Abby works on Cynthia's (Redthreaded) hair while I photographs each step for "The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty," coming July 2019.
Hi! I've been a pretty terrible blogger again this year, but I have a good excuse this time. We've been working on our second book, "The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty," for the entire year thus far.
Behind the scenes with Nicole (Diary of a Mantua Maker) for the 1781-83 hairstyle and accessories photos.
While we've been sharing parts of our journey on Instagram stories, I realize we haven't really shared much about our explorations and projects on our regular IG and FB feeds or here on the blog. So...without further ado...
A quick description of what you can expect in the new book...
We're including original 18th century recipes and how-to's in the book, so you can make your own natural beauty products.
...original recipes for pomatum, powder, rouge, and lip salve, and the tools of your toilette...
...various methods of curling and for various types of hair, including Asian and African hair...
We've worked with as many hair types as possible in the book - here Jasmine is being coiffed a la 1780.
...full how-to's of hair styles from the 1750s to the 1790s and all the cushions and stuff you need to create them...
We're including patterns and tutorials for making the necessary hair cushions to get those great heights in the 1770s - here Laurie Tavan reveals the secret, a giant "donut" hair cushion.
...patterns and tutorials for accessories for every hairstyle, including caps, hats, a calash bonnet, lappets, and a pouf...
...plus lots of meaty essays about hygiene, styling, trends, and myths. Woo!
The infamous calash bonnet in progress - we give the pattern and a step-by-step guide for this tricky yet epic piece of head gear.
We're finishing up the manuscript now to meet our September 30th deadline, followed by all the photography, illustrations, and patterning a couple weeks later. Then the book will go into editing and layout, ready for release in July 2019. That seems like a long time from now but a lot of work goes in even after the manuscript is written. There will be a pre-order opening sometime in the next 6 months, darlings - we'll let you know!
With the release of our shiny new "Vienna" Congress Boots this season, we thought we'd give a little history of this interesting, rather special kind of footwear.
In the US the elastic-sided boot was known as the "Congress Boot"
or "Congress Gaiter." Elastic-sided boots were patented in England
in 1837 by J. Sparkes Hall but the elastic wasn't particularly
good. Vulcanization was developed in 1839 by Goodyear but the
resulting improved elastic does not appear to have been used in
ladies' boots until the late 1840s.
There were two types of elasticized fabric used in congress boots - one was the true elastic web made from vulcanized India rubber thread, which is most like what we have today. Boots with the elastic webbing date from the 1850s (England) and the 1860s (US). The other type was known as "shirred goods" and was made of stretched rubber threads, running horizontally, that when "released" drew up the fabric they were sewn into for a shirred or puckered look. Boots with shirred goods are contemporary with the elastic web boots, with the web being the preferred method presumably due to stretch, recovery, and longevity.
This
coincides roughly with Queen Victoria's coronation in 1838. J
Sparkes Hall was a bootmaker to Queen Victoria and
claimed the Queen "walks in them daily and thus gives the
strongest proof of the value she attached to the invention."
After 1847 congress gaiters were very popular for ladies - with
restrictive clothing, people needed to put on their
shoes and not worry about laces coming untied. Bending down in
corsets or tight clothing isn't comfortable, polite, and sometimes
not even possible, so the 18th and 19th centuries saw several
alternative fastening methods for shoes - buttons, buckles,
elastic - contemporary with shoe strings (laces).
The popularity of congress boots continues through the 1870s but
the function of the boots begins to shift from being a fashionable
style to being more for outdoor or practical use only. By the late 1880s congress boots for ladies are not considered the height of fashion but
they were still being made.
There was a bit of a revival in the
1890s and turn of the 20th century for the "Ladies' Up to Date
Congress Shoe," but it faded out fairly quickly. Elastic-sided
boots continued to be made in the early 20th century but were
relegated to "comfort shoes" and were not at all seen as
fashionable for women. A quick bimble through Zappos today, however, will turn up a variety of congress gaiters, now commonly called Chelsea Boots, some very fashionable. Now that's a footwear style with staying power, 170 years old!
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