"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.

A Boxing Day Visit to the Milliner

For the second year in a row, our family congregated in VA for the week of Christmas to celebrate the holiday together.  The highlight of any trip to Colonial Williamsburg during this season is, of course, the incredible all-natural decorations that festively gild the 18th-century restored city for five weeks of the year.  We've got a picture-packed post full of images of those to share with you, but in the meantime, here's another glimpse into one of our personal favorite all-year-round Williamsburg stops: the Margaret Hunter Shop!  And how appropriate that I visited on Boxing Day, for one never knows what tempting treasures might be lurking in the mysterious white boxes that line the shop's many shelves!

To mark the Christmas season, the shop had on grand display one of their masterpiece creations: a shimmering changeable red silk taffeta gown elaborately trimmed with self-fabric ruffles, poofs, and ruching.  The stomacher features paste jewels and bows trimmed with lace.

Cold-weather winter fashions were strewn about the shop on the counters and shelves, with muffs of silk and fur neatly stacked,...

...and that absolutely gorgeous fox-fur-trimmed silk pelisse that we all drool over every year when it comes out of hiding for the season...

...and an impressive display of quilting on the counter, with a quilted ivory silk petticoat and a quilted and embroidered waistcoat.

And no holiday season is ever complete at the Margaret Hunter Shop without a visit from the dolls and their own wee millinery confections!  I love seeing how the ladies of the shop set this up every year, and can't decide which miniature delight I like the most (though the bonnet on the doll at the left is quite smashing!).  There's just so much detail in each of the pieces and I never tire of looking at it all.

The usual display of completed and currently-in-progress projects was of course also on view, the afternoon sun casting a golden glow across the silks hanging from wall pegs behind the work table.  One could easily spend days in here and never be able to take in all there is to see and admire!  For instance, do you see the ladies' newest completed project, the pink silk "Morning Ramble" jacket, hanging all the way to the right?  Did you happen to catch the recent "live" Facebook chronicles of its progress and the finished photo shoot?  It's even lovelier in person!

A Pretty Polonaise in Two Days!

I'm sure many of your have already seen the spectacular orchid and yellow silk taffeta polonaise created by the ladies of the Margaret Hunter Shop at Colonial Williamsburg this past UTR weekend.  If you haven't, photos of the gown in progress and completed are now up on their Facebook page!

The 1780 Galerie des Modes print from which the gown was copied.

The ladies began the gown first thing on Friday morning and finished it just before 3pm on Saturday afternoon.  We were fortunate enough to time our visit to the shop on Sunday to catch them in their final fitting, positioning the shoulder straps and setting the sleeves.  The shop was a-buzz with seven different pairs of hands hard at work stitching away, putting the final touches on the trim and the ribbons that would secure the polonaised skirt.

Working on the second bow...

...to finish the back of the gown.

The gown is copied from a Galerie des Modes fashion plate from 1780 and features, as the Mistress of the shop explained, one of the most popular color combinations of the season.  As we looked at the source print, Mistress Janea shared some of the story of how she approached the reproduction of the gown, choosing to replicate most of the visible details, but electing to make some interpretive choices to change some minor things as well (like substituting bows for the tassels to drape up the skirt, and reversing the colors).  She also talked about how they selected another plate from the same period as a guide for imagining what the front of the gown might have looked like.

Fitting the shoulders.

One finished sleeve...

...while the other is being set into place.

The finished product is stunning!  Apprentice Abby, who served as the model for the gown in addition to working on it, took it out for a stroll upon its completion, demonstrating the very height of fashionable attire to the war-ravaged citizens of British-occupied Williamsburg!

Modeling the finished polonaise!

More about the inspiration fashion plate can be found here at A Most Beguiling Accomplishment.  And don't forget to check out the Margaret Hunter Shop's documentation of the project on their Facebook page!

A Glimpse into the Creation of a True "Reproduction" Gown

A screencap from the vodcast, to lure you into watching it!

Captured from "A Dress in a Day" on history.org.

Yesterday, Colonial Williamsburg posted a new vodcast, "A Dress in a Day," which offers a fascinating glimpse into the work performed by the mantua-makers and milliners of the past.  The video - the first in a two-part series - profiles the reproduction of an original gown from CW's collection using only the materials, techniques, and time span historically appropriate to the moment of the gown's creation.  As I'm sure many of you will recognize, this gown is one of the several featured in Costume Close-up.

The original gown being reproduced in the vodcast,

dated to the late 1770s or early 1780s (CW acc. no. 1983-233).

Image linked from Colonial Williamsburg's e-museum.

Interviews with CW's costume and textiles curator and the skilled members of the Margaret Hunter Shop address numerous details of the gown's production - and reproduction! - process, from the width of the original silk to how integral that width was to the gown's construction.  The working conditions and experiences of the tradeswomen who created garments like these are also discussed, as is the delight their twenty-first-century counterparts took in capturing them all over again.

