Another bit of African print-inspired Edwardian crazy…but less so than some. I think. This is a really unusual fabric- ornately printed of course, in a lush red and black design, but also embossed/textured. I’ve never seen or felt anything quite like it, and couldn’t resist. If I recall correctly, it was the usual 6 yards […]
Filed under Fashion, Steampunk, Uncategorized, Victorian-era Fashion
Bram Stoker’s Dracula may not seem like a Steampunk movie on first viewing. But any movie with Doctor Abraham Van Helsing should be automatically slotted into the Steampunk genre, because he uses modern technology to fight vampires, such as electric lamps which could be attached to a prospective victim to act as a deterrent. He is also one of the original ‘mad scientists’ of the literary world – not the action figure portrayed in some movies and comics. (However, Carl from 2002 movie Van Helsing has my undying admiration for his gadgetry.)
Mina Harker’s green walking dress, worn by Winona Ryder and designed by the late Eiko Ishioka.
Dress designs for the movie were by Eiko Ishioka. There were many gorgeous dresses in this film, but my personal favourite is the green walking dress worn by Mina , played by Winona Ryder, the original Manic Pixie Girl. Dracula was written and set in the 1890s. It is the dress Mina is wearing when she first encounters Dracula.
A fairly accurate replica of the dress, with which we can better see the details.
Since Dracula was published in 1897, we can use that as the benchmark time period for the movie costume. The most striking feature of the dress is the clever use of pleats to add ornamental details; the fabric is folded like Origami. The multiple waterfall folds of the bustle creates contrasting diamonds of colour. The unusual dag hemline of the white blouse is accentuated with more pleats. Are these features historically accurate?
A waterfall pleat decorating a bustle in 1875.
The above dresses are replicas garments based on historical designs from the late 1800s. Waterfall pleats were certainly used in the Victorian era, and the multiple pleats on the green walking costume is quite likely to have been used in reality. The Victorians were never shy about ornamentation. I was unable to find evidence of a Victorian-era blouse with a similar dag hemline, which isn’t to say there weren’t any.
Walking dresses from 1886
Walking dresses from 1898
As you can see from the two examples above, the silhouette of the green walking dress resembles the 1886 fashions, with the larger emphasis on the bustle. However, the silhouette does lean towards the more slender skirt of the 1898 illustration, and certainly conforms to the jacket-with-blouse combination. The hat on the right in the 1898 illustration also resembles Mina’s hat in style and size, even if the decorations aren’t a match.
Both the walking dresses above are from 1890. As you can see, there is a flourish of embroidery on the lapels and cuffs of the jackets. The dress on the right is even a similar green to Mina’s green walking dress.
Overall, I would say that Eiko Ishioka’s creation fits right into the era of the movie. Since we can ‘modernise’ Mina’s character with Steampunk gadgets, feel free to give her a cross bow with a stake for a quarrel, or a sunlight raygun.
Cosplaying Mina
Suffragette Chain Link Jewellery at its finest, as it also incorporates the three colours of the Suffragette Movement: Green, White and Violet (Give Women Votes).
It is a well known fact that suffragettes were targeted by their governments as troublemakers, and often spent time in jail, and they were subjected to some awful treatment. They were meant to be humiliated and silenced by this strategy. Instead, suffragettes saw jail time as a victory, that they were considered dangerous enough to incarcerate.
Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter, Christabel, while in jail.
In previous blog articles, I have mentioned suffragette jewellery. Some people argue that the suffragettes were vocal, and would never stoop to subterfuge by wearing symbolic jewellery. I have to agree with this viewpoint. I believe suffragette jewellery was worn with pride, to support the cause, and I believe some suffragette jewellery supports this hypothesis: the Holloway Prison Pin, Chain Link Jewellery, and Edith Garrud’s Boadicea Brooch.
The Holloway Prison Pin, also known as the Holloway Brooch.
The Holloway Prison Pin – designed by Sylvia Pankhurst, one of the daughters of Emmeline Pankhurst – was presented to members of the Women’s Social and Political Union who had suffered imprisonment. The first presentation of the brooches took place at a mass demonstration organised by the WSPU on the 29th of April, 1909. The broad arrow – the symbol of the convict – was enamelled in purple, white and green, the colours of the suffragette movement. Some of the brooches were marked with dates of imprisonment. The brooch was first mentioned in Votes for Women, the WSPU newspaper, in the issue published on the 16th of April, 1909, where it was described as ‘the Victoria Cross of the Union’.
