costume event – Fashion Through Herstory

Söderköpings Medieval Fair 2017

Published on September 21, 2017 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

It’s almost been a month since the yearly Medieval fair in Söderköping, and I just now gotten round to post about it, but better late then never right:-).

I’ve been attending this fair with my sister for a few years now (2014, 2015, 2016) and this year was no exception, only this year I didn’t joined the dance recital, but instead had my hand full taking care of my 1 year old son.

As always I had a bit of a trouble deciding on what to wear, but finally settled on the Elizabeth I dress l made last year.

My sister borrowed my red renaissance kirtle.

And baby Charlie wore the Henry VIII coat from last year, pared with an old red velvet hat to match.

I promised my fiancé I wouldn’t dress him to weird, and in my defence I can only say I (partially) held that promise. Besides from the coat and hat (which he needed for head covering), he wears a regular gray long sleeved t-shirt and pants pared with his autumn boots.

*Disclaimer: This post will be full of cute (faceless) “Henry VII” baby pics – so consider yourself warned;-)

**I’m sorry about the “Floating ruff”, but the partlet was simply to hot to wear, and I’ve forgotten to bring my necklace and/or black-worked smock, so I figured it was better then nothing…

We begun the day by touring the market place.
And I got a beautiful feather fan, and a book about medieval clothing that I’ve never seen before.

Then we walked the 500m or so to the camp and Medieval playground.
There was a lot of “follow the toddler” happening.

Then we meet up with the dancing team and baby C got introduced to the whole gang for te first time.

My sister joined the dancing

And me and C watched(At least for a little while), then he was of agin… I do think we made for quite a sight.
Lots of people commented on how cute he looked, and some even wanted our picture.

After the dancing we went to get some food, and encountered the knights on our way to the restaurant.After lunch we stopped to take a break and to play a bit in the parks playground. The slide is by far his favourite.
The we did even more exploring the townHa ha, I love that my sister tries to play with him and how he’s much more interesting in the gravel:-D Trying to get some nice photos together… It’s harder then you’d think
Before we headed home we took another round of the market and listened to some music, Met a knight of the crusades and looked at some more pretty things (that we didn’t buy). Renaissance ladies.
It was such a fun day, and a perfect “first event” for C (who was in the best of moods during the day, and then slept the whole car ride home). What more could you wish for 🙂

The Day of the Big Crinolines 2017

Published on July 15, 2017July 15, 2017 by fashionthrougherstory4 Comments

After months of “planing” (which included me asking around for interest, sending a few emails, and making a quick poster/flyer), the “Day of the big Crinolines” (2017) was finally upon us :-).

A quick poster made from a photo from last year.

Some of you (especially if you follow me on Instagram) might recall, I’d had a bit of a clothing dilemma the weeks leading up to this event.
But after lots of answer, and I really mean A LOT, (Thank you to all who took their time to give me their thoughts and opinions 🙂 ) I came to the decision, of which you’d probably already aware – To wear the white plaid dress with the white bonnet (pic 2 & 6), disregarding the fact I wore that exact dress last time.This pic was posted to my Instagram together with the question of which outfit I should choose, and generated about 50 comments. Surprisingly many of you picked matching outfits (green dress with green bonnet and so on), even though I originally made the bonnets to go with the dress right above in the picture (1 & 4..).

*Ok, so this post contains a lot of picture (all taken by me or my sister, if nothing else mentioned), and I will not speak so much about everything. Just a warning 😉

The day started at 10am when me and my sister meet up with so me of the other early participants to get dressed, a endeavor that took quite a while.Clara helping my sister securing the hat properly.

And by the way… Yay!
And with no last try on before the event I was relived to se that the outfit worked.

The day officially started at 11am with a picknick in the green, but the previous days heavy rain made us les inclined to get down on the ground, and instead we opted for a spot by the outdoor dance floor with several benches.

