"Millinery Through Time" Conference: Day Four: The Wokshop Day

The fourth and final day of the "Millinery Through Time" conference was an option day consisting of a selection of workshops on various millinery items or accessories.  With eight to pick from and each being offered at the same time, you can imagine what a difficult time we had making our final choices!

In the end, we both opted to take Jay Howlett's workshop in felt hat basics.  We were thrilled to have the opportunity to make hats for our in-progress riding habits, and with appropriate, accurate felt hats for ladies being nearly impossible to come by, we simply couldn't pass up this chance to learn how to make our own.

Our felt hat blanks at the start of the workshop.

To save some time on the workshop day itself, we had each forwarded our individual head measurements to Mr Howlett so that he could prepare custom-sized hat blanks for us before we arrived.  Though our basic hat shape was already done, he began the workshop by demonstrating the techniques he used to block our blanks, sharing some tricks of the trade and explaining some thrifty methods we could use to achieve the same process for ourselves.  We talked about period felt hats - materials, descriptions, terms for the parts of the hat itself - and then proceeded to learn how to line our hats to help protect the felt from hair oils, powders, and sweat (hey, they're for riding, after all!).

Demonstrating how to re-size the crown of the hat.

Once we'd all finished stitching in our linen linings, we examined a large collection of period images and discussed the differences in styles in hats that were seen across the last half of the eighteenth century.  Once we'd each selected our personal favorite style, Mr Howlett set to work helping us to capture it on our own hat, showing us how to trim and finish the brim, and how to steam and shape it to match our respective sources.  Finally, we talked briefly about trim options and various techniques for attaching that trim.  Let's just say it involves lots and lots and lots of feathers!  :-)

Adjusting the size of the brim to match the style of a period image.

My hat beginning to take shape!

Ashley's hat beginning to look like it's inspiration image.

We both left so excited to have our hats so close to being finished, and newly-motivated to get back to work on our riding habits.  We're very much looking forward to seeing how our looks pull together from head to toe.  So now...back to those waistcoats and jackets!

"Millinery Through Time" Conference: Day Three

Day Three of the "Millinery Through Time" conference maintained the trend of impressive and inspiring presentations.  Paper after paper, lecture after lecture continued to introduce some pretty incredible research.  The range of topics alone was staggering, and I only wish it could have lasted another day (or two or five) because there was just so much good stuff to soak up in such a short amount of time!

The talks before lunch spanned topics that included everything from early American shoe-makers' labels to an overview of the popular fashion for turbans at the turn of the nineteenth century.  The morning saw two stand-out moments for me, however, the first of which was Mela Hoyt-Heydon's consideration of the use of artificial flowers in eighteenth-century millinery.  As fascinating as that is, what really made her talk so prodigiously awesome was that she then proceeded not only to discuss how these flowers were made in the period, but also how those historical methods can be reproduced today.  I think the entire auditorium was just in awe, and I left fully motivated to go forth and make flowers in abundance!  This made me (and probably everyone else who hadn't signed up!) really, really wish I'd elected to do Mela's velvet flower workshop scheduled for the following day... ;-)

The other notable paper from the morning was CW apprentice Abby Cox's exploration of the westward "expansion" of the millinery and dress-making trades at the beginning of the nineteenth century.  Using information culled from city directories, she literally mapped the growth and change of the fashion trades in a completely novel way.  Her approach was intriguing and highly original, using physical landscapes and spatial readings to document how "millinery" and "the milliner" evolved, simultaneously expanding and contracting her business to meet shifting socio-economic and fashion trends.

After lunch, we continued our chronological movement forward into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  Samantha McCarty (of Couture Courtesan) presented an inquiry into a long-overlooked and under-researched area of Civil War-era clothing: mourning millinery and accessories.  As the "visible signs of sorrow," mourning collars, cuffs, and bonnets, specific fabrics and colors all occupied a broad (and lucrative) spectrum of the fashion industry.  In an age when clothing was "read" and interpreted as an outward expression of an individual's place in society, tiny details like those distinguished by Samantha spoke volumes.  She's hinted that there's a mountain of additional research left to pursue, and I know I, for one, am most eager to hear more!

Then it was on to the final panels on the conference schedule.  From a study of the life and career of a single, enterprising milliner in turn-of-the-century Newfoundland, to a consideration of the millinery trade in Ontario, to a glamorous overview of the distinctive, defining style of American millinery in the years surrounding WWII, to a first-hand glimpse into the career of modern-day milliner-artist Ignatius Creegan, each of the speakers that contributed to the concluding afternoon helped to round out the incredible range of scholarly contributions on millinery and fashion history that we'd experienced over the course of the two previous days.  I sincerely hope that it won't take another sixty years before we get the opportunity to do this again!  If this conference confirmed anything for me, it's the sheer wealth of untapped information left to be uncovered in the study of historical fashion.

Many thanks to all who contributed their knowledge, skills, and time to make this conference such a rare and special treat!

"Millinery Through Time" Conference: Day Two

Janea opens the conference with a brief history of the

millinery and mantua making trades.