Jail Door Pin
The Hunger Strike Medal
After the Holloway Prison pin, the suffragettes were inspired to issue pins and medals for other indignities suffered by the women when they were imprisoned for wanting equal rights. To my mind, it is the Hunger Strike Medal that represents the greatest sacrifices made by those imprisoned; hunger strikers were often force fed. Some of the women were also sent to mental asylums, because being vocal about wanting the vote is a sure sign of madness.
Image from the textbook – Women’s Suffrage Memorabilia: An Illustrated History Study
Chain brooches didn’t just symbolise imprisonment. It also stood for the chains that held the women back in society. The chains that held them back from education and legal rights, as well as the right to vote. Mind you, the government was happy to tax women, but not so thrilled to give them a voice in parliament.
Chain brooches came in many shapes and forms. Some were more decorative than others, but even the most simple chain brooch was layered with meaning.
Of course, the suffragette movement was big on pins and brooches. They could be sold to raise funds, worn to show support, or awarded for outstanding sacrifices. It is a form of wearing your heart on your sleeve.
Edith Garrud’s Boudica brooch was also described as the Suffragette’s Victoria Cross.
A Woman in Chains
Chains are often part of a Steampunk cosplay outfit. Never was there a better reason to wear them than to celebrate the Suffragettes.
Helena Bonham Carter is the Corset Cosplay Queen, as she has played many characters in historical movies that have required her to wear the most gorgeous costumes. The 2013 ‘The Lone Ranger’ movie was set in 1869, and so Red Harrington – the character played by Helena Bonham Carter – wears Victorian-era inspired costumes. Red has red hair and wears red clothing; in Australia, we would have nicknamed her ‘Blue’.
Red Harrington’s costumes were designed by Penny Rose.
Red went through a series of costume changes. Rather than try to break down the accuracy of every costumes, I have chosen two main outfits to discuss. Oh, and we will also discuss the major Steampunk prop of her costumes: the prosthetic leg that was also a gun. This was actually to the most Steampunk gadget in the movie.
Neo-Victorian Costume Number One.
As previously mentioned, the movie is set in 1869. Crinolines were the dress-shape of the fashionistas of that era …and Red’s costume is certainly the right shape.
Red Silk walking dress of the late 1860s. The silhouette is very like that of Helena Bonham Carter’s costumes.
Red’s crinoline is also in the right colour range for the era, and ruffles were a popular way of decorating the skirts of a crinoline. There had been a time when a hoop skirt would be absolutely enormous, but in the late 1860s the worst of these excesses were in the past. In the next few years, crinolines would be replaced by the bustle. Red does not appear to be wearing a hoop, and she should be. (However, she is also well away from the centres of fashion and may have resorted to petticoats instead.)
Note how quickly the crinoline was replaced by the bustle. Ruffles never went out of fashion. This dress was the height of fashion in 1871.
1860 photograph of a woman wearing a crinoline, an overcoat, a muff, and a hat. The style of Red’s hat, shrug, and dress silhouette is closer in fashion to 1871 than to 1860.
The little lace jacket that is part of the movie costume appears to be a boudoir jacket being worn as day wear. Above are a range of jackets:
As you can see, the boudoir jacket is lacy like the little jacket that is part of Red’s outfit, but the cut of the jacket is more like a modern shrug or a caplet.
Red’s buttoned shoes are spot on for the era.
This second outfit also sports a strange little caplet trimmed with lace, over a dress with at least three visible layers. As you can see, this dress does loosely resemble a high fashion gown from 1870, from the House of Worth in France. The Costume is a mishmash of fabrics and colours compared to the Worth dress, but that can be put down to Red’s flashy tastes. The parasol is spot on for the era.
1870 House of Worth gown.
The closest equivalent period garment with dramatic sleeves I could find was this tartan dress below. However, those style of sleeves turn up again and again in the Victorian era.
Royal Stuart Tartan Dress circa late 1860s
Red Harrington’s prosthetic leg with hidden shotgun.