The “low class” people helped sett the tables 😉

One interesting element in our picknick (which I’m sure amused us as much as the other party) was the stride of runners from “Linköpings Half-marathon” passing us by. I found it particularly funny, since I originally planned to enter the race, (yep, I’d doubled bocked myself) but a sore knee forced me to rest for the past month. My boyfriend however entered, and ran past us in one of the front crowds, to my, and a few more of us high applause and encouraging shouts.

Despite taking photos, looking for my hubby amongst the runners and making sure all newcomers was welcomed and everyone was comfortable, I did actually had a few moments to sitt down and have a bite to eat (and drink).

Kerstin and Sara visited the event as part of their project (or perhaps despite) their project to re-create their long past relative Agusta Lundin’s (a well known Swedish mid 19th century lady) travels through Sweden and Europe. Read all about their trip and project at: Agustasresa.se

A severe case of “Hairnet stuck to PomPoms” 😀
Photo by: Kerstin of “Augustas resa” (more photos from her can be found here)

Some mingel

Pernilla and Denise in their beautiful new dresses.

This is how happy Pernilla is about her recently finished crinoline 😀

Sis 🙂

Fixing some hair before the dance-recital

After the picknick we all headed onto the dance flor to get a lesson in 19th century dance.

Not everyone likes to dance though, sometimes it’s just enough to sitt and enjoy it instead.

Then the dance-team showed us some more complicated moves I opted to stay sidelined since we were uneven to match the formation (besides No dancing = more photos)

Before it was time to “hit the town”, and for everyone to wander off as they liked we gathered for a group picture.

Pic by: Janne

I also got some pictures of all of my 3 dresses attending the day. “The brown ladies”
After finally deciding on my dress, and finishing my sisters outfit, I got an email from one of the new girls in the dance team, asking for advice/help on what to wear. After some questions about her approximate size, and armed with lots of safety pins, I dug my brown Paisley gown out from my basement, gave it a press and lent it to her for the day.

Then we all spent a few hours drinking coffee, walking around and shopping

My sister had a “dress-twin” in this lady (That fabric is divine!)

Maria and Ruth resting their legs

Apparently this event was sett on “The Knitters Day”, and since it was a bit chilly I made good use of my beloved mitts, that was gifted to me a few years back.

Just like last time, we all gathered again before dinner to play some “Pinn-ball” (or is it Bowling?) on the old course.

Clara in her beautiful lilac dress (and don’t you just love her bonnet – perfection!),
and Sarah who changed dress (and decade) before dinner, to a gorgeous natural form gown.

“Have you heard the latest news…”

Then it was time to head in for the dinner.

And that was that. Testing out my new selfie-stick with some of the amazing ladies from the day.

I’m really happy about how the day turned out (even though the weather wasn’t exactly the nicest, but hey! No Rain :-)), and so grateful to all the wonderful people who took their time (and Awesome costumes) to come here and help make the day such a success. Hope to see you all next time… 😀

And as a bonus: Check out this video made by one of the photographers who joined us in the beginning of the day.

1750-1850s Spring Ball (2017)

Published on June 20, 2017 by fashionthrougherstory3 Comments

Wow, It’s already been more then a month since the spring ball (and summer arrived) but I just now finished my blogpost about it.

As you might recall, I had quite a bit sewing done before the ball, both for me (1825s bonanza)
and my sister (a whole 1860s costume with underpinnings and everything).
Thanks to good planing (he he, right;-)) I managed to finish everything in time,
and didn’t even have the panicked last minute finishes that always seams to be my lot.

The day of the ball was a bit hectic though.

As I needed to turn the mandatory dance rehearsal down, in order to get to a friends babys christening instead.
But since I still had my sisters dress at home, I had to make a pit-stop at the dance-hall to leave it to her, before I stuffed my (relatively) clean baby in the car and drove 1 hour to get to the church. After a quick stop, leaving our present, and eating some cake I rushed home to get dressed in record speed for the ball. My outfit ready and awaiting.

Thank good my boyfriend (who happened to have a book-release that same day) had already come home, and could take the baby and help me close the dress.
Even more thank good, I’ve already done the dress-rehearsal (or more exactly the hair-rehearsal) so I managed to get the hair done and the dress on in not more then 30 minutes.
Beat that!
Does this lok like a fast and easy hairdo?

