As my first official post, before I post any actual costuming photos (since I seldom have time to sew lately), I thought I’d talk about places that I get my costuming inspiration.
I don’t consider myself a very adept costumer yet–I learn new techniques and more about my own skills every time I work on a garment. But I thought this blog could be a document of my learning process as much as a demonstration of my abilities. A lot of the things that inspire me are examples of what I aspire to be able to do some day. It’s also a lot of “dang, that outfit is awesome, I need it. Better go sew it.”
As far as the historical costuming goes, some times it’s movies that get me salivating over a particular style. Shakespeare in Love, Marie Antoinette (with Kiersten Dunst), The Duchess (with Kiera Knightly) and Jane Eyre (with Mia Wasikowska) are some of my favorite costume-inspiring movies.
I also follow some historical fashion blogs on Tumblr that post a lot of images of extant garments from different time periods. OMG That Dress, Fashions from History, Fripperies and Fobs, and Tudor Costume are blogs that I look at for items from a specific time period. I also follow Tawny’s Costumes and Curiosities and Red Threaded Costumes for general costume and historical fashion inspiration.
I will sometimes browse the Renaissance or Victorian tags on Flickr to look at photos from events or people’s sewing posts, but not everything posted on Flickr is historically accurate (in fact, I would actually say most of it is not). But there are some accurate, well-made items on there that I like to save and look at.
Hopefully soon I will have the time to make a proper post with something a bit more exciting.
The Victorian Archivist 