It was this clever gadget leg that inspired me to look harder at Helena Bonham Carter’s costumes in ‘The Lone Ranger’. For me, it is the gadgets that really make the Steampunk Aesthetic. As a cosplayer, I would wear a ‘tattooed’white stocking and a modified shoe to mimic this prosthetic leg.
The problem for costumers is that people forget that the Victorian era was lo-o-on-ng. Fashions changed. It is hard to put together an authentic historical outfit, particularly when the accuracy of the outfit hardly matters in a fantasy Western/Steampunk movie. I think Penny Rose did a great job of using Red’s outfits to give the audience a deeper insight into her character. That is inspirational work.
Joan Bergin was the Costume Designer of this stunning outfit from the movie, The Prestige. Scarlett Johansson played Olivia Wenscombe; she looked like a dream come true when wearing the outfit. It has some very classic Victorian features.
The outfit is made from a combination of fabrics in different colours and designs. Stripes were a favourite of the Victorians, and the use of stripes and florals in the outfit is certainly not out of step with the era’s fashions.
Dress mixing stripes and florals from 1875. Image from the Bunka Gakeuen Museum. Even the colours are from the same family, tans/golds and blues, as The Prestige costume. I can’t help wondering if this dress was the inspiration for the movie costume.
The Prestige outfit also combines lace trims and floral embroidery details. This combination was a favourite with Victorian-era fashionistas. Nothing says outrageous femininity like lace and flowers.
Lace and embroidery on a dress from 1885. Image from the Philadelphia Museum.
The pleated chiffon ruffles trimming the movie costume are also a Victorian-era fashion. It wasn’t unusual for these pleats to be decorated with ribbon or lace.
French silk evening gown with chiffon ruffles, circa 1888.
Note that the pleats aren’t as crisp as in the modern costume. I am putting that down to ageing fabrics.
Wedding gown, circa late 1870s and early 1880s.
The main problem with this costume is that The Prestige is set in the early 1900s, and all these fashion trends are from around the 1870s and 1880s. As well, tasteful dresses didn’t have every type of trim thrown onto the one outfit, though it works here due to superb styling by the costume designer. I suspect that the modern fabrics are easier to work with, but I am not a seamstress and can’t make that call.
However, seen as a Steampunk costume for a Steampunk fantasy film, this costume is magnificent. It wouldn’t be hard to add a bit of gadget magic to this ensemble, if a cosplayer decided to recreate this dress.
Turquoise and diamonds in the form of two hands clasping, circa 1835
In the Victorian era, jewellery was worn not just for ornamentation, it was often worn because it meant something to both the wearer and/or the people who saw her wearing the piece. Hands were a popular symbol. They could be clasped in love or friendship, or clasping items with their own symbology.
The ring below is an early Victorian-era Betrothal Ring, circa 1840. The Clasped Hands, which have a male and female cuff, open to reveal a gold heart on the central band. 
Flowers had a whole range of meanings, depending on the the types of flowers.
Ivory hand clasping roses – symbols of love – and forget-me-nots.
Ivory earrings clasping roses and forget-me-nots.
Snakes represented eternal love or wisdom.
Coral and gold pin
A hand grasping a rod was seeking guidance or comfort in time of need.
Mourning jewellery often depicted crossed hands, hands in prayer, or hands clasped ‘across the divide between life and death’.
Victorian-era Whitby jet brooch depicting crossed hands.
Gold and hair mourning jewellery
A hand clasping a key was clasping the key to a lover’s hear.
This hand is clasping a key to a watch and was most likely worn as a watch fob. Note the use of tinted gold for the decoration.
Pointing hands were charms of protection.
It doesn’t take much imagination to see how this sort of jewellery could be used to intensify characterisation, or even become part of a plot point!
Filed under Fashion, History, Jewellery, Metaphors, Mourning, Steampunk, Symbology, Uncategorized, Victorian-era Fashion
A porcelain-head doll with cloth body and leather limbs, dressed in her original Victorian era clothing.
Fashion dolls conform to what was considered beautiful in the era they are produced. The dolls are representative of the era that they come from, in both looks and the clothes that they wear. If a doll is deliberately ugly, like the cute troll doll, it is not a fashion doll. By studying a fashion doll, you get a much clearer picture of what was the standard for beauty in an era, because these ‘standards’ change frequently. I often laugh when someone is called a classic beauty – for which era?
