I am by no means an expert of historical fashion–I leave that to wonderful folks like Rachel Wilder, who my family fondly refers to as “Louisiana Rachel,” and who I have recruited to read my manuscripts and find any errors in how I refer to cravats vs. ties, waistcoats and vests and chemises and panniers and hoops and crinolines and…and..and…

I can’t tell you where the seams were in sleeves in a random year in the 19th century. I can’t tell you exactly when hoops turned to bell-shapes and what fabrics were most common when, and what colors were popular–not without looking it up, anyway. But at this point I’ve researched the fashion of enough eras, from 1770s through the 1920s, that I’m beginning to recognize things before I see a year attached to them. And that’s pretty cool. =)

One of my recent realizations of this was with a book I was reading for WhiteFire. There was no date at the beginning of the book to tell us when it was taking place, and our other editor asked. I said something like, “Based on the fashion described, it has to be 1890s.” I went and checked in the proposal she’d sent earlier, and voila! 1890! I felt so proud, LOL.

This is a pretty handy (and necessary) skill for a historical writer to have attained, and it’s a fun one to learn! It’s also the point where I can recognize a few designers, believe it or not. Every time I see a late 19th-century gown that I just adore, I know it’s from the House of Worth. Haven’t been wrong yet, LOL.

So while we’ve looked at a lot of fashion here as I’m in one era or another, today we’re going to just take a quick tour through the ages that I’ve studied. =)

1770s

1780s

1790s

1810s

1830s

Early 1860s

Late 1860s (House of Worth!!)

1890s (also Worth – drool)

1905

1911

1920s

And you know what all these beautiful dresses make me wish? That we still wore such lovely creations on a day-to-day basis! I daresay Charles Frederick Worth would be none too impressed with the trend of yoga pants, LOL. 😉