Mar. 17th, 2006

titusnowl: (guinness)
To all the Europeans out there going "Fuck you, shut up, you're not Irish, you're an American:"  Fuck YOU, shut up.  America is a traditionally semi-homogenous society made up almost wholly of immigrants who continue to strongly identify with their original country of origin despite taking part in the culture of their new home; this is how it has been and will continue to be, since 1603, so go suck it.  I'm celebrating St Patrick's Day whether you want to bitch about it or not.
titusnowl: (Kincaid's stolen donkey)
I was on my weekly costume kick, checking out the updates at demodé and following random links, when I came across the site of a lady who'd made a bustle dress in sushi print fabric and mentioned in passing some other odd fabric choices for historic costuming, such as Victorian ball gowns in camoflage print and bustle dresses with kitty-cats printed on them.  Back up a second, Victorian ball gowns in camo?  I like it!

There are lots of period dresses that have military details.  What if you took one of those and used modern military details?  It could work!

I don't like mid-century Victorian things, Civil War era and such.  My costuming interest drops off sharply in 1825 and doesn't pick back up until the 1870s - the middle of the 19th century had fashions that made everyone look like a doughball, even if you had the much-covetted 17-inch waist.  I'm already stout, I don't need to be made stouter by a round waist and a skirt with a six-yard diameter.

I decided I should work with a bustle-era gown, from the 1870s or 1880s.  By the '80s bustles were getting just far too huge - I wouldn't want to deal with strapping a birdcage to my butt - and the drapery was getting a bit out of hand, to the point where women actually resembled drapery.  Window treatments.  Velvet and wool and satin and giant tasselled cords.  I'm serious.

So I browsed the Real Women's Clothing direction at demodé and found that I really like the silhouette of the early 1870s.  I'd have a princess-seamed bodice; the main part of the bodice and the overskirt would be of Army woodland camo, with an inset in the center bodice of olive drab and an olive drab drape on the underskirt.  Add a nod to 19th century military styles in the form of tabs fastened with brass buttons, with the tabs in that muddy  brown that shows up in the woodland and on the towels they sell at the surplus shop; the bottom underskirt would be solid brown.  A black stand-up collar and black pointed cuffs are another nod to history, this time to the British rifleman's uniform of the Napoleonic era (which is my very favorite army uniform ever).  Finally, to add a bit of trim to the skirt drape, trim it with a black chevron that echos the trim at the top.

But I wanted more modern touches.  Justin suggested shoulder cords.  I liked that.  Add some gold braid shoulder cords, held under by black epaulletes, and echo that by using visible gold braid to tie back the overskirt.   The crowning touch is a hat made out of a garrison cap adorned with a giant black ostrich feather.

Footwear, of course, is a pair of nicely-polished jump boots just peeking out under the skirts.

The sketch:
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Roughly colored in Photoshop, just to give an idea:
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titus n. owl

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