layering – Fashion Through Herstory

1890s winter Undress

Published on February 26, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory1 Comment

Here we go again, with a peek of my historic underwear:

1790s Winter LayersFully dressed in Redingote, petticoat, belt sash, gloves and hat.

Taking of the accessorizes we can ses the Redingote in full.

Without the Redingote we can see all the white layers beneath – The skirt in full view and the fichu tucked inside the skirt.

Removing the skirt we find the petticoat and the complete fichu.
I also wear a quilted petticoat (you can spot the green waistband above the petticoats).

And underneath there is a bumpad, worn over chemise, stays, stockings and shoes.

1905s Layering

Published on February 7, 2015 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

It’s been a while since I last did one of these “layering posts”.
But this weekend when we finished the “winter fur” photoshoot, my sister helped me take a few pictures of the different pieces I wore for my 1900s ice skating costume.

So here it is:
1905s Winter LayeringLets start with the outerwear and accessorize: A fur muff, hat and shawl for cosy winter warmth.

Then there is the short jacket and the long gloves.
(sorry for the non-historical amount of hair, but I couldn’t fit a wig into the furhat ;-))

Striping of the outer garments we got an “in-door” outfit, with a high necked shirtwaist, a slim shirt and a Swiss-waist.

Under the skirt we find the obligatory petticoat.
You could use multiple layers of petticoats, and one or to in flannel was not unusual to help keep warm.

And beneath the shirtwaist we find the corset.
You should also wear a corset cover (but unfortunately mine have mysteriously shrunk in the closet),
and a wool shirt for warmth.

Beneath the petticoat I wear bloomers and high stockings. I’m not completely sure of the correct way to fasten the suspenders to the stockings while wearing bloomers, but fasting them on the inside worked pretty well for me, (something that probably would be even more difficult if you’r wearing combinations*).
And as usual the shoes are about the first thing on and last thing of.

*Combinations, are exactly what it sounds like – a combination of chemise and bloomers, which became really popular as underwear during the late 19th/early 20th century.

Edwardian Layering

Published on April 19, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory2 Comments

I’ve been working a lot on my edwardian wordrobe latley. If you got tired of it, I can tell you this will be the last one in a while (I do whoever have some post on this era planed for later).

But before we skip backward a few centuries I want to show the complexity in which the edwardian lady dressed. When dressing for the recent photoshoot my sister/photagrapher exclaimed: Omg, and to think they wore all this every day.

She is not far from wrong. Acctually, the “finer” lady would change into several different dresses in one day (morning, walking, dinner ect.), something that would have taken both time and help from a handmaid/dresses. The women of lesser meens would have to settle for one dress a day (week, month…). And she would not have worn all the extra layers, accessories and padding except perhaps for sundays.

But enough about that. Here is my Edwardian Lady undressed.

As usual we start fully dressed, in: Gown and appropirate accessories like hat, belt/swiss waist, fan, glowes and juwelry.

Once the accessories are removed we find a much softer looking style, wearing only the gown – even though she would never have walked outside this “naked”. Lets do another layer.

Beneth we find the corset cover/brassiere who both keeps the sharp edges from the corset from showing through the dress, and helps create the fashionable “pigeon bust” of the period. We also find the petticoat, which in this period could be very decorative with lots of lace and ruching, but in this case is simply a white cotton one.

When we remove the brassiere, we can se parts of the corset.

And without the petticoat the bum-enhansor/bumpad is visible. I’ve haven’t had the time to make a proper edwardian one yet, but uses my 18th century purple one instead. The bumpads obvious purpose is to enhance the bum and to give a more distinkt S-bend shape.

And then we are down to the unmentionables: The corset with its garter and S-shape, the petticoat, stockings, separate under bodice and shoes. I wear an regular tank-top beneth he corset since I have’nt gotten around to make the proper edwardian combinations yet.

And that was all for this time.

1880s Evening Layering

Published on February 11, 2014 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

If you been reading my blog you would know about the 1880s evening gown I made for the bal at the opera late january. You might also know all about the underwear, corset and petticoat I struggeled to get finished in time for the event.

But I thougt I would show them again in a more structured way.

So today on the “Layering series” (I already done: 1750s, 1810s and 1840s) I will show you all the clothing of a Victorian ladys evening attyre.

So here we go.

As always we begin fully dressed in gown, cape/cloak and muff.

Then we remove the outerwear, to find the evening outfit compleat with glowes, juwelery and fan. You might also be carrying an evening bag or some other accessories.

Removing the accessories we are still fully dressed in our tight fitting gown. The train is almost mandetory for evening gowns, but not worn on everyday dresses.

Then we take of the gowns bodice (in this case the bodice are attached to the train, in other gowns the train might be separate and are removed after the bodice), and reveal the compleat apron and some of the corset-cover. The apron was a nice fashion detail used during the late part of the 19th century. Women wore the apron style both to evening, day and sport dresses.

Then we unfasten the apron and get a good wiew of the highly decorated skirt.

And removing the skirt we find the petticoat with it’s ruffeled backpanel, and the corset-cover – being just a regular tank top at this point (since I haven’t gotten around to make a real one yet). The purpse of both the petticoat and the corset-cover is to smoothen and hide the sharp edges from the foundation wear, and to help give the desired silouett.

Yet another layer is removed and we find the bustle. There are several variations of bustles out there. I wear a relativly smal “Lobster” bustle, but you can just as easerly go bigger or smaler using different styles. (I even know about ladys who use one of there 18th century pocket hoops tied to the back.)

And finaly, after removing the bustle and the corset-cover we find the un-mentionables – the corset, chemise, bloomers, stockings and shoes. The purpose for the undewear are (of course) to keep the finer clothes free from dirt. The corset was used to both mold the body to fashionable shape and to give the gown a nice ad smoth base on which to be worn.

Many people can get quite upset when it comes to discussing corsets, and admittedly some ladys of the victorian age did tight lace, but they where rare exeptions, and most women wore their corsets as bust and back support, and as mentioned, to get a smooth look on their clothes.

So that was that.

And as you can se it still comes back to the same basic clothing items (underwear, shapewear, gown and accessories) during so manny of the different periods.