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Serena Lake – writer

~ where romance and history join together…

Serena Lake – writer

Category Archives: research

A Few Views from the Fashion Museum in Bath…

23 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by serenalake-writer in research

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18th century, 19th century, Bath, costume, dresses, exhibitions, fashion, history, shoes

I have had a few busy months, but I did manage a much-needed long weekend break in Bath last month, with the main intention of visiting the Fashion Museum.

You’ll find a couple of posts over on Carol’s blog about the visits to the Bath Postal Museum and the Museum of Bath Architecture.

Both these small museums don’t get the visitor numbers that the better known locations do, but are well worth taking a little time out to see them if you’re in Bath.

The Fashion Museum is currently exhibiting the History of Fashion in 100 Objects (until 1st January 2019), along with the recently opened Lace in Fashion.

This was two hours of bliss. Selecting my favourites to show you has been difficult, but I’ve chosen time periods I’m interested in for my novels current and future…

And shoes do feature in my image selection.

As lighting is low and items are behind glass to control the temperature to protect the fabrics from deteriorating, I have needed to add light to my images, and you may notice the occasional reflection. I wanted to limit how much adjustment I needed to make, but the ones reflecting the red chairs will take some work. I really didn’t think it was polite to move them just for one photo, so you won’t be seeing that one!

My absolute favourite dress was this striped silk Robe à l’anglaise from the 1770’s.

Striped silk Robe à l’anglaise from 1770’s

Actually I have to admit to favouring the dresses of the 1770’s. They must have looked amazing when they were first worn; the wearer making their way around a ballroom with the candlelight reflecting off mirrors and windows bringing the colour to life.

The early costumes displayed a more practical element, less glamour than those late 18th century gowns. They also show how styles could change over a decade, with open and closed robe dresses revealing, then concealing a warm petticoat.

 

 

Open Robe of the 1730’s and the Closed Robe of the 1740’s

There was an interesting quilted petticoat from the 1740’s on display with an open robe. The information card suggested it could be Scottish, and perhaps an indicator of sympathy to the Jacobite cause. The stitched thistle design is not immediately obvious until you look closer…

Quilted petticoat from the 1740’s with thistle design

You can just see the dress this petticoat was displayed with to the right in the above group photo…

 

High heels from the   1780’s

Flat shoes from the 1810’s

There were a few shoes within the costume areas, but further on a couple of display cabinets held a variety of shoes and boots.

 

 

 

 

There were a few delightful items of menswear included, waistcoats, jackets, suits, and an early pair of trousers from the 1820’s.

Man’s Printed Cotton Banyan from the 1750’s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accessories were not forgotten. There was a display of Bone, Coral, Ivory and Turtle items, that ranged from fans to hair combs and other pieces. It was highlighting the less pleasant aspect of trade in species from around the world during the 18th and 19th century.

Today these species are protected, but in the 1800’s there was a big trade in these new materials, and the resources were probably looked on as unlimited, though a few hundred years later we’re aware of how much damage this led to…

So that’s just a few items. The exhibition is worth visiting, as whatever decade or century you’re interested in, you’ll find something to admire and be fascinated by.

When you finish the fashion display downstairs in the Assembly Rooms, you can go back upstairs and view the settings those beautiful dresses and suits could have graced in past times…

Carol will be putting a few images from the exhibition on her next blog post too. So do take the time to visit.

 

It’s Shoes…

12 Sunday Feb 2017

Posted by serenalake-writer in research

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18th century, 19th century, exhibitions, fashion, history, shoes

Having finally got the house back to normal, and the horrible winter illnesses have faded away, I’ve had time to think about updating the blog, so I decided to revisit some of the exhibitions I got to visit last year, and there’s a few photos from 2015 included…

The one element we share with the men and women of the past is that shoes and boots say something about us; we’re conformists, or complete exhibitionists, or perhaps somewhere in-between types.

Shoes may be practical or decorative, and at various times across the century practicality or decoration has been predominant.

Small Black Leather Overshoes 1795-1800

Small Black Leather Overshoes 1795-1800 (1)

Whenever there’s an exhibition display of costume, shoes are the useful accessory but get overshadowed by a beautiful dress. Being able to concentrate just on the shoes themselves allows you to see not only the skill of the shoe-designer/maker, but the detail in the material used: leather, brocade, silk, or embroidered textiles.

The Shoe exhibition that Fairfax House in York ran last year, had a number of items on loan from other UK museums (Northampton, and Hereford among them). There was even a black boot belonging to Lord Wellington that wouldn’t have looked out-of-place nowadays.

Sadly no photos could be taken at Fairfax House, so I’ve searched through my own images from other museums and exhibitions I’ve been to, where photos are allowed under set conditions.

(That’s when a good digital camera is invaluable; images can be zoomed in on, and if needed light applied once you’ve downloaded them to your computer.)

I’d happily wear the early 18th century Louis heels if a shoe designer made them for shoes in my foot size, but without the pointy toes!

