Great thoughts! Thanks for sharing. And best of luck with your quick Regency ensemble!

This article was great for me to read, especially the section on getting into the attitude of historical clothes! As an actor who is a VERY lazy cosplayer (hence why I’m throwing together a minimalist Regency-inspired outfit, lol), it’s so painful when I see people in mind-blowing outfits, but they’re only standing and sitting for most of their shots! (Especially for characters from movies/shows and games, where you should have WAY MORE “poses” to reenact!) You need at least a couple of “dress rehearsals” before the actual event, and not just “long enough to check the fit!” Spend at least an hour in it and do regular stuff in your outfit, so you know how it moves and you can break yourself out of the “this is expensive” nervousness!

Take test shots for the poses you have in mind, and fix whatever looks off. Photography/acting needs a LOT more work than most people realize, including for poses. Are your arms at wonky angles? How do you spread out your skirt/cloak/long-and-draping-garment as artfully as possible? How do your accessories behave? Dance a bit, to see how your outfit moves (or not)! How do you look in different lighting? And “blooper shots” are always welcome–lots of people love watching blooper reels from film/TV, or “behind the scenes” shots of actors chilling out in full costume, and part of the reason they’re so fun to watch is because ACTORS SPEND HOURS waiting for their scenes to come around, so they have no choice but to eat breakfast in their medieval plate armor, or to listen to their music playlists in ball-gowns!

If someone’s outfit is spotless, that’s one thing, BUT if their outfit is spotless, they don’t have any poses, and they’re nervous about eating or chilling out, that’s a telltale sign for me that they’re thinking “I spent X-amount of money on this!!!”, so OF COURSE they only turn their persona on for the camera and end up looking like they’re “dressing up for a convention/event,” instead of “wearing historical clothing.”

I would say to keep all your lady bits in the right place. I am very top heavy and the boning keeps it where it belongs. Plus the more boning the better because of you have a large chest there will be more spots to balance the pressure/weight of your chest

Good for you! We can only try our best. I am not a seamstress or dress maker but I try because I just want to have fun. I’m not at these events to check out how accurate the clothing is. I hand sew my outfits and that’s about the most historical I get. Thank you.

I agree with most of your comments in getting headwear set on the head appropriately.
To elaborate, when I first wore that Edwardian outfit I did not have a hat and at last-minute borrowed that one from a friend. I have a very small head and her hat would fall below my eye level if worn properly. I also was not trying to duplicate the original photograph, indicating we are all on a journey with different goals. It was initially my inspiration to get into this time period.

As mentioned at the end of my article, the biggest mistake is giving up instead of keep pursuing the goal we’ve set for ourselves. I have learned a TON since I wrote this article – both in forming a good Edwardian silhouette as well as my sewing skills. Isn’t that why we are here? We keep studying and producing projects that stretch us, and perhaps someday we WILL achieve the look we desire and our “mistakes” will be fewer.