18th century stays and robe à la française ideas

[aimeekitty]

So after I finish my steampunk outfit, I'm going to work on my 18th century stays. I think I'm going to make them pale blue and hopefully add a little bit of embroidery down one of the front panels. Isn't this set of stays GORGEOUS, though?

The whole point of that, besides randomly running around with stays and petticoats on,... is so that I can make a robe à la française. I've always wanted to have one since I was a little girl. I'm not going to make a replica of a particular gown, I'm simply going to pick my favorite color fabric and then embellish it however I like. (translation: cover it with gathered fabric and ribbon roses)
(notice that apparently it takes about 4 years for me to forget how much I hate making ballgowns... but oh how I love them.)

I loved the colors used in the Marie Antionette movie. My favorite MA gown colors are these two. (not nessesarily the gown STYLE but the gown colors)
Which color do you think I should do? The slightly aqua blue, or the pink? :) I love both almost equally.
I'm going to make a separate deep red gown, but I can't decide on my "other gown" color.
I might do a white-ish wig, so my hair color is not too much of a determining factor.


I went back through my Rose of Versailles pics and I still really like this one:


a couple rough sketches of embellishment ideas


and then some of my favorite painting dresses

Comments

[slai.livejournal.com]

Hi Aimee,

I love both colors equally too, but you're definitely a pink gal ;)!

[ashbet]

I actually think the blue would set off your coloring really nicely -- or possibly a slightly deeper pink? The picture of the dress itself looks good, but the movie still makes it awfully cotton-candy-colored.

LOVE these ideas, and I can't wait to see them realized!

-- A :D

[etherealtb.livejournal.com]

I agree. Be ballsy and go for the pink!

P.S. Those are some of my fav paintings! Part of the reason I love going to the Huntington is seeing the paintings of all the ladies in their pretty dresses!

[uniformgrey.livejournal.com]

I would say pinks considering your leaning towards them with your lolita outfits.

Gorgeous reference by the way.

[restless-wings.livejournal.com]

I would say go with the blue, and then use pink for the embellishments and/or trim. I think the blue will look fab on you, and the pink will set it off very nicely as well.

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

I want a robe a la francaise so badly too!! Can't wait to see what you do with yours! I think pink or blue would both be great - but I think you should go pink since you love it so much and I think pink would look great on you.

For stays, I highly recommend the Diderot stays pattern from Corsets & Crinolines.

I have a blown up pattern from it that I'd be happy to pass on to you. You'd have to size it for yourself, but it was easy to tweak. I haven't tried the JP Ryan pattern, but I think I have had friends that have had good luck with it! :-)

[ndgmtlcd.livejournal.com]

Have you ever taken a close look at Watteau's "Pilgrimage to Cythera" (Pélérinage à Cythère)?

http://www.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~kondo/WatteauCythere_Berlin.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Antoine_Watteau_034.jpg

It's a more colourful remake of his earlier "The Embarkation for Cythera" (Embarcation pour Cythère) and it might give you some interesting cues in your choice of colours.

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Hmm... Either color would be lovely. Maybe, the blue if you're already planning to do a red one? I look forward to seeing what you come up with. :-)

[nanashi-jones.livejournal.com]

If you're gonna go foofy, go pink. Maybe with the powder blue for accents.

[poisonedwriter.livejournal.com]

Tangent - I am dying to see Rapunzel.

[tankgirledward.livejournal.com]

I think the blue would be better with your skin tone

[mattbayne.livejournal.com]

Pink.

[junosama.livejournal.com]

You know, I have sooo much trouble finding decent photos of dresses like this! Do you have any online leads? I love drawing dresses too but Auuuughh references *grabby hands*

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

well, the Marie Antionette movie was actually pretty accurate, costume-wise.
http://www.costumersguide.com/cr_ma.shtml <-- has a ton of great screenshots from it and breakdowns on how the dresses work.

more research:
http://demodecouture.com/realvict/1700s.html
http://www.costumersguide.com/18c.shtml

also, searching for women who lived in the period that you're interested often works. Marie Antionette, not so much because there are so many "cheap" costumes of her.
however, searching for Madame De Pompadour gives you some pretty decent hits.
A lot of the paintings from the period are pretty accurate, too.

also try www.marquise.de for tons of paintings.

this is a GORGEOUS book:
http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Liaisons-Furniture-Eighteenth-Metropolitan/dp/0300107145/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221792470&sr=1-4

as is this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Fashion-Taschen-Anniversary-Costume-Institute/dp/3822827630/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221792503&sr=8-4

[junosama.livejournal.com]

Oh man. i just spent the past hour downloading images. XD;;; Thank you soooo much!!

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

no problem! I know how hard it is to find stuff sometimes!

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

and: http://www.costumes.org/history/100pages/18thlinks.htm

[yume-ninja.livejournal.com]

i love all of this. T__T. someone has great taste.

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

wah, thankyou!