Victorian Ball Gown ,Gothic Victorian Dresses,Civil War Dresses,Victorian Bustle Dress,Lolita Dress,Cheap Costumes for Adults

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Gothic Sparkle Marie Antoinette Gown~Custom

三月 22nd, 2016

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Gothic Sparkle Marie Antoinette Gown~Custom

This is a beautiful gothic style gown! Makes a beautiful theme wedding gown, or a totally dramatic Marie Antoinette gown or custume. This is a custom-made gown, so we can do *any* color in Silk Dupioni, line it in black crepe back satin….and we use black soft lace for the undersleeves, black hooks down the front, and large scalloped black beaded trim with black sequins around the rounded overskirt and bottom of sleeves. We also put a black beaded fringe around the oversleeve….so this gown has a nice little sparkle!

This gown includes a full underskirt done in silk, with a waistband and hook. The bodice goes on like a jacket hooking down the front. The overskirt is attached to the bodice. The bodice is lined, and boned. The overskirt can be rounded, as shown, or squared. There are loops and ribbons inside the overskirt so you can bustle it up if you wish. Hoop skirt can be added below, jewelry can be found in the jewelry catagory. This makes a gorgeous gown for any special occasion or portrait. Matching girls dress will be added soon.

Add trims and roses…Here you can add the trims as shown to the bottom of the gown, with or without added train. This is a large sparkle beaded trim…..comes in black, white/silver…white, ivory and ivory/gold. If you want another color, pattern may vary. This adds the large trim around bottom of underskirt, and rose trim to the neckline if you wish.

Victorian Costume Dresses for Sale

三月 22nd, 2016

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Victorian Costume Dresses for Sale

Victorian costume dresses come in all colors and styles at reasonable prices. Perfect for first time Victorian dress costumes for Civil war, a Victorian ball, Dickens fair, Christmas caroling and theatrical productions. After you select a dress be sure to add a hoop skirt, Victorian bustle dress, corset, jewelry, and Hats.

For lace tea dress look under Edwardian era dresses .

2016 Preliminary Schedule Overview more details will be added as they are finalized

一月 21st, 2016

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2016 Preliminary Schedule Overview
more details will be added as they are finalized

Thursday, August 4
The weekend starts Thursday evening with a formal dinner at the Nahant Country Club, in the early Victorian mansion of Frederick Tudor. Enjoy a delicious feast, in period splendor. Before dinner you might enjoy the view from the piazza.

Friday, August 5
The classes start Friday. Schedule will be announced as soon as it it finalized. After a break for dinner we’ll enjoy a Seaside Soirée at Egg Rock an elegant mid-Nineteenth Century mansion. Turn-of-the-Century or Victorian evening attire, something nautical, or modern evening dress is suggested for the evening. Hoopskirts are discouraged due to space concerns. We encourage guests to arrive a little early to stroll the grounds and enjoy the spectacular view.

Saturday, August 6
Saturday’s schedule will include classes, schedule TBD. We’ll dance into the night at The Grand Ball: An Evening In Vienna at the Town Hall.

Sunday, August 7
Sunday afternoon we return to our Summer estate, Egg Rock, and enjoy a concert followed by tea and dancing. The weekend will conclude with a promenade to East Point, a highlight of the weekend and once the site of the Nahant Hotel, where we will enjoy spectacular, almost 360 degree, ocean views.

If you are staying over on Monday, we might head over to Zimman’s Fabric Store in Lynn for some shopping before heading to RI for the second part of the dance week.

1890s ball scene

1912 tea party

18th Century Sackback Gown

一月 6th, 2016

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18th Century Sackback Gown

The bodice is cut separately and worn open at the front to reveal a decorated stomacher and petticoat. The entire gown can be worn over a corset or the bodice itself can be corseted instead. The gown shown is worn over small pocket hoops. It would be possible to create a larger more elaborate skirt over panniers.

The Sack dress was one of the most popular styles of gown worn during the mid to late eighteenth century. Suiting ladies of all shapes and sizes, it consists of a box pleated back falling from the shoulders to the floor. The bodice is cut separately and worn open at the front to reveal a decorated stomacher and petticoat. The entire gown can be worn over a fully boned corset or the bodice itself can be corseted instead. The gown shown is worn over small pocket hoops. It would be possible to create a larger more elaborate skirt over panniers.