Take for an example how Barbie’s looks have changed. The original Barbie’s looks are very different to examples of the Millennial era Barbie. What was considered a ‘classic’ beauty in the 1950s is now considered a ‘vintage’ beauty. Women haven’t changed, but what is considered beautiful certain has. At the moment, big eyes and tiny noses in an heart-shaped or oval face are what are fashionable. In the 1980s, bushy eyebrows were queen! In the 1990’s, bee-stung pouts. Fashions change.
In the Victorian era, small, regular features were the in thing. One of the reasons that many photographs of Victorian women show them with their lips tucked in severely is because they are trying to minimise their mouths in the same way modern starlets stand side-on to minimise their hips and show off their chests. As well, porcelain dolls were favoured because of their fine translucent skin tones, as a proper European Victorian-era woman was pale and interesting.
Of course, little girls love their dollies no matter what they look like. (Unless, like me, you find dolls a little creepy.) Most dolls were passed down from sibling to sibling or from mother to daughter. Few Victorian dolls survived this journey because they were loved to death. On of my father’s cousins has a headless, articulated, leather doll with china hands and feet, cherished because his grandmother brought her over from Europe in the 1880s.
Steampunk dolls are usually based on modern dolls with modern features. This isn’t a problem, since the dolls aren’t meant to historical recreations of Victorian toys. As well, Steampunk dolls aren’t confined to just wearing the height of fashion and can wear trousers and goggles and gadgets.If that isn’t a great step up, I don’t know what is!
Filed under Dolls, Fashion, History, Steampunk Feminist, Uncategorized, Victorian Era, Victorian-era Fashion
Infanta Eulalia wearing a dress with modified leg o’mutton sleeves.
Now, when I was wee child in the Dark Ages, our Australian butchers carried lamb and mutton.These days, everything ovine is labelled as lamb. And yet we still have beef and veal. And this observation has nothing to do with today’s topic … Leg O’Mutton sleeves.They were given that name because they resembled the shape of a roast leg of mutton or lamb.
Puffed sleeves, also known as Gigot sleeves or leg o’mutton sleeves, came into fashion in the 1830s, and were part of the Victorian era fashion spiral until the 1890s. In the 1830s, gigot sleeves did not start where the sleeve and shoulder of the dress met. Instead, gigot sleeves began at the top of the arm, helping to create a fashionable sloped shoulder look. The term ‘mutton dressed as lamb’ is first found in print in the journal of social gossip that Mrs Frances Calvert compiled in 1811. One can’t help but wonder if the term inspired the name of the sleeves.
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In L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, the protagonist Anne longs for sleeve puffs. Her beloved Matthew supplies her with a pretty dress with puffed sleeves for Christmas.
“I don’t see how I’m going to eat breakfast,” said Anne rapturously. “Breakfast seems so commonplace at such an exciting moment. I’d rather feast my eyes on that dress. I’m so glad that puffed sleeves are still fashionable. It did seem to me that I’d never get over it if they went out before I had a dress with them. I’d never have felt quite satisfied, you see. It was lovely of Mrs. Lynde to give me the ribbon too. I feel that I ought to be a very good girl indeed. It’s at times like this I’m sorry I’m not a model little girl; and I always resolve that I will be in future. But somehow it’s hard to carry out your resolutions when irresistible temptations come. Still, I really will make an extra effort after this.”
From the middles of the 1890s until the middle of the 1900s, leg o’mutton sleeves were again highly fashionable. However, they now started at the shoulder seam proper. They were the equivalent of the 1980’s, redefining the silhouette with broader shoulders and imparting a more ‘athletic’ look for women.
This style reflected the change in both dress reforms and in women’s social status.The Gibson Girl – who was a popular emblem of femininity in America during the late Victorian era and the Edwardian era – epitomised these new, more athletic shaped women. A Gibson Girl could be found cycling or playing tennis, often exercised, and was emancipated to the extent that she could enter the workplace.
That crushed sleeve is giving the game away. Mustn’t be wearing sleeve plumpers.
As well as sleeve puffs, the truly fashionable would have had to have worn sleeve plumpers or puff-stuffers. The excessively voluminous sleeves would require a pair of extra support underwear, worn to help hold out the sleeves. Women could also use a stiff or starched lining on the inside of the sleeves to help pump up the volume.
