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Mutton Dressed as Lamb

"An Old Ewe Drest Lamb Fashion", 1810, by Thomas Rowlandson Madonna has been getting a lot of criticism for her latest surgical attempts...

2022 - A Fashion Year in Review

In the race for post-pandemic recovery, one thing has become very clear - Baby Boomers no longer run the world. They may still own the...

Sage Advice from Ten Fashion experts:

1. “Fashion changes, but style endures.” – Coco Chanel 2. “I loathe narcissism, but I approve of vanity.” — Diana Vreeland 3. “The...

Polyester Soldiers and other Farbs

Classic 1960s Farbs - flappers in polyester fringed dresses Farb was a term first used in the 1960s by historic costuming re-enactors....

Zipping Down History

Most inventions are not the creation of one person’s idea and development, but rather the result of many individual’s improvements on...

Myth Information - The First Miniskirt

So, it turns out that the miniskirt wasn't ‘invented’ by Mary Quant, or Andres Courreges, or John Bates, or Rudi Gernreich, or Marimekko…...

Drawing Conclusions about Fashion History

Fashion lies. Artistic renderings exaggerate sizes and details, like this illustration of a pair of shoes by Newton Elkin for the label...

Dior's Deception

A 1955 'edition' of Christian Dior's 1947 bar suit worn by Dior house model Renee Barton, photo taken by Willy Maywald probably in spring...

The Missing Pink Hat...

The pink Chanel knock-off suit Jacqueline Kennedy wore on that historic day in Dallas in 1963 currently resides in an environmentally...

Myth Information - The Fan Code

Fans were practical accessories for cooling the face and hiding yawns, and they were used as personal flirtation devices at Victorian...

Boogie-Oogie-Oogie-Oogie Dancin' Shoes

Every culture developed some form of dance, usually related to harvest or hunt celebrations, marital or maturity rites, or victory over...

2021 - A Fashion Year in Review

There have been two major influences upon fashion this year. The first and most obvious is the continuing pandemic. When the pandemic...

Forms & Function

We have been receiving a lot of comments and questions about our mannequins. Many of them are vintage, and some need to be restored, but...

Message in a Sweater

Jim Alexander from Hespeler, Ontario was a Corporal with the Li­ncoln and Wel­land Re­gi­ment. In March 1945 he was in Veen, Ger­many...

The Ghost Dressmaker...

A few years ago I was helping research the date of an Edwardian opera cloak with the maker’s label 'E O’Donovan' and the final story we...

The Bicycle Bloomer Brouhaha of the 1890s

In 1851, American Amelia Bloomer published an article in her newspaper The Lily calling for dress reform. She, and her group of...

What is a Flapper?

Bathing Beauties, 1922 Several period sources claim the word ‘flapper’ originated from the American fashion among teenage girls for...

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