Reform dress

I can't remember when I first heard about the Swiss Waist, Fashionable Reader. From my personal collection Popular in the 1860s this was a boned belt, with at least one peak (either up or down). It usually laced like a corset, only up the front, sometimes is was exactly corset-like with a busk up the front and laces up the back. The Swiss Waist was worn in addition to the foundation corset. It is, so far as I can determine historically, the only corset-like garment that was worn on the…

Learn about the Rational Dress Society - a group of London society women who wanted to reform the way Victorian women dressed.

Tea gown of silk velvet, embroidered with coloured silks, England, 1895-1900

Tea gown of silk velvet, embroidered with coloured silks, England, 1895-1900

The six-part miniseries The Essex Serpent (2022) on Apple TV+ is based on a novel by Sarah Perry, and I rather wish I’d read the book instead of slogging through all six hours. It’s not…

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Maternity or laying-in gown of teal cotton with ribbon work embroidery on center front of dress and continuing along bottom front hemline. Embroidery of green and brown stems with leaves, and ribbon work daisies and flowers with off-white petals. Mandarin collar and concealed button and snap closure at center front bodice. Two panels at right and left yoke with matching embroidery are unattached at bottom and conceal pleats that are along the collar line. Long, fitted sleeves with 1" vent at…