What would a comely wench do without her cleavage-enhancing gown? We do get asked about our costumes quite a lot, so here’s the info.
I’d like to start by saying that our current costumes are not the most authentic historical representations of 18th century clothing. This is very deliberate. While we wanted to reproduce the glamour and drama of 18th century dress, we also didn’t want to tie ourselves down to a particular decade, as fashions in this era changed relatively rapidly. we simply wanted to reflect the general style of the mid-late 18th century.
We also wanted the costumes to coordinate with each other in terms of colours and fabrics. We also had to consider the practical aspects of moving and performing whilst wearing them, so they were made out of very lightweight fabric.
However, we are looking at producing more authentic costume in the future as it may well be appropriate for some occasions, and we’ll probably choose the 1760s as this is just after “the Muses Delight”, our primary source of repertoire comes from. And when we do, you will see it here first!
Should you wish to have an 18th century costume of your very own, there are specialist dressmakers eg Rosetti who make them.
Should funds not permit, and if you are feeling creative, you could make your own! We used Butterick3640 for the dresses and Butterick4484 for underpinnings. But there are others about. Simplicity do a sacque-back pattern.
