A crowd scene in Regency dress.

Mimic of Modes

A Most Beguiling Accomplishment

Latest Posts

  • The Lévite

    I was going to make this about the Lévite, the levantine, and the sultane, but I found a good number of Lévites.  Really, in retrospect, I should have folded the turque in with these, given that I found only one… Continue reading

  • The Robe à la Turque

    You know, it’s kind of funny – although I’ve heard much more about the robe à la turque, I’m finding it much more difficult to find pictures labeled that way. [Edit, 1/14/2013: Newcomers, you may want to see my tag… Continue reading

  • The Robe à la Circassienne

    The anglaise, française, and polonaise are the most commonly talked-about types of 18th century gowns.  However, fashion magazines talk about loads of different styles: à la levite, à la sultane, à la circassienne … I’d like to do a post… Continue reading

  • The Robe à la Polonaise, or Polonese

    It is very common for people to consider the robe à la polonaise to be a gown made in the same way as the robe à l’anglaise, but with the skirt pulled up through rings arranged on either side of… Continue reading

  • The Robe à la Française, or Sacque

    The antecedent of the robe à la française was the robe volante, a form of negligée dress.  Once the mantua became suitable for public dress, the wealthy required something else to wear while relaxing.  The robe volante (or robe battante)… Continue reading

  • The Robe à l'Anglaise

    At the beginning of the eighteenth century, women all over Europe wore the mantua (which itself had originated in negligée dress).  This was a fairly unstructured dress made in a T-shape, with most of the fitting of the bodice and… Continue reading

  • 18th Century Mitts and 20th Century Dresses

    I have a ton of tabs open to costumes at the Met, and I figured I might as well post them and close them out. Light blue silk Pink and changeable silk Black velvet White linen Leather and calico Knitted… Continue reading

  • 1790s Dress

    It’s all cold and wet out today, so another post. This one is on all the things I’m considering when it comes to the dress that is the vanilla ice cream to the sundae that is my ensemble. (Too convoluted?)… Continue reading

  • 1790s Stays

    The shift was easy, apart from all of the flat-felling, but the stays are proving less so.  There don’t seem to be any patterns of extant examples in the style I’m looking for – as I pointed out in my… Continue reading

  • 1790s Shift

    So as it says in my bio over there, I’ve done everything for my M. A. except my thesis/qualifying paper. In my program, there are a lot of options for that: you can do a strictly academic research paper, or… Continue reading