OK you H-Costume folk, if you will take one more reflection on Books/Resources
from a recently retired costumer,..
When I began my craft nearly 50 years ago, I soon found that there were few
books or resources for period costuming available from my local library or
even the college library and bookstore. An early acquisition was a slim how-to
volume by Jonston that based all her 2000 years of "period design for the
making "on a man’s PJ pattern and a woman’s 4 piece dress pattern. Size was of
no consideration. She even provided approximate yardage for the work-up for
S-M-L. I thought this was great. To enlarge the reality aspects, I spent days
in the libraries and museums studying the other details that would bring my
primitive designs closer to the reality of the occasion at hand. Honing my
hand/eye skills using the basic Jonston method, I was soon finding that I could
look at a picture and dissect the 2D design into the necessary shapes that
would recreate the fashion before me. With an indication of size, I could even
do a lot of the cutting free handed using my tape measure and a vision of the
shape necessary to get the right draping. Wow. I was on my way…
I was given the one volume edition of Davernport, discovered Koehler, Barton,
Evans, Laver, the Cunningtons and Gorseline. Non was perfect but each added
something of value, good or bad, to my self education toward the craft of
costuming
About 5 years into my new career, and many shows later, I encountered Arnold
for the first time and was bowled over by the concept and scholarship she was
doing and this raised the bar somewhat for me toward becoming more scientific
in my own scholarship and craft. On first observation, I found that I had
solved many of my design problems in the very same way that she had determined
by firsthand observation, and this gave me an affirmation and encouragement
that I was going about my costume production in somewhat the right manner.
Also, about this time, I encountered Ann Hollander’s" Seeing Through Clothes"
that had a profound influence on me concerning the facts of perception and
problems of replication when interpreting clothing and costume from the past.
Following some of her ideas, I began to look for obscure costume books that
might have been on the cutting edge of what was known or perceived as costume
in and of its own time period. Thus began my significant collection of
Godey’s, Peterson’s, Arthur’s; "The Story of Clothes" by Agnes Allen, a four
volume set of" English Costume" by Dion Clayton Calthrope, "Costumes and
Scenery for Amateurs", Constance Darcy Mackay; "Costume Fanciful, Historical
and Theatrical" compiled by Mrs. Aria; Mrs. Earle’s,Wilton’s, Laver…for just a
few. Each is valued for the view points given and taken of how they understood
what Historical costuming meant for their own time.
In the early 1990s, my husband introduced me to the wonderful new world of
H-costume. For the very first time I felt connected to a host of new friends
who were doing for joy or livelihood what I was doing…who knew what the
problems were and were willing to share solutions. It is hard to imagine
interpreting the styles and clothing of the past without them.
Eons later, we have the wonderful Library that Penny is developing, Robin’s
Medieval studies, Fran’s de-ciphers of 19th C pattern making, the various Shep
reprints. Melanie’s patterns, Bjarne’s wonderful and inspiring embroideries,
Lorena’s patterns and embroideries; pictoral work of Sally Keene. The
compilations and other resource material by Boumgarten Bissonet, Drea and
such…all a very rich heritage for the present and for years to come. Maybe even
some of this work will strike those readers and do-ers of costume craft and
history as outdated or uninformed but for the present, this is what we have.
Rejoice!
Kathleen Mitchell
_______________________________________________
h-costume mailing list
[email protected]
http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
