Lingerie of 1915 and the Questionable Invention of the Brassiere


The Brassiere of 1915


Brassiere Patent


lingerie of 1915 brassiere ad

There were patterns available from Butterick for similar styles:

The 1915 Corset Silhouette


lingerie of 1915 corset ad


The Corset Covers, Slips and Chemises of 1915



Drawers of 1915


Combination Undergarments


lingerie of 1915 butterick 6957 combination 8

The combination combined the corset cover or chemise with open drawers:






Bicyclists and Cersei and Oz, oh my!

Happy Saturday. A morning of bright, clear light here. Drinking coffee as the rest of the house wakes up.

As sewing goes, I’m happily sewing up little samples of lingerie for different sizes to test, learning about the legalities of garment tags, etc. I’m also mulling a jacket project, in part because Game of Thrones will be back on soon and I’ve wanted to make something power-dressing Cersei inspired since the last finale. And also because suffragette bicyclists in spats and bloomers and epic riding habit style suit jackets has hooked my interest.


Remember Miss Gulch from Wizard of Oz? Sure, she was a horrible wretch in the movie, but if Frank L. Baum was writing a story set in 1900, could she also have been a caricature of the New Women of the day? Game of Thrones and bicyclists may not seem to have much in common but in my mind they relate because a) I love cinematic representations of women that involve them not always being perfect and good and angelic but instead as creatures capable of the full range of complicated humanity and as straining in various ways against their prescribed societal roles and b) fitted bodices with high collars as activewear for the WIN. Structure wise Cersei’s ruling with an iron fist wardrobe is not so different from the traditional riding habit/”sportswear” of the 1800s. I’ve always found her wardrobe fascinating; even in her more feminine garb of earlier seasons there was often an element of armor; arguably for Cersei her femininity IS a kind of tactical wear. Cersei as a character is fantastic. We feel for her earlier struggles and can understand why her life made her what she now is, although we can’t condone it. We almost root for her strength and defiance when she is imprisoned and powerless and still threatening Septa Unella. But then she gets power, and she’s terrifying. She’s a complicated representation of human ambition who happens to be female. In 50 years I wonder what humanities scholars will have to say about that in relation to the Clinton campaign. Not that I’m equating Cersei and Clinton, but she’s the closest thing we’ve had to a female president, and the reactions to Clinton are so intense it’s kind of fascinating.  I think especially in her earlier days in the White House the world preferred her playing dutiful wifey and baking cookies and not hyphenating her name, and some of the casting of her as shrew figure by the right (then and now) seems loaded with gender symbolism. She’s got a different field of symbolism to navigate than a man, and, well, the rest is history.

But bicycles…the women circa 1900 seem to have been subjected to a lot of mockery and derision for their chosen mode of transportation. Some things I read talked about people looking at it as scandalous because of the physical exertion, the physicality and the fact that (oh lordy) women were sitting on a seat in such a way, that it meant more outings with the opposite sex. And given the eternal strain of youthful generations against the prohibitions of the old, it must have had some subtly sexy, defiant undercurrents that resonated with some subset of the population because there are some great advertisements of women riding bicycles floating around the interwebz. (There are also a large number of topless Grecian goddess type bicycle women?) Here are some from the era that interest me at the moment:


And there are a few surviving garments in exhibitions that have me drooling:


So I’ll have to play around and see what kind of GoT watching garb I can come up with. 🙂


(Photos are all from Pinterest searches of things like “Victorian bloomer bicycle” etc. Most are uncited. Some of the great extant garments are originally from The Met exhibitions, and some of the advertising is originally from the French Gallica website.)

Rabbit Hole of the Day: WTF is a Fichu?







Some more pretty pictures of unknown origin:




fichu petersons magazine june 1877


fichu1 dressdiariesdotlivejournaldotcom




Hour count for 10k hours project: 298

Free Vintage Inspiration: 20s Era Dennison Halloween and Party Booklets

I have a thing for vintage costume catalogs. I just love the idea of people having galas and dressing up to socialize; there just isn’t enough of that these days.

Still waiting on my invite.
No, seriously, guys. Give me the poisoned peach.
No, seriously, guys. Give me the poisoned peach.
Still waiting. Why are there no creepy masquerade balls in my life!??
Still waiting. Why are there no creepy masquerade balls with David Bowie as the musical entertainment in my life!??

