On Saturday at Costume College I dressed up in my 1770s robe à l’Anglaise retroussée and got together with some other ladies wearing the same “LJUSÖGA” Ikea print. We previously wore the dresses at the Pirate Festival, but my dress was not fully finished at the time. (Close-ups and construction details will be in my next post).
Saturday at Costume College started with the wonderfully informative class “Dark Secrets from the Care and Storage of Museum Objects,” taught by Carolyn Jamerson, a Collections Manager and Mount Maker at FIDM. I learned a lot of about the storage of clothing in museums, and some tips I can use at home. Carolyn also went over what not to do, and had many anecdotes about items donated to the museum in various stages of disrepair.
Later I ran into these dapper military gentlemen:
Rebecca had this fetching plaid ensemble.
Maggie had this great Mad Max outfit that she roughed up to look dirty, but wasn’t. I almost didn’t recognize her out of regency attire!
This Marie Antoinette dress was so charming!
This “Mountain Man” gave me an informative impromptu lecture about the life of a mountain man and the significance of all the little items hanging on his neck.
After lunch I took two more classes before getting ready for the gala. “A Fortnight in 1916” was a great lecture by Leimomi Oakes about life on the homefront during WWII in New Zealand. She lived for 2 weeks like a lady in 1916, even cooking recipes from newspapers of the time. I also took “Fancy Footwear: Vintage Shoes 1920s to 1940s” from Lauren Stowell of American Duchess, and after class I got to try on some of the samples from her new line at Royal Vintage Shoes.
For the evening red carpet, dinner, and gala I dressed as Lady Tremaine. I made a lengthy post with many details that you can read here.
There were so many wonderful costumes at the gala I can’t post them all! I also ran into a lovely Cinderella cosplayer!
Lynne and Natalie (check out that train!) looked impeccable as always.
Molly’s Kaylee Firefly dress set many geek hearts aflutter.
The Dreamstress and the Lady Detalle! So regal!
These 18th century ladies (Lauren, Loren, and two other amazing people) were fabulous in silk.
Christina’s 1830s hair was a work of art.
And of course, Cynthia’s faithful recreation of the Worth Ironwork gown was the talk of the night!
On Sunday I decided to have a more casual outfit by wearing my vintage 1950s purple taffeta dress with my Lady Tremaine hat.
Natalie portrayed the artist Louise Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun.
Christina had this fabulous Bar Suit recreation.
I found Taylor, Jenny, Jen, and Ginger near the hotel lobby. Can you believe the cutwork on Jen’s sleeves were done by hand?
Gloria was also hanging out near the lobby, and wearing 18th century.
On Sunday I took three classes. “Achieving the Perfect Nineteenth Century Silhouette 1830 to 1894” by Luca Costigliolo, the guest teacher from Italy, was an incredible class that emphasized how common padding was to achieving the perfect silhouette, regardless to the lady’s figure. I wish I had had the chance to get into his limited classes! The next class I took was “Creating a Miss Fisher 1920s/30s Wardrobe” by Lauren Stowell, who asked me to come model my 1920s cocoon coat. Afterwards, I asked Lauren to try it on. 
My last class of the day was “Wearing Your Food” by Janea Whitacre of Colonial Williamsburg, who discussed names of food being used to describe different colors of dye and it was an interesting lecture. This year I took 3 classes a day and I think that was an ideal amount. There was room in the schedule for more, but it gave me enough time to socialize and eat in between.
I had a wonderful Costume College, and am already planning for the next one!
The rest of my photos are on Flickr.
Fresh Frippery 
Awesome pictures – it sounds like a fantastic weekend for sure. I love the Kaylee dress it must have been interesting getting through doorways.
It was really fun and you should go if you can next year! “Kaylee” said her petticoat was as wide as she was tall. Luckily the ballroom had large doors!
It’s really not the most maneuverable dress, much less so than an 1850s Victorian. I used hoop steel in the dress so it does compress and spring back rather readily, but it’s super awkward to try and squeeze through narrow aisles between people since the skirt does bump into them. Like Vivien said, I matched the proportions of the original which has the petticoat just slightly less wide than the height of the person wearing it, which for me is 5 feet. The original petticoat in the TV show was actually from The King and I!
There was so much goodness in that episode. Nice to know your dress also doubled as a defensive weapon, LOL! You did a great job.
Very nice write up. I’m glad you posted your balance for classes and socializing per day. I may use your 3 classes/day as a guide for my max classes, too.
I think I tried to do too much my first year. Having time in between to eat well (we had hot lunches and dinners in the hotel room) made a big difference in my weekend.
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