Arriving (in time) to the ball, I had some time to calm down and to find my sister.Hiding out by the fire-extinguisher

The evening started with a mingel and everyone admiring everyone else dresses/costumes.

Selfie with a big digital camera is not as easy as it looks…

Beautiful girl – terrible lighting…
I’m not kidding, this is how bad the lighting is in the dance hall.

Group picture, with awful resolution
Pretty bows on the shoes 🙂

Then it was time to head upstairs to get some dinner. unfortunately me and my sister dragged a bit behind to take some silly pictures, and once we got upstairs there was no seats left.

They managed to get out a few extra chairs for us, but since all tables was full, we was seated on the table flanks far away from each-other.

pretty far away…

The dinner started with a soup made from peas, which was really good.

The main course was basically beef, chicken and bacon combined.

As a vegetarian there wasn’t to much to eat, unfortunately. “Can we pleas call for a pizza, cause I’ve only had some cake since breakfast…”

During dinner one gentleman got up and started singing an “humorous” old song, which was kind of musing, at first, but 78 verses in I was not the only one rolling my eyes at the (inappropriate old sexist jokes in the song and) man taking up to much space.

Once we finished the dinner I took the opportunity to take some picture of pretty dresses while the tables cleared to make room for the dance.

Beautiful regency sisters

Mirror selfie

Then it was time to dance

We had one break for dessert later in the evening I’m still starving, thank you very much 😦

Then the dancing continued Somebody knows how to pose…

Then it was time to say goodbye and go home.
I had lots of fun dancing and fooling around with my friends, making some new friends as well, but to be both hungry and really tired made me a bit cranky at the end.
At least I got lots of compliments for both my hair and my dress(es) 🙂

“America day – Those who Stayed Behind”

Published on July 22, 2015July 22, 2015 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

This weekend I attended the “American day” in a small village called Kisa.
The theme for the day was the Swedish emigration to America during the later half of 19th century, with a closer look at the Swedish society, clothing and food for all those who choose to stay behind (mainly the rich).

The old In (Wärdshus) in Kisa hosted the day, and me and a group of volunteer ladies held the costume and fashion “show” including a presentation of 1850-1900s fashion.

The first thing we did after arriving was to set up our dress forms with fashions from 1850-1900s.
Unfortunately we ended up with way to many bustle dresses and lacked both 1850s and 1900s dresses.
We also totally lacked mens fashion.
Lesson learnt for next time I guess.

Our “Showroom” – you can see my 1900s S-shaped corset to the left and my 1850s corset, crinoline and bonnet to the right.

Accessorizes

After the “showroom” was set, and we all gotten into our chosen garb, it was time to meet the guests.Group pic (missing two of the ladies who came a bit later)

We were supposed to walk around chatting with the guest, but since everyone was seated listening to the orchestra playing we didn’t had the chance to present ourself, but just stayed in the background as to not disturb the musicians.

Sara is wearing her fabulous military inspired 1880s bustle dress.

Helena in yet another lovely bustle dress.

I went a bit outside the box and wore my Downton Abby 1914s dress.

Gossiping 1850s ladies…

When the music was over, Sara got to show the resemblance between the orchestras uniform and her dress.Twins?

Then we all went inside for our costume presentation.

Helena held a great presentation, illustration the past fashions using both the dressforms and us as mannequins.

Then it was time to get seated for the 1870s style dinner, made by the Ins own chef from an old recipe.Salue! Cheers! Skål!

This pic cracks me up – just look at Mauds face watching me play with my food…

After dinner the guests had a little bit of time to ask us questions and take our photos.Susanna posing for a guest.

Before it was time to head home we all decided to take the time to get some nice photos
(my sister joined us the whole day as a photographer)

Group-pic

The obligatory crazy group pic

Sara and Helena in beautiful blue bustles

Barbro in lovely 1870s dress – I love the stripe work

Maud and Marie just cant stop laughing in their 1850s garb

Josefine, Susanna and me chatting about some scandalous things.

