It’s a known issue that I tend not to strictly recreate historical portraits. I also have a tendency to goth-ify my costumes, no matter the historical era or fantasy genre. Sometimes, this leads to greatness, sometimes … well, it’s a challenge. It can look rather weird in progress, & this ‘chemise a la gothique’ is a prime example.
I had the concept of the gown in my head as soon as I bought the fabric two years ago. Even though print chemise gowns are undocumentable for the 18th century, afaik. Sure, there are printed cotton gowns, & there were colored, possibly striped, gowns & black gowns. I even found a lovely white gown edged in black lace & with a big black sash at the waist like I wanted to style this one. But what I wanted to do wasn’t really historical & was really just made up out of my own head.
Still, I thought the construction would be more historical. Yet even there, I took a million weird turns. I’ve tried to blog the gown in-progress for weeks now, I’ve taken pictures & written posts again & again, but honestly, there’s no good way to describe how I made this dress. The less said about it, the better. It’s a franken-process of historical elements, modern over-engineering, a shocking amount of hand-sewing for me, & a lot of mis-estimations of WTF would work & how stuff should go together. It looks OK on the outside & even on the inside, but much like making laws & sausage, the process for getting there wasn’t pretty.
The dress is basically done now, thank goodness. I still need to make a petticoat, preferably out of white taffeta, but I don’t have any in The Stash. I’d like silk, but may settle for poly due to budget. We shall see. I did make a poufy little rump so the back has more oomph. Kendra’s Late 18th Century Skirt Supports article is a great resource — I essentially made the 1785 crescent shape from the caricature of ‘the bum shop.’ Easily done from materials on hand, took about an hour. Plus, I can use it under other gowns.
Won’t get any pix of the dress on me until France!
Patterned chemise gowns did exist, although the examples that I have seen in period illustrations usually have small scale dots of stars or things like that. Check out my Pinterest board: http://pinterest.com/festiveattyre/robe-en-chemise-in-period-illustrations/ There are 4 or 5 there.
I think your dress looks really cool, and every YOU! 🙂
Hah, never say never! The closest ones I’d seen looked like overgowns, but yeah, print chemise gowns. Hee 🙂
Love the fabric! And it’s so you!
Thanks!
Looking great, Trystan! I love how you always take an idea in your own unique direction!
Thank you!
I LOVE it. It’s so pretty and better than that it is so YOU! I love the inspiration painting with the black lace and sash… it gives me all sorts of evil ideas! :>
Isn’t that one pretty? Who can resist a black lace collar!
I always figure that just because an example, either in an extant garment or a fashion plate or a portrait, may not exist, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen in period! Sure, portraits, fashion plates, and surviving garments are a good record of the prevailing fashions of a period, but just like we do now, people then took their own creative license. The variation shown in fashion plates, portraits and extant garments alone–both in construction, fabrication, and embellishment–prove that. Besides, even a faithfully reproduced historical garment should still express your own personal aesthetic. I know there are many many valid reasons for spending your time on something that doesn’t, but for me personally, there’s no point in reproducing either a fashion plate, portrait, style or particular method of construction that doesn’t suit my aesthetic or costuming needs. I don’t dress like a Vogue model every day (or ever), and neither do most people I know.
I LOVE your chemise a la gothique!