Inspiration for this gown came from the style and colouring of the Madame de Pompadour painting by Boucher and Madame Tussaud’s portrait of Madame De Barry, Louis XV’s last mistress (below).

If you appreciate decoration, this is a style to enjoy!
Possibilities for embellishment are endless – trimmings can be applied to the edge of the bodice, skirt, petticoats and the stomacher. These can be frilled, pleated, ruched, beaded or embroidered and lace and ribbons were very popular at the time. It is not necessary to have a distinct contrast – self-coloured decoration is very effective. If you appreciate decoration, this is a style to enjoy! Possibilities are endless - trimmings can be applied to the edge of the bodice, skirt, petticoats and the stomacher. These can be frilled, pleated, ruched, beaded or embroidered and lace and ribbons were very popular at the time. It is not necessary to have a distinct contrast - self-coloured decoration is very effective.

If you appreciate decoration, this is a style to enjoy! Possibilities are endless - trimmings can be applied to the edge of the bodice, skirt, petticoats and the stomacher. These can be frilled, pleated, ruched, beaded or embroidered and lace and ribbons were very popular at the time. It is not necessary to have a distinct contrast - self-coloured decoration is very effective.

This gown can be constructed in a multitude of fabrics and colour. This will probably depend on whether it is destined to be a wedding gown or a theatre costume. As shown the main gown is in a pale teal green regal silk dupion. The sleeve and stomacher bows are in “antique rose” silk taffeta and the ruched trim in a shot pink/gold chiffon.£3200 to make as shown including all fabrics. Price will vary according to fabrics and decoration used.

18th Century style wedding gown in green silk taffeta with pink trims

The artists at “Polyvore” have had great fun with these images, shown below, producing many variations on
the Marie Antoinette theme: great fun!

Please visit “Polyvore” for artist credits and links to all items shown; search on “Rossetti”.

This design can be varied and individualised
to each made-to-measure order.

Meadow Brook Hall for the Holidays

一月 5th, 2016

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New Year Celebrations of the Victorian Era

一月 5th, 2016

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New Year isn’t until next week, but I can’t help thinking ahead a little. What a fun time New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day must have been during the Victorian era.

Hogmanay- Scottish New Year

New Year celebrations have changed over time, even from the beginning to the end of the Victorian era. Prince Albert may have introduced the tradition of the Christmas tree from Germany, but Queen Victoria was obsessed with everything Scottish. There was no bigger holiday during the year in Scotland than New Year’s Eve and Day where it is known as Hogmanay or Hegmena and the Queen passed her passion on to her subjects.

Traditions associated with Hogmanay include gift giving, which was already popular in England. In wealthier households, New Year was the time for gift giving and payments of rewards to loyal servants.

‘First Foot’ is the Hogmanay tradition of bearing gifts as the first person to cross a threshold after the stroke of midnight. During Victorian times, the guest brought symbolic gifts of black bun (a rich fruit cake), shortbread, coal, salt, and whiskey. The gifts foretold the family’s fortune for the year. It was considered lucky if the gift giver was male and dark haired. Blonde hair was an omen for trouble, and women who were not home before midnight were often left wandering around outside until a dark haired male arrived at the home.

Victorian New Year Card

Foretelling the Upcoming Year

Another foretelling of the future was associated with what you were doing at midnight. It was thought that whatever you were doing at midnight would be what you would do for the coming year. This might be why going out and socializing was a popular thing to do at the New Year. Staying home and going to bed might foretell illness or worse during the coming year. Other superstitious include throwing out ashes from the hearth. Throwing them out the night before allows for a clean slate to start the new year right. Doing any kind of work, especially laundry was considered unlucky. Every person, no matter how young, should also have money in their pocket on New Year’s Day. To not do this was to risk poverty during the coming year. It was also considered unlucky to have fire leave the house in the form of a lantern or candle, as was having the fire in stove or hearth go out.