Women's Brocade Silk Shoes 1730-50

Women’s Brocade Silk Shoes 1730-50 (2)

Brocade Silk Women's Shoes 1730-50

Brocade Silk Women’s Shoes 1730-50 (3)

Heels were worn by both men and women; also decorative buckles to fasten shoes. They could be simple or elaborate, big of small, the must have fashion item of the 1700’s.

You can see some beautiful examples courtesy of candicehearn.com over at Regency World.

18th Century Shoe Buckles

18th Century Shoe Buckles (4)

It wasn’t until I saw the shoes on display at the Fairfax House exhibition that it became obvious how the shape of the toe and design of women’s shoes had changed in a century.

Women's Bargello Embroidery (Wool on Canvas) Shoes 1720-30

Women’s Bargello Embroidery (Wool on Canvas) Shoes 1720-30 (5)

Shoes were neither left or right, so the young women of the 18th and early 19th century probably experienced the pinched toes, and a not perfect fit that many young women nowadays tolerate, but like their earlier counterparts put up with it until they can get home…

So from the pointed toes and lower heels of the 1790’s, women’s shoes became flatter and the pointy toe became rounder and then flat and square. With the materials becoming softer – silks and satin’s, and with the lower cut the need to be tied on, and suitable for dancing in the ballroom.

Mid to late 18th Century Women's Shoes. Paste Buckles.

Mid to late 18th Century Women’s Shoes. Paste Buckles. (6)

Women's Brown Kid Leather Shoes with 1 inch heels 1795-1800

Women’s Brown Kid Leather Shoes with 1 inch heels 1795-1800 (7)

Outside these softer shoes would be unsuitable for walking in, so boots became popular. There are delightful creamy kid leather ankle boots  (circa 1810) in the Alfred Gillett Trust Collection (in The Shoe Museum in Street, Somerset).

Fawn Leather Ankle Boots 1811-1830

Fawn Leather Ankle Boots 1811-1830 (8)

You can follow the ever-changing fashion in shoes via online availability, or depending where you live, by museum visits.

Black Satin Slippers 1830-40

Black Satin Slippers 1830-40 (9)

The Bata Shoe Museum is in Toronto, Canada. But you can see a few shoe examples in All About Shoes.

If the UK, there’s The Shoe Museum in Street, Somerset.

Northampton Museum is digitizing their shoe collection and you can see some of the images on Flickr. Click on the image you’re interested in, and the details are displayed.

On future visits to costume exhibitions I’ll definitely pay more attention to any footwear in the display…

Images 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9 from Shaping The Body, Castle Museum, York.

Images 3, 4, 6 from Pickford House Museum, Derby, Derbyshire.

The Calendar for the Past…

19 Tuesday Apr 2016

Posted by serenalake-writer in research

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calendars, Easter, law

While I was sorting through some of the paperwork that I had to move from my desk, I found a couple of calendar sheets I’d printed off a few years ago for, what were then, potential story ideas.

I know I could put a day and year date into Google and ask what day of the week was it? But there’s a more useful way, this website: timeanddate.com

It actually has a lot of practical everyday uses too: world clock, time zones, sun and moon settings, and many other options.

The calendars highlighted that one of my stories (set in Dorset) takes place under the Julian Calendar, and the current work in progress uses the Gregorian Calendar (the type we use now).

My Nottinghamshire story takes place over many months in 1802 so a calendar for that year is helpful. A reader won’t appreciate countryside summer flowers in bloom if the heroine is still wrapped up in her winter best…

Before 1752 (when the actual calendar changed for people) we used the Julian Calendar. This meant New Year was actually the 25th March, known as Lady Day (one of the Quarter-Days find out more about these days and dates here).

Time Passes...

Time Passes…

The legal profession still use these quarter days, and if the system has worked well for centuries then there is little point changing it.

If you saw the news item not long ago about various heads of different religious denominations discussing making Easter (or their equivalents) a fixed date, it’s clearly not a simple process.

If you’re not sure how this movable Easter date is calculated you can read the terms specified in law, in this transcribed British Calendar Act of 1750. The additional notes are helpful. If you’re brave enough, venture into the tables link in the additional notes…

I’d assumed that once the law had passed, the change was completed in the same year. But that was not what occurred.

Gradual changes were implemented over a few years.

We might say now that the year has gone quickly, but in 1751 that actually was true. The year began as tradition on March 25th but ended early on the 31st December, rather than March 24th, 1751/52

So 1752 began on the 1st of January, and then in the September, that month was only 19 days long losing the 3rd to the 13th.

For anyone who has never looked at old records (recorded under the earlier calendar) such as parish registers or other official documents, the last few months before Lady Day would show two years, 1750/51; but with the gradual realignment of the New Year that ceased.

While our February only goes up to 28, and 29 days in a leap year, the 30th February has actually existed in history.

In 1712, Sweden and Finland added two days to February, making up for their not having had a leap year in 1700; it enabled them to get back in order with the Julian calendar.

If Easter is ever to becomes fixed, I wonder if it will take as long to resolve as the calendar change did…

 

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Posts

  • Happy New Year… December 31, 2020
  • Virtual Tours and a Challenge… September 7, 2020
  • Happy New Year… December 31, 2019

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