Perhaps you’ve been thinking about how to incorporate your love of historical fashion with your everyday lifestyle but find it challenging to wear a bustle dress to your weekly grocery store outing. You are not alone! So many of us in the historical costuming community have – for years! – been trying to add those styles of bygone days into our daily lives.
Jennifer gets us started in this episode with ideas on approaching this idea of #historybounding (a fairly new term) for our modern wardrobes with encouragement that YES! it can be done with comfort and functionality.
Show Notes and Mentions
-Online classes at the Historical Sewing School
–Podcast episode 002 on being creative when you’re not a designer
-Book: the curated closet by Anuschka Rees
-Book: The Edwardian Modiste edited by Frances Grimble (yes, it’s really expensive now; look for a used copy or check your local library)
–Blog post on the Wearing History corset cover pattern made as a modern top
–Morgan Donner’s blog about HistoryBounding
-Movie: Kate & Leopold
-Find Jennifer on Gab: @JenRosbrugh
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I’ve been shifting my wardrobe more feminine for years now. I do own a pair of jeans, but I hardly ever wear them anymore! The more I started thinking about my personal style, as an effort to streamline my wardrobe (like, ten item wardrobe), the more I prioritized things that really make me feel good to wear. This lead to ruffly button down shirts with skirts, as well as dresses. I recently bought a pair of American Duchess Edwardian shoes, and this has made me realize that if the clothing doesn’t look good with those shoes, I pretty much don’t want to wear it lol.
I have a several American Duchess shoes and a few of those I wear with my modern clothes. They are great a bringing a lovely vibe to a contemporary look.
This fits right into what I’m planning to wear to the new Downton Abbey movie. I told my friend we need to dress up. I was planning to put together a daytime wear outfit but in the theme of the 20’s. Someone could tweak it to the teens or early 20’s if they own a longer skirt on dressy long sleeved blouse.
I have a black rayon skirt that if paired with a long waisted blouse I have it could be definitely in the 20’s theme, especially with my 20’s reproduction shoes.
I think adding pieces like you mentioned with a period jacket with jeans or a ruffled blouse with a modern skirt or adding vintage-styled shoes with a modern outfit is a clever and fun way to sneak in some flair and historical sense into your look.
I feel sad when I see women wearing nothing but black leggings all day, everyday day. Outside of an office dress code, our clothing today has devolved into gym wear. Even though I am equally guilty of dressing down and for comfort I at least try to make sure I have pants or shorts and not leggings on out in public. As the weather cools off it might be easier to put together outfits the look nicer. I follow your Facebook page so I’m glad you linked your podcast which I enjoyed!
Thanks for listening! And yep, you have the right ideas for this. Enjoy your Downton outing!
Yes, thank you for sharing your thoughts. I work in an engineering office and I’ve been slowly replacing my wardrobe with my own sewn blouses and knitted sweaters using vintage patterns. I feel extra special when I wear them to work and most people don’t pay attention to what I’m wearing anyway. My plan is to sew a 1910s blouse with insertion lace. I’ve been plotting it for a while now. Blouses are such an easy way of incorporating history in a modern wardrobe.
They really are! I used to work in an accounting office where lovely Victorian/Edwardian shirtwaists with modern skirts would have been quite appropriate. Have fun sewing!
Hi, Jennifer! I enjoyed your latest podcast. I think it is a good idea to bring those gorgeous Victorian dresses into our everyday modern wardrobe. I would love it.
Thanks for listening, Neil. It’s fun to release the design energy to garments that can be worn more than once and be practical.
Sounds like you have been read my mind Jennifer
Enjoyed this podcast. For years I have worn my grey woolen bed-gown in the modern world. It’s one of my favorite garments, very comfy, and always gets compliments. I wish my 18th century petticoats played nicely with my 21st century automobile.
Yeah, that is one thing that really is a challenge to work around when dressing historical – modern vehicles!
Yippee! I did some of this when I was in college in the 1970s. I made some of my mom’s 1940s skirts in cotton prints and wore them to school. I just started planning how I could do that again now and have a whole document on my computer with patterns and fabrics for inspiration. Jennifer, I’m so glad you are here for inspiration and guidance. Some 1920s styles I love could fit in as is. To incorporate earlier decades, I love your corset cover as blouse and your suggestion to make a petticoat into a skirt.
Ooh – have fun returning to the enjoyment as you had before!
In 1980 I made and wore a ca.1955 dress pattern of my mom’s (when she was a teen) to our annual school dance. It was the era of the Grease movie and I was thrilled to bits (I was 15) to have a “genuine” vintage pattern… I really should have continued on with it, always loved vintage looks of the 30s-50s or 19th C.
Now I’m wondering if it’s feasible as a small dumpy woman in her 50s LOL!! Loving that historybounding is becoming a thing (terrible term, though :o).
You can *totally* get back into wearing vintage look! Truly. If you need support, there’s a few good Facebook groups that encourage others of all shapes and ages in their sewing and wearing of vintage (and even historical fashions). 🙂
Awesome concept. I love it. Makes perfect sense when you think about it.
Excited to see the how this unfolds and looking forward to the next pod cast.
Thanks Jennifer.,
Hello Jennifer, I’m not sure about bringing the clothes into everyday life but I join with the Victorian Re-Enactment Society (in Australia) every June to celebrate the Queen Victoria Waterloo Dinner. Some of us get to wear to one and only dress we made for our turn of the century ball. If they have any events that require 1901 outfits to be present then we are invited. It gives our costumes an outing, but after 19 years we are getting sick of the same ones so we are making some maids dress- like Downton Abbey!
Sounds fun!
Very cool. Definitely something I’ve been thinking about. Thanks for your suggedtions!
I have already done some of this with my everyday wardrobe. I wear dresses daily and the style I wear is super easy to adapt to different styles. For Regency, I shorten the bodice and to give a higher waisted look and wear a Spencer or cropped cardigan overtop. I use shawls or fichus with this look. For Victorian, I make a very full skirt which lies over a full petticoat. The sleeves are double, the inner sleeve is fitted and the outer is a slight bell sleeve at the Hem. Edwardian dressing again takes my regular pattern with the bodice cut on the bias, with V neckline front and back. Under that I sewed an eyelet lace ‘dickie’ with standup collar. The sleeves also have ‘double’ sleeves of eyelet lace. It is so much fun to be able to tweek my daily dress pattern so easily to get a different look.
So happy to hear what you’re doing! Keep having fun!