“No way! I’t was you…”

Lovely Edwardian elegance

Then it was time to pack up and go home…

I’m not super impressed with the arrangement of the event (no PR, no schedule and strange activity clashes),
but I’m definitely happy and thankful for all the lovely ladies who turned up in costume and high spirit to make the day a success.

That pretty much sums it up…
All photos by: Elin Evaldsdottra

The Day of the Big Crinolines (part 2)

Published on June 26, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory2 Comments

Here comes the rest of the pictures from “The Day of the Big Crinolines” (part 1).

As the day progressed we walked round the old town of Gamla Linköping, visiting small shops and gardens, taking lots of photos and buying some new stuff.

IMG_6950_zpsylgylebb Maud, in the sun with her new umbrella/parasol.

Maria, with her Southern American flair.

Fan fighting!

Ladies walking of to the distance…

Sara of “A costuming Engineer” in her stunning new 1860s gown.

Clara reading “the bible” in the shadows.

I love the color and shape of Claras bonnet, and she matched it perfectly with the lilac in her dress.

IMG_7007_zpsmror4nbk One giant skirt on the bench…
…four giant skirts on the bench.

Oh naughty!

Love this flimsy, of focus photo – that’s what the whole day felt like.

Pernilla and Denise in their lovely new cotton dresses.

Pernilla (in red) was my co-arranger to his event, and an angel at making everything work out perfectly.

Such a great color on Denise.

I love the sheer fabric on Pernillas bonnet.

On the town square we ran into the patrolling policeman, and convinced him to join in some photos.

20150613_154632_resized “Hm, you are very strange madam…”

When the shops closed (and the tourist headed home), we all went to the old times skittle-alley for some resting and playing in the shadows.

20150613_160802_resized

IMG_7185_zpsfjtvuw9h Barbaras jacket are made out of a tablecloth, can you believe it.
The whole outfit looks so smashing.

Helena’s playing ball…

Strike! Eh, No…

IMG_7259_zpspmzu8ppr Just general fooling around.

Some of the guest devoted them self to reading “the bible” – Not really
(they’r watching the live streaming from the royal wedding).

Group-pic – with some added and some lost through out the day.

Newlyweds – Congratulations again!

We ended the day with a nice dinner at an beautiful old restaurant next to were we sat.
The food and the company was great, but we were all a bit exhausted by the long and hot day.
Then it was time to say goodbye.

Hopefully we’ll be able to do this again next year.

Just awesome!

***

I probably should have stopped at the crazy group picture, but since this is my blog/account of the day, I will also show you the les glorious pics from after we said our goodbyes.

At the buss ride home, hot, tired and sweaty, I encounter my other sister – all fresh and styled for a night on the town.
I just had to do a un-glamours bus-selfie. 20150613_203506_resized After a long day of costuming in the sun…

Once home I finally got to take the boots of, and take a look at my sad feet and socks – the blisters will stay for quite some time I’d wold think, but mu bellowed stockings are lost to all hope of saving.
Goodbye my friends, We had some good times together.
You could make any historical costume look better and would always stay in place (above the knee) even without garters.
I will miss you, and have a really hard time replacing you.

The Day of the Big Crinolines (Part 1)

Published on June 24, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory6 Comments

So, it finally came – “The Day of the Big Crinolines”, that I’ve been preparing for all spring.

Stora krinolindagen The Event poster made by Helena, using one of the pictures of my paisley gown.

The day was a collaboration with “Gamla Linköping” and “Svenska 1800-tals sällskapet”.

As a one of the hosts for this event I’ve put quite some work into getting it perfect.
Together with Pernilla from “Fashion of the days gone by” I talked to “Gamla Linköping” (the outdoors museum where the event was to be held) about help with publicity, booking the outdoors dance-floor and using their dressing-room among other things.
We had discussions with the historic dance team (to make hem do a dance show and a short dance course), with the “Historic costume group” for a fashion show and with several well read historic re-enactors for a small lecture on the fashion of the day.