Victorian New Year card

Open Houses

New Year’s celebrations moved from New Year’s Eve to New Year’s Day. During the latter part of the 19^th century, the wealthy served guests a wide and varied buffet and egg nog laced with bourbon, rum, or brandy. Everyone donned in their holiday finery. Women and boys up to age 10 stayed home. Gentlemen visited many homes on New Year’s Day and eligible bachelors left their calling cards to show they’d visited. Sometimes, it was a competitive event to see how many homes could be visited and how many egg nogs could be drunk before the end of the day. Raucous behavior saw the holiday evolve from being an open house to invitation only affair.

Bonus!

If you can’t get enough of everything Victorian, watch your local PBS station (Masterpiece Theater) in the United States and BBC in the UK. Emmy-winner Benedict Cumberbatch, and costar Martin Freeman will return as Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic Baker Street mystery solvers Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. However, the contemporary-set series will see them return to Doyle’s original 1890s London time period for a one-off episode.

Period Events & Entertainments Re-Creation Society

十二月 18th, 2015

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What is Period Events & Entertainments Re-Creation Society?
The Period Events & Entertainments Re-Creation Society (PEERS) is a non-profit corporation based in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. The organization is dedicated to remembering, researching, and re-creating the performing arts of the past. Their goals include producing and sponsoring original and re-creations of historical works of dance, music, and theatre, with an emphasis on audience interaction. They also support artists and researchers involved in the performing arts of the past. PEERS provides instruction to the general public in the performing arts of the past in their historical context.

How does PEERS connect with its audience?

PEERS has two ways to encourage audience participation. Each year they produce a number of historical and literary re-creation events. These events celebrate times in our past as far back as the Canterbury Tales with a feast and ball, and as current as the 1940s with a 1941 Evening in Casablanca, a Film Noir Black & White Ball. The Victorian era also plays a prominent role in PEERS events. They’ve held a variety of Victorian Balls and recreate a 19th century French costume ball dubbed ‘Le Bal des Vampires.’

So, what if you don’t know how to dance, especially historical period dances? No problem! PEERS offers weekly dance classes. They offer a newcomer-friendly one hour class on Sunday afternoons. A more advanced one hour class for experienced dancers and brave newcomers follows each week. Partners aren’t necessary. Dress is casual for these classes. Classes often focus on the dances of the era of their next event, which makes it easier for people to fully participate. If you aren’t comfortable dancing in a group, PEERS also offers private vintage ballroom dance lessons.

Supporting Period Events & Entertainments Re-Creation Society

To support their mission of research, and public participation and education in historical re-creations, people pay admission to their events and for the dance classes. They also accept donations.

Finished Project: The 1870s Green Plaid Bustle Dress

十二月 18th, 2015

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I’m back from Costume College, my good friend is on her way back home to Texas, and it’s time to get back to real life. Woe! But I have some fun photos to share coming up, and the first of which I want to share is the 1870s plaid bustle dress project I posted about previously.

I finished it all up for the most part by the time my friend arrived, but since she had some extra sewing to do I started doing trimming. And more trimming. And more trimming. Someone on the American Duchess Facebook album of Costume College photos said it looked similar to old fashioned ribbon candy- and you know, I have to agree!

This one was lots of fun to trim. I love this time period. I can trim, and trim the trims, then trim the trim with trims. In this case the most fun things to make for trimming were the ruffles which were finished with a bias binding in the peach. Over the top of the ruffles at the side I ran a braid which was made of three tubes of bias made into cording and then braided. The bows that are accented with tassels at the end were lots of fun to make, too.

This outfit was made using Truly Victorian patterns. The bodice was made with Heather’s new 1872 Vested Bodice Pattern, TV403. The skirt was made with the 1875 Parisian Trained Skirt Pattern, TV216 (you can see my previous version of the skirt in their website photo). I’m a huge fan of Truly Victorian patterns- they make these Victorian patterns so accessible, and they make up really well! I documented working on this bodice in prior posts here, here, and here.

Capturing the correct colors of this outfit has proved quite difficult. In reality it’s probably a combination of the photos here in front of a blank background and the photos above.

