steelylaceribbon:

Ilja Jefimowitsch Repin, Rest - Portrait of Vera Repina, (1882)

(Source: darkladyofthelowlands)

theoddmentemporium:

Victorian Dress Lifter

Basically tool kits masquerading as jewelry, “chatelaines” allowed Victorian women to keep quotidian essentials at the ready, in the graceful style the era demanded. Consisting of functional pendants attached to a clip, these accessories were worn at the waist. 

The above artifact would be hung on the chatelaine alongside other day-to-day necessities such as make-up, pencils, needles, and perfume. Women relied on these little tongs to hoist up their skirt hems when crossing dirty streets.

[Source: Country Living | See Also]

oldrags:

August fashions, 1877 France, Journal des Demoiselles et Petit Courrier des Dames Réunis

(via fashionplatesandephemera)

ryandonato:

Edgar Degas, L’Absinthe

(via rebeccapink)

vintagevision:

my-ear-trumpet:

coldmourningrosary:

Victorian beauty

“This is a girl in 1897 whose father died. Her puffy sleeves signify that she is in the early stages of mourning.”

REALLY? This “caption” would totally be submitted to shit my students write if I got this in a student exam or paper. Try, “her puffy sleeves indicate that it is 1897 and she is in the pink of fashion”! The mourning (if indeed it is, which I am not convinced of, because people on Tumblr seem determined to identify every lady photographed in B+W as wearing mourning) comes from her bodice have crepe.

One of my biggest pet peeves is the assumption that black + Victorian = mourning.  If anything, her sleeves would probably be reduced for mourning, and she would be wearing a mourning bonnet and corresponding veil.  Black was actually a very popular color for formal wear.  Also, if you look closely, you can see the dress isn’t even black.

fashionsfromhistory:

Child’s Dress

Late 19th Century 

United States