Something a bit different

I rather enjoy late 1700s clothing. I even wrote my Master's thesis on them. During my last year in graduate school, this outfit and another emerged as a bit of a side project. To celebrate me finishing school, a friend and I would go forth into the public in 1780s finery. I made both outfits from the chemise out. I chose to give my clothes another outing for this year's Comic Con.

  

I chose to leave off the fichu and cap as I wasn't in a mood for them that day, and very few at the Con would give me grief about not being period. Interestingly, the day I happened to wear this outfit was the same day a panel on Rose of Versailles was occurring. It's quite the famous show in Japan and a good chunk of the world, so I had to go. While on line, I got compliments and pictures taken. A few more people stopped me for pictures during the day.

A petticoat closeup.

A better view of the bodice. It's wrinkly, but I'd lost weight between the first wearing and the second, and I purposefully made the front parts too big for the sake of adjustability. It closes with pins, and this time I did not scratch my hands on them.The fabric was a happy find in the calico section of a local fabric store.

Side view where you can see my bustle in action. as the day went on, I felt a weight at the small of my back, not unlike a backpack, that I attributed to the padding. As it turned out, the pressure came from the stays. It wasn't unpleasant, just an interesting observation.