The hat is actually a 1930s hat I had in my vintage collection. At the last minute I remembered I didn’t have appropriate headwear so I pulled out this one, which just so happened to match perfectly. I pinned little accents of the green onto the hat, added a pink feather and a few dress clips, and it suddenly became passable for 1870s. The entire dress was made from polyester taffeta (gasp!) but the fabrics looked so much like authentic silk taffeta, even in person, and had the same hand to the touch, that I was able to make the dress look passable on a much better budget than by using a more authentic silk. For a dress I’ll only wear on occasion, I decided it was a good sacrifice for me to make and it helped out my pocketbook 😉

Recollections Fashion Show at the Centennial Building -Civil War Dresses

十二月 16th, 2015

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Recollections Fashion Show Recap

The Lake Huron Discovery Tour 2015 has come and gone, but the Recollections fashion show at the Centennial Building in Alpena continues to live in the memories of those who joined us on October 10 for the festivities. The day started early for Recollections, with the models from the show prepped and dressed and mingling with the crowds at various events downtown by 11 a.m. Children and adults alike enjoyed interacting with the models in their Victorian, Edwardian, and Steampunk finery. The weather was perfect for spending a few hours in the autumn sunshine.

Recollections fashion show models in white dresses

Models in white Victorian, Edwardian, and Civil War era fashions

When 1 p.m. rolled around, the front room of the first floor of the Centennial Building was filled with people of all ages. They weren’t just there for the Recollections fashion show, they were there to listen to Nathanael Koenig. Nathanael presented a mini concert of classical and jazz guitar compositions, many from his debut CD, “Along the Way.” His music speaks across generations and was very much appreciated by the audience.

Recollections fashion show models in colorful dresses

Our seamstresses, their relatives and friends, and Mike & Kate’s daughters were our models!

By the time the fashion show started, it was standing room only. Over the course of the next forty-five minutes, approximately 60 dresses, gowns, and ensembles received oohs and ahhs from the nearly 70 people who came out to enjoy the show. Antebellum Civil War ball gowns shared the catwalk with pioneer everyday wear, Old West saloon girls, and even the maid outfit you can see on the Comedy Central show, “Another Period” (think “Chair” and the other female servants)! Victorian and Edwardian wedding gowns were sprinkled among the offerings, garnering high marks from those in attendance. Some of the Edwardian ensembles were reminiscent of “Somewhere in Time,” (check out their fan club) which was filmed on Mackinac Island, less than a two hours’ drive north of Alpena. A few fashions were also adapted for Halloween, much to everyone’s amusement!

Wholesaleolita.com

A History of Victorian Hats

十二月 15th, 2015

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When we think of Victorian hats, we tend to think of extravagant hats with feathers and lace and ribbons. However, these hats are more indicative of the late Victorian era instead of the era as a whole. Remember, the era itself was almost one-hundred years long, and the styles were bound to change throughout the period. And, they did. There are many fashions that we don’t recognize as Victorian at all, even though they were worn during a significant portion of the era. Here, we have provided a detailed history of Victorian Hats.

Bonnets were widely in style during the start of the Victorian era. These could be fashioned from straw or silk or any material in between, but the most important part of these Victorian hats was the wide brim. These brims were meant to mirror the wide hoop skirts and other clothes of the era. The exaggerated nature of Victorian clothes definitely worked its way into the hats, as some hats were so narrow that the faces of the women who wore them could only be seen from the front. The back of the neck was often covered by a large frill because the neck was considered an especially sexual part of the body. Then, as parasols became more fashionable, bonnets became less functional to keep off wind. More ornamental hats like fanchons, which were extremely small, triangular hats, became more popular. As the Victorian era neared its end, both fanchons and bonnets were still popular styles. Fanchons were flashier, while bonnets were a bit more modest. During the Edwardian era, hats brims grew again and balanced out the slimmer silhouettes of gowns.

No matter what you seek, Recollections can fill your need for Victorian hats. Whether you want an elegant fanchon or a homely bonnet, your next Victorian look can be completed with one of our hats. Get started building your next Victorian look on Wholesalelolita.com!