It is interesting, though, how some people bemoan contemporary Halloween as merely an excuse for people to wear skimpy things and get attention. But old catalogs I see seem to allow for more skin and more leeway in terms of socially acceptable dress (women in PANTS in the 20s?!) even back in the early 20th century. The issue of dress and pervasive sexuality in our culture is a complicated one, but I have a feeling that even when people barely even showed calves, those calves were probably viewed with the same sexual fervor that, hmm, say, Kim Kardashian’s implanted butt is today. I tend to think that human drives and fears and aspirations and perversions remain largely unchanged through history, though we tend to look toward the past as if those people were completely different than we are–and toward the future generation as morally worse than us, change as bad, social mores as crumbling. And yet we as a civilization have managed to not yet fall apart after millennia of supposedly worsening moral depravity. Hopefully some of our biases have been stripped away in terms of gender and race over the last hundred years, but I think sometimes we as a culture collectively pat ourselves on the back far too soon–as if we’ve fixed those complicated social justice problems. (Arguments about the irrelevance of feminism in our time now that it has “completed its goals” come to mind. Ha. HA! Or cultural appropriation and fashion, the outrage over the Redskins being asked to change their mascot to, you know, maybe not a highly offensive caricature.) But…rants make me tired these days. In the echo chamber of social media, the world is flooded with loudly broadcast opinions. We have maybe enough of that. But not enough of Dennison’s ephemera!!

Apparently Dennison put out these sweet little booklets starting in the late 1900s or early 1910s, most of which are now stupid expensive collectibles or reprint editions. But has three of them! They are mostly full of household decorating tips, party planning and crafts, etc, but there are some amazing illustrations and costumes in them too!

Exhibit A: Dennison’s Bogie Book from 192o. It can be downloaded (here).



Exhibit B: Dennison’s Gala Book, 1922, can be downloaded (here).

gala1 gala2a gala2b gala3

Exhibit C: Dennison’s Party Book, 1922, can be downloaded (here) Admittedly I am unclear on the difference between a gala and a party…probably a matter of scale/formality?

That guy’s hat looks like something out of Eyes Wide Shut. Creepy.

partybook partybook1b

Vintage Sewing Library: Elizabeth Blakely’s Practical System for Drafting. And Dracula.

So I recently considered bidding on a hard copy version of Elizabeth Blakely’s The Practical System for Drafting Ladies’ and Children’s Clothing from, oh, 1907 or so. It went for a higher price than I was willing to pay because, well, we hoarders gotta practice some kind of selectivity once in awhile if we wanna have money for sewing with cotton bag pamphlets.

Much to my satisfaction, it’s available on for free. Both volumes! Part 1 is (here) and part 2 is (here). What’s that you say? Yawn. Edwardian/turn of the century fashion just isn’t your thing?

Then clearly you: a) did not grow up in the 90s wanting to be Mina Harker or b) you need a visual refresher romp through Eiko Ishioka’s swoonworthy interpretation of the era to remind you of its glorious kinkified potential. Apparently a huge part of the film budget went to elaborate costume design; the idea was that the clothing should tell a story in itself. Let me just put these right here:

Meet our heroine / dream version of our prettier, better dressed self.
Meet her bestie, another woman who we wouldn't mind changing places / wardrobes with.
Meet her bestie, another woman who we wouldn’t mind changing places / wardrobes with.
Girl meets exquisitely pleated dress.
Girl meets exquisitely pleated seafoam colored dress.
Power dressing circa 1890.
Power dressing circa 1890.
But let's not forget about Lucy, our lady in the streets/freak in the sheets who has the BEST lingerie collection in the British empire.
Work it, girl.
Work it, girl.Behold the power of embroidery. BEHOLD.
Poor Keanu is the most vanilla boring character in this movie. But I'd rock his look.
Poor Keanu is the most vanilla boring character in this movie. But I’d rock his look.
Enter the prince. *Swoon*
Enter the prince. *Swoon*
Some version of this scenario happens in 97% of my sexual fantasies.
Blah blah blah our clothes should have 3,000 babies.
Blah blah blah our clothes should have 3,000 babies.
And I kind of forget the rest of the movie after this point. Denouement. Redemption and shit. Let's just pretend it ends here, yes?
And I kind of forget the rest of the movie after this point. Denouement. Redemption and shit. Let’s just pretend it ends here, yes?

I think me and my Mrs. Blakely text need a cold shower.