Exhibition Highlight: Embellishments in Victorian Dress

Saco Museum

How did nineteenth century clothing makers think about design? How did they create the fabulous, over-the-top trims late 19th c. fashion is known for? Embellishments in Victorian Dress looked at nine design principles, and how they were applied, to help see Victorian fashion in a new way.

First opening at the University Museum at UNH, Durham in September 2012, the exhibition traveled to Lowell, Massachusetts in 2014 and the Portsmouth Athenaeum in 2015. In 2017, this greatly expanded exhibition of fifty garments featured the nine core examples from the original show, with many new selections from the University of New Hampshire’s Irma Bowen Textile Collection, the Saco Museum, Portsmouth Historical Society’s John Paul Jones House, Strawbery Banke Museum, and Woodman Institute Museum.

Strawbery Banke Museum

Woodman Institute Museum

Portsmouth Historical Society

Saco Museum

Embellishments wins an IPPY award!

2015 winner of an Independent Publisher's Book Award!

AVAILABLE AT AMAZON.COM

Embellishments: Constructing Victorian Detail has been awarded a 2015 silver medal by the Independent Publisher Book Awards!

This book highlights ten of the dresses from the original  Embellishments: Constructing Victorian Detail exhibit from the University of New Hampshire’s Irma G. Bowen Historic Clothing Collection, and analyzes their design elements in depth. Each item has been closely examined, taking advantage of places where threads have loosened over time to peer at the back side of trims, searching garment interiors, and studying fabric grain lines and seams for clues on construction. Lush color photography of full-length gowns and close-up views of construction details are paired with descriptions, clear diagrams, and instructions for a book you can enjoy on many levels.

By Astrida Schaeffer. Foreword by Lisa MacFarlane, PhD. Introduction by Kimberly Alexander, PhD. Published by Great Life Press

Here’s what people are saying about the book:

In an era in which our closets are full of mass-produced clothing, Embellishments offers us a rich and lushly illustrated book that combines an obvious love of handcraft with intimate knowledge of Victorian garment construction. — Michelle Tolini Finamore, Curator of Fashion Arts, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

I just opened your exquisite book! What a wonderful thing you’ve done! It’s the next best thing to seeing and touching the genuine articles: the close-ups, the drawings, the insights as to how and why! You’ve done such a service for those of us who will probably never have the opportunity to do more than gaze longingly through the glass at museums. I envy you the experience. Thank you so much for sharing it!
— Mary Elizabeth Quinn

The book is just wonderful. The photographs are great as are the illustrations. They make it very clear and undaunting to try these techniques.
— Rex Richards, Dryden House Stitching

It’s fantastic! Wow, what a resource! I am so glad I found out about this and would gladly back another project like this. Maybe a Volume II with pattern diagrams? — Gillian Simpson

This is a magnificent book, and very special since you have so carefully deconstructed the magic of creating those intricate trimmings and embellishments! It is both a reminder of the beauty of the collection and a primer on how to recreate some of the loveliest and most complex garment finishings ever! My staff are enjoying the book – especially the instructions on achieving the trimmings – I told them they could enjoy the book, but not to drool on it!
— Ann Carnaby, Tracy Theatre Originals

Embellishments: Constructing Victorian Detail

Embellishments, by Astrida SchaefferThis book of full-color photographs and how-to guide highlights ten of the dresses from the Embellishments: Constructing Victorian Detail exhibit at UNH and analyzes their design elements in depth. Each item has been closely examined, taking advantage of places where threads have loosened over time to peer at the back side of trims, searching garment interiors, and studying fabric grain lines and seams for clues on construction. Lush photography of full-length gowns and close-up views of construction details are paired with descriptions, clear diagrams, and instructions for a book you can enjoy on many levels.

by Astrida Schaeffer
foreword by Lisa MacFarlane, PhD
introduction by Kimberly Alexander, PhD
Published by Great Life Press

Inspired by the Embellishments exhibition.

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