Monday morning convened with Janea Whitacre offering a comprehensive overview of the milliner’s trade and all that it encompassed in the eighteenth century. She explored in fascinating detail the various divisions of the trade (black millinery vs. white millinery, shop milliners vs. private milliners, etc.) and described how the millinery trade was often paired with other similar trades to help maximize the milliner’s offerings, clientele base, and profits. Mantua-making was one of the trades most often practiced alongside millinery, so Janea’s presentation even included demonstrations of the mantua-maker’s art of pleating an early-century mantua and of cutting a later gown bodice directly on her client.

Explaining the fashion for mantuas, with Angela playing the role of model!

Demonstrating the pleating of the mantua.

Apprentice Sarah demonstrating the cutting of a gown bodice on Miss Aislinn.

The day continued to bring one inspiring talk after another, with papers exploring a plethora of topics including everything from Monsieur Beaulard, “man milliner” to Marie Antoinette, to the milliner’s vulnerability to theft, to an examination of an extant whitework apron, to a tantalizing glimpse at the rather curious eighteenth-century fashion for black velvet masks.   Angela Burnley (of Burnley and Trowbridge) spoke at length about eighteenth-century textiles and their availability, sharing slide after slide of pictures from her extensive research into period sample books and the Foundling Hospital’s tokens archive.  Addressing not only the names and variations of common fabrics, but also their identifying weave structures and most popular colors, Angela offered a glimpse into an enthralling avenue of inquiry that can contribute so much to the work done by material culture historians, textile and costume specialists, and reenactors alike.

One of the highlights of Monday’s talks was apprentice Sarah Woodyard’s “live action” analysis of a 1782 print entitled “A Morning Ramble, or – The Milliner’s Shop.”  Reading the details of the image like a text, she highlighted elements of the eighteenth-century milliner’s identity, work, and cultural stereotypes, exposing period connotations and nuances to words and objects that have largely become lost or obsolete over time.   As she spoke, the print’s image literally took shape on stage in tableau, piece by piece and figure by figure, brought to life through reconstructions of both the physical image and its period meaning.  For more on this particular paper, see Susan's post on her Two Nerdy History Girls blog.  More about the costumes featured in the presentation can be found on the Margaret Hunter Shop's facebook page, where the ladies documented the beginnings of the "Morning Ramble" project.

"A Morning Ramble" brought to life before our eyes.

A brief discussion of the fashions featured in the print.

We all enjoyed a very special treat Monday evening with a staged performance of a 1780s comic burletta/operetta, appropriately entitled - of course, what else?! - "The Milliners"!  Hilariously acted with true period flair for satire, irony, and downright delightful silliness, the play took aim at both "man-milliners," perceived to be overrunning the traditionally feminine realm of millinery work, and French fashions, increasingly popular in England in the 1780s.  We laughed until our sides hurt, relishing all of the fashion-related humor and the eighteenth century habit for poking fun at everyone and everything.  The cast did a marvelous job and we were so impressed and most thoroughly entertained!

Day Three to come in the following post!  In the meantime, there are additional photos available in our conference Flickr set.

"Millinery Through Time" Conference: Day One

Sunday found us at Colonial Williamsburg for the opening of the "Millinery Through Time" conference celebrating sixty years of the Margaret Hunter Shop.  The evening began with the Mistress of the shop, Janea Whitacre, sharing a "scrap book" history of the restored 18th-century shop building, along with an overview of the evolution of the trades of millinery and mantua-making as they are now practiced at CW.  A presentation of media clippings from film, television, print, and digital sources followed, providing a fun glimpse into not only the impact that the Shop has made within the culture of Colonial Williamsburg, but also the deep impression its staff and the trades they interpret have had on the wider history and education communities.  Next came a very special peek at a digitally recreated MHS as it might have appeared in the 1770s, and a quick summary of some of the antique costumes and textiles acquired by Colonial Williamsburg during the first years immediately following the shop's opening.

Then it was time for the party officially to begin!  Two amazing millinery confections made of elaborately crafted pastel sugars, frosting, and cake were on display.  They both looked good enough not only to eat, but even to wear!  The details on each of them, from feathers to gathered gauze to flowers, were unbelievable in their meticulous attention to every minute little detail.

We had a marvelous time catching up with old friends and making the acquaintance of new ones.  Many of the participants came in their favorite period or vintage clothing and it was such fun strolling about admiring all of the beautiful finery.  Recognizing fellow bloggers by their costumes became one of the pleasures of the evening, and we had such fun finally being able to put faces to some of the digital names we've grown accustomed to seeing!  :-)

Emma and Ashley "going green" in silk!

Leia, Ashley, and Aubry enjoying the evening's festivities.

We were so busy mingling and chatting (and eating cupcakes!) that we didn't even get a chance to take a picture of the two of us together all dressed up!  We went as "silk sack sisters," both in our striped silk sack jackets.  Hopefully some time later this week (praying the weather improves!), we'll try to get some quality pictures of our newest creations to share.  In the meantime, look forward to further conference updates over the next few days!

One of several creations on display during the evening,

a timeless testament to the incomparable skill and

talent of the ladies that are the MHS.