An 18th Century Obsession
Throughout the first half of 2021, I stumbled into something of an obsession with the 18th century silhouette. You know the one, completely flat and conical torso, boobs squashed flat and up, large hips and bums, and gorgeously pleated, floor-length skirts. If you've ever seen TV shows such as Poldark and Outlander, or films like Marie Antoinette and Pirates of the Caribbean then you'll know what I'm talking about...
Elizabeth Swann from Pirates of the Caribbean
Claire Fraser from Outlander
Demelza Poldark from Poldark
In 2020, I'd loved the 1950's style of big circle skirts with fluffy petticoats underneath and I even made a few skirts in that style and bought a petticoat (because I so do not have the time for those ruffles!) but then I found that I was stumped by the top half. I wasn't drawn to the blouses and off-the-shoulder tops from the decade as they just don't suit my natural figure.
So back to my fashion fascinations:
It was around the time that I was deciding that a circle skirt with petticoat was a bit more than I felt comfortable wearing outside the house and struggling with what to pair it with on the top half that I stumbled across the historical fashion side of YouTube. Through the amazing videos from a multitude of fabulous creators, I learned about historybounding and became intrigued. I found Mariah Pattie, a wonderful advocate of historybounding with a current fixation on 18th century dress, and was watching Outlander when it all fell into place and I knew that a modernised 18th century wardrobe was what I wanted to work towards.
The more I've learnt about the way clothes were made and worn during the 1700's, the more I've realised that a lot of our modern technologies have caused a lot of the gripes that I have with modern fashion. Never before had I paid so much attention to the fabric and fibre content of my clothing because of course I sweat more when wearing plastic fibres like polycotton and the further into this rabbit hole I fall, the more I am convinced that I can solve my clothing problems by just making my own stuff from scratch.
And so began my adventures in building my own 18th century inspired wardrobe. While it's no longer my favourite silhouette as I don't love the side-on view, I did create a number of 18th century inspired garments which I will create posts about in due course. I may also create more garments based on this era at a later date but, for now, I'm quite happy with the collection I've already sewn.