Keep an eye out for the concluding part next month to see how the gown turns out!

(PS - SPOILER ALERT! - If you can't wait another month to see the finished product, the Margaret Hunter Shop's facebook page has posted "behind the scenes" photos of the filming of the vodcast, which include the finished gown.)

Heavenly Holiday Fashions in Williamsburg

Though we spent over a week in Colonial Williamsburg at Christmastime, I was able to make only the shortest of visits to my favorite site in town, the Margaret Hunter shop.  I typically like to take a peek into the shop a couple of times during a visit if I'm able, just because the items on display are constantly changing, and because both the milliners/mantua makers and the tailors are always absorbed in working on some stunning new and fascinating project.

During my visit, a couple of days after Christmas, the shop was serving a dual interpretive purpose, doubling to cater to both the gentleman and the ladies.  On one side, the tailor's apprentice caught the warmth and light of the late-afternoon winter sun as he finished up a pair of breeches.

On the opposite side of the shop, a table lay spread with an in-progress quilted petticoat, a finished one on a nearby counter demonstrating the completed product in which the ladies' meticulous workmanship would soon culminate. Though the ladies had stepped away from their work for a moment, a backdrop of frosted wintery pastels hung against the wall in the form of a selection of silk and cotton gowns, jackets, and petticoats.

This absolutely stunning and swoon-worthy cloak or pelisse (to use the French Galerie des Modes term for it) was part of the "Spruce Sportsman" project for the 2011 accessories exhibit and symposium, and I never tire of seeing it.  It was included in the "show and tell" pile of pretties that we got to examine and admire during the symposium's muff workshop, and that fur was deliciously soft.  I've been searching for something similar ever since and haven't managed to find anything even remotely similar yet.  The hunt continues!

Also on display were a delightful variety of hats...

...and caps and, of course, muffs - that oh-so-essential winter accessory!

 

And perched in one of the corner display cupboards was the doll's millinery shop, a CW holiday tradition!  One can't help but be just a little bit jealous of how well-dressed these little ladies are!  :-)

A Fashionable "Silk Saturday" at Colonial Williamsburg

For those of you more interested in the pretties/costume side of last weekend, and less intrigued by the camp/military side of things, this post is for you!  Occassionally, the ladies of Colonial Williamsburg's Margaret Hunter shop treat themselves (and us visitors!) to a sumptuous display of silk creations on big event or reenactor weekends, and this past weekend was no exception.  "Silk Saturday" reigned in the shop, with the ladies, their shop display cases, and their counters draped in colorful, crisp arrays of shining silks of every variety and fashion.

Apprentice Sarah modeled a striped silk taffeta polonaise jacket and matching petticoat...

...while this young lady, adorned in a stunning pink poloanise gown edged with silk gauze trim, and a beribboned silk gauze cap, worked on her new stays across the room, catching the afternoon sunshine.

This blue/green striped silk gown (the construction process of which was profiled on the shop's facebook page) was displayed on the counter, it's amazing cuffs just begging to be admired.

Additional photos from this visit to the shop and from the Prelude to Victory weekend can be found in the weekend's flickr set.

Late-summer Rambles in Williamsburg

We just took a quick trip to Colonial Williamsburg last weekend and brought along a family friend who has never been before.  It was a lot of fun introducing her to one of our favorite places, and she enjoyed finally getting to see things for herself, after hearing the two of us jabber about CW for twenty-odd years!  Here are a handful of some of my favorite photos from our all-too-brief visit.  Enjoy!

 

The Peyton Randolph House with a wee visitor perched on the fence.

The Public Hospital.

In one of our favorite sites in town, the Margaret Hunter Millinery Shop, we found the ladies hard at work remodeling an old cotton print sacque back gown into an English gown of the very latest fashion.  Here, we were also most delighted to finally make the formal acquaintance of Samantha of The Couture Courtesan, who is finishing up her summer internship in the shop.  It was lovely to finally meet you!

A Friday evening sunset, as viewed from inside the Capitol's walls.

On Saturday, we caught one of the new Revolutionary City scenes, which fully engages visitors in a reenactment of the storming of the Governor's Palace during the "Gunpowder Incident."  The day after the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Governor Dunmore had the stored gunpowder removed from the city's magazine in the middle of the night.  The citizens awoke the next morning to news of the stolen powder and immediately assembled on the Palace green to debate an appropriate response.  In this new scene, actors interpret the views of various townspeople and encourage active discussions with the audience about the next move to be made.  Some argue for a peaceful resolution with the Governor to avoid violent conflict, while others advocate swift, decisive action against the representative of the crown to let him know that the colonists will not stand for their rights to be violated in such a way.

Demanding immediate action against Governor Dunmore.

The Governor anxiously watching the crowds of "colonists"

assembling on the Green, ready to march to the Palace to demand

the return of the stolen powder.

The gardens of the Wythe property.

Additional photos from this visit can be found in our flickr set.