As a writer, I find the idea of using lamb/mutton metaphors, with the leg o’mutton sleeves as the signifier, quite tempting. I didn’t even realise that leg o’mutton sleeves needed their own undergarments until I started researching them. The possibility of hiding something important in the puffs intrigues me.
The Victorian-era fashionable beauty wanted to have flawless white skin with no freckles, birthmarks, scars, blotches, or redness. To this end, she would dust on rice powder, zinc oxide or, the most expensive option, pearl powder. The commercially available European pearl powder was a mixture of chloride of bismuth – bismuth oxychloride – and French chalk – French chalk is also known as talcum powder. In Asia, pearl powder was a preparation of crushed freshwater pearls used for skin care and in traditional Chinese medicine.
Bismuth oxychloride is sometimes used in modern cosmetics, as a pigment in paint for eye shadows, hair sprays and nail polishes. This compound in crystaline form contains layers of molecules that refract light chromatically, resulting in an iridescent appearance similar to nacre of pearl, hence the name ‘pearl powder’. Bismuth is less toxic than lead and other heavy metals, but its long term use will eventually see a build up of bismuth in the kidneys. Bismuth poisoning can occur and mostly affects the kidney, liver, and bladder.
Talc, from which talcum powder is made.
Recent studies have linked talcum powder to respiratory diseases and ovarian cancer, but as talcum powder is used in many industries and not just the cosmetic industry, there is yet for case to made that its use in pearl powder was endangering the health of its users. The evidence is inconclusive that using talcum powder causes ovarian cancer in adult women. So European pearl powder was a healthier option than the use of arsenic to whiten skin, but could still have a negative impact on the long-term user’s health.
Asian pearl powder, because pearls are made primarily of calcium carbonate, is mainly calcium carbonate contaminated with traces of minerals and organic elements. This means that this pearl powder is completely safe to use. It was expensive, but it was also the best quality of the ‘pearl powder’ available for cosmetic use.
Pearl Powders, for the Complexion:
1. Take pearl or bismuth white, and French chalk, equal parts. Reduce them to a fine powder, and sift through lawn.
2. Take 1 pound white bismuth, 1 ounce starch powder, and 1 ounce orrispowder; mix and sift them through lawn. Add a drop of attar of roses or neroli.Pearl White: Take nitrate of bismuth in solution, and add it to a dilute solution of chloride of sodium until the whole of the bismuth is precipitated; collect, wash, and dry the powder with great care.
By a Practical Chemist, member of several scientific societies, London: John Churchill, Princes Street, Soho, 1841.
(Original excerpt from the Kate Tattersall Adventures website.)
Personally, I’d rather wear a string of pearls than pearl powder.
Filed under Bling, Fashion, History, Uncategorized, Victorian Era, Victorian-era Fashion
As part of Steampunk activities, I take part in Steampunk cosplay. This involves me in creating my own costumes and accessories. In the two images above, I converted a 1980’s short-sleeved dress and a second-hand lace shirt into a vest with coattails and the coat’s sleeves into spats. The vest was success, the spats not so much. Below is the outfit, worn to the Steampunk Charity Ball 2014.
I was a much thinner and younger woman when I wore that dress. When I finally accepted that I was never going to fit into it again … ever … I made the decision to make it over rather than throw it away. I went hunting through op shops looking for other fabrics that matched the neutral colours of the strips, and lucked out by finding a lace shirt in the exact same colours. With some creative splicing and sewing, I converted two items of clothing into Steampunk fashion items. I made some new memories, from the satisfaction of completing a project successfully and all the fun I had at the ball.
There can be great memories made by going through old photos and letters. In the future, with most of us living online rather than writing letters or getting photos developed, I wonder if we are cheating our descendants out of the fun they could have going through these old memories.
Of course, I suppose they could go through my online accounts…
But they will have to dredge through a lot of trash to get to the nuggets of treasure.
This is where Steampunk is ahead of the game. It takes old memories and makes new ones. It means that my great-umpteen grandchildren will know what was important to me by seeing that dress turn up in a pile of images. That might even have kept the vest as an heirloom. I certainly hope they never toss away the Steampunk Ghostbusters backpack. That really is an original work of art.
Filed under Alternative Subculture, Cosplay, Fashion, Steampunk, Steampunk Cosplay, Uncategorized
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