At the end we only managed to get the dance team – who did a great job and was really appreciated by the participants of the day.
(Maybe next year we will be able to book some more entertainment and lectures…)

Besides planing the event itself, I’d worked on getting both me and my sister properly dresses.
Something I finished with just in time. My sister is wearing her new 1860s ensemble including her blue Skirt, white Shirt, blue Hat and black Swiss-Waist, paired with a bridal petticoat, bloomers, stockings, lace up shoes, and black lace mitts.
I’m wearing my new 1850s ensemble of plaid Dress, green silk bonnet, cage Crinoline, Corset, petticoats, bloomers, lace up boots and a clock in a chain at the waist.

The event was a big hit and lots of lovely people from different parts of Sweden joined in.
We even got our own full page in the local newspaper.
Yes, it’s me in the big picture – the reporters caught me of guard, and convinced me to both answer some questions and to pose for them. They even caught some of it on tape – read the whole article and watch the interview (in Swedish) here.

Enough talking, on to the pictures…

We started the day by gathering all the attendant at the town square.awaiting some more people…

Perfect lilac picture dream

IMG_6860_zpsrcjtpnod Staying cool in the sun

A bustle at the Crinoline day was of course also welcome

Coming back from the interview (with the two reporters trailing behind).

Then we went to the outside dance-floor to talk a bit and to get to know each-other, since there was a lot new faces for all of us. You can see the reporters lurking in the background

IMG_6867_zpsvgjv4sh2 Clara, Maria and Engla in three quite different styles of 1850-1860s dresses.

Then we went for a short walk to some greenery, to have our picnic lunch. Eva, with her super modern fruit – the pineapple

Then we headed back to the dance-floor to watch “Folkungagillets historic dance team” perform.
And for some of us – join in the performance…

IMG_6893_zps6b1zzuac

Here’s a short film of one of the dances:

Then everyone was invited to join for a a few group-dances and some polka.

Afterwards, one of the dancers helped me take some pictures of my dress in the nice light of the dance-floor.

One of the people who came to watch the public dance show was my friend Annica (who is an expert dancer) and I got to dance some polka with her. Yay!

IMG_6892_zps8zpctidw Bustle glory.

After the dancing some of us headed of to get some cofee, or “Fika” as we say in Sweden.

And asked one of the photographing tourists to take our picture.

My (quite dramatic) shadow

Visiting some shops

IMG_6937_zpspua5czdr

To be continued…

Edwardian Sisters

Published on April 2, 2015 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

I love attending events with my sister/sisters.
It’s so great having a companion in this crazy costuming adventure.
Someone who love dressing up as much as me, and who gets the work and planing goes into making an historical outfit with all it’s accessories and seemingly uncomfortable pieces (non les putting it on).

So when she discovered she was free from work, and thous able to go to the 18th century “fika” in old town, I was so happy and immediately scrambled to find something for her to wear (because that’s what sisters do)

And since I was to wear Edwardian we decided that so should she.

Goofing around

The day of the event I arrived at her house, carrying both our costumes, in good time to get ourselfs ready. 20150315_142515 underwear selfie

We helped each-other lazing the corsets and button those buttons, and then we were of (only half an hour to late, ops).
I blame my sisters hair for taking to much time, but really, it just take a lot of time getting into all those layers.

Gibson hairstyle

After saying our goodbyes to the others, we stopped for some quick photos of our costumes.
strip it baby…

Sis is wearing the newly made walking skirt, a modern blouse, over my 1880s corset and combined with a modern belt and a ribbon for necktie.

I’m wearing my suffraget skirt, modern jacket, Edwardian blouse, 1900s corset and several accessories like a fur hat, modern fur shawl, elbow length opera glows, my black swiss-waist and an 1950s embroidered bag.

IMG_20150315_181820 Edwardian Selfie

19th century Spring Coffee in Old Town

Published on March 31, 2015 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

Two weeks ago me and my sister attended a small gathering of historic enthusiasts for a “Fika” in the local “old town”.

