Victorian Fashion History Illustration: Promenade Costume for Spring, 1875

A black and white fashion illustration from the May 1875 edition of Frank Leslie's Lady's Magazine. The following is a description of the two costumes:

(Left)
Costume of light-brown silk alpace, trimmed with black Lyons silk. The front of the skirt is trimmed step-ladder fashion with bias silk bands, about one and a half inches wide, while the back breadths are encircled with four narrow overlapping flounces, headed with a similar silk band. These are framed with a ruche of the alpace, laid on in waves from waist to foot. The overskirt has the short pointed fronts, draped onto the long bouffant back-breadths by a bow of black ribbon, the points being edged with a narrow flounce and silk band. Close-fitting cuirass corsage, pointed front and back, and trimmed the same as the front of overskirt. The sleeves are coat-shaped, ornamented with a black silk cuff, on which is placed a black ribbon bow, encircled with lace. A band of the silk, edged with a down-falling flounce of the alpace and an upstanding frill of cambric decorates the neck, closed on the bust by a black ribbon bow. Black chip hat, trimmed with light brown and blue ribbons, and a blue feather.

(Right)
Promenade costume of black silk and French gray Summer cashmere. The silk skirt is trimmed with a gathered flounce, measuring in depth eight inches in front and twelve behind, surmounted with two wide and closely laid bands, piped on the edges. The overskirt and postilion basque are of the cashmere, edged with camels' hair fringe. The former is draped below the tournure, designing it as an apron, the looped sashes falling onto the silk flounce. Surmounting the fringe, on both the overskirt and basque, is a wide cashmere fold with a heavy rouleau of black silk, laid on through the centre; and a flaring black silk collar, deeper behind than in front, completes the neck. Muslin ruff and undersleeves. Hat of French gray chip, trimmed with black ribbon, and two ostrich tips - rose pink and gray.


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Victorian Fashion History Illustration: Gilded Age Promenade Costume, 1875

A black and white fashion engraving from the January 1875 edition of Frank Leslie's Lady's Magazine. The following is a description from the publication:

Nos. 1 and 2 gives a front and back view of a promenade costume. The skirt is of black gros-grain silk, and is trimmed with a deep box-plaited flounce, each plait ornamented with a band of ribbon velvet. The overskirt is of gray cashmere, very long at the back, and undraped and arranged in a triple box-plait, which is sewed into the waistband, and the plaits laid evenly the full length of the skirt, and tacked in several places on the side, to keep them in position. The front is pointed, and is closed by buttons and buttonholes after being trimmed with a band of velvet, the trimming extending around the lower edges, and also up the centre of the back-breadths. Close-fitting basque-corsage, also of cashmere, belted at the waist, and trimmed with velvet to correspond with the overskirt, both the front and back of the corsage having a band of velvet laid evenly with those on the skirt, and ornamented with buttons. A sleeveless close-fitting jacket is added, made of black velvet, closed at the neck only, immediately under the standing collar. The amount of material required is twelve yards of black gros-grain silk, six yards of double-fold cashmere, and three yards of velvet. Black velvet hat, decorated with feathers and gros-grain ribbons, intermixed with velvet.


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Free Vintage Real Photo Postcards (RPPCs): Grete with Daisies in her Hair

These are original, first-generation digital scans of vintage real photo postcards (RPPCs) from my personal collection. The first two photos show a pretty young Edwardian girl with daisy hair ornaments posing first with her right profile presented and then with her left profile presented. A big thank you to James W. who pointed me to her possible real identity, a German actress named Grete Reinwald (1902 - 1983). You can read more of her story here.

After reading her biography and seeing all the pictures of her (some look so drastically different that it is hard to believe that they are of the same person), I began to wonder if I might have other photos of her in my collection. I managed to find one of a young girl all wrapped in gauzy chiffon who looked like she had the same upturned nose and tight-lipped smile - can this be a young Grete as well?

Next, I came across this photo of an older girl - she looks to be in her late teens but there is something of her nose and the ever so slightly puckered mouth that made me think that she might be a more grown-up Grete. What do you think?

I have no idea if all these long-ago photographs are of the indomitable Grete who graced so many postcards but it is a lot of fun to imagine who these young ladies might have been and how they would have lived their lives.


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