reenacting, so I didn't feel I needed anything top-of-the-line, just something that gave the right silhouette and stood up to occasional wear.

I'm not a great seamstress, but a determined one, so I'm going to attempt the stays and see if I end up with anything passable. I can't find anything cheap for 1780s stays at the moment anyway, though that Treadle Treasures does look like a good place for a corset if I ever get into the 19th century costumes that appeal to me.

Tepelus you look really cute in that cloche hat!

And angeliz2k I love that dress! I'm glass you got a chance to wear it out and about. It would be awesome if you got a chance to do a nice photo shoot with it.

Okay, I've got to pull it together and break out the needles and thread!