Once me and my sister spent way to long getting ready, we took the bus to the location and hurried to catch up with the others.
We all invaded a small coffee shop, and caused a stir in the other guests who (as usual) wanted to take photos.

It was a lovely event and besides the historic clothes it almost felt like an ordinary “fika” with friends.

My sister looking fab, in her Edwardian outfit and Hairdo.

“What’s that over there….?”

Sara (the initiator to this meeting) asked everybody to tell a bit of our costumes and we got the chance to really look at all the clothing and ask questions. Here is Sara in her gorgeous 1880s bustle ensemble.

Yvonne wore a colorful regency gown, paired with turban made from a shawl.

Those 18th century stays are to die for, and she paired them with a great plaid skirt, apron and of course appropriate head cover.

Then we went outside to chat some more and to take even more pictures.1920s backsides

Both Denise (left) and Pernilla (right) are in my historic sewing group.
And they made their dresses just in time for this event (between studying and exams).
Pernilla also writes of this event on her blog “fashion of the days gone by”, read the post here.Let me just say how much I love both their outfits, and those shoes! OMG, I definitely need to get myself some 1920s styled pumps.

It was a bit chilly, so we all had our outerwear on most of the time.

Karin is showing her bloomers beneath her lovely plaid skirt.

Hair and hat detail

“Do my bum look big in this?” – Yes and I love it!

There was no end to Saras wardrobe – Here she’s wearing a Dolman, made from a Truly Victorian pattern, with the most delightful swoon to the back.

I’m not even sure what Dan is doing – lets just say he looks great in his red and white self made ensemble.
Ludwig looks as smashing as ever in newly made plaid breeches and well groomed facial hair.

Me and sis in our Edwardian gear.

Warm ad cosy in velvet and fur.

Gibson hair side view

The obligatory shoe shoot

Of course we posed for photos to.

Fashion from Regency too 1920s – all in one pic.

Thanks to everyone who attended, it was so nice meeting you all. And lets hope we can do this again sometime.

18th century Waik

Published on November 27, 2014November 28, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory6 Comments

I planed to do a long write up about the 18th century Halloween party I attended two weeks ago, but now I feel more like just some quick word then on to the pictures.

As previously mentioned I didn’t had the time to make a mourning gown for the party, (I did however take one evening to make a new cap). Instead I wore my pretty recently finished Autumn Anglaise, paired with my new lace cuffs and cap.A mirror selfie before leaving the house.

The location and settings for the party was perfect (even if it took me one hour to find the way to the house).

I had such a good time at the party. I danced, chatted and meet several really nice new people.Photo by Jennifer Garner

Photo by Jennifer Garner

They even had a real coffin with a man laying inside. jennifer garnier Photo by Jennifer Garner

And a scary laboratory with lots of creepy and disgusting objects.

Brain in a jar anybody…?

We think this is whats left from the masters latest lost servant…

The paintings on the walls are actual 18th century renderings.

One of the musicians – At least I got one sharp photo.

Elisa from “Isis Wardrobe” – If you haven’t found her blog yet, you seriously missed out…
Photo by Folke Bagger

Well at least one of the photos taken during the evening was of me…Courtesy of Folke Bagger – or not, depends how you look at it :-).

I had such a good time and I’m determent to get some proper mourning gear for next years party…Love my “after event hairdo”, perhaps I should consider doing the Mohawk on a more regular basis…

Bal a la Turque

Published on September 17, 2014 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

So, last Friday it was finally time for the Bal a la Turque.
I left early from work to catch the train to the capital, went to our apartment, dressed and headed to the party.

The party itself was located at some beautiful old buildings complete with dining room an dance hall. The guests were all dressed to their teeth in 18th century Turkish fashion, and everyone looked wonderful.

All party pictures are courtesy of Jennifer Garnier, who graciously allowed me to post them here. Enjoy.

And I just have to show you these masterpieces, one of the girls took at the end of the evening.
If you look fast you can actually kind of see the three of us posing…