Hullo and welcome to the information-seekers and the curious who have stumbled acros this page.
I'll go by eclipse, which is what my server calls me. I'm a costume historian and a candidate for an MA in museum studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology. At this point, I'm entering that purgatorial state known as ABT - all but thesis. Yep, one little itsy-bitsy 60-page document is all that stands between me and additional alphabet soup at the end of my name.
That's the trick of it, though. I've decided to make my life incredibly difficult. I could have been fascinated by something easy to research. I could have been the world's foremost expert on Oilily, or translated my occasionally overwhelming punkette sensibilities into an expertise on Vivienne Westwood, bicycled down the corseted and leg-o'-mutton-sleeved road to Gibson Girl scholarship, or even become the foremost expert of the stylish gowns worn by the stylish 1920's dancer Irene Castle (although that focus is the province of my good friend and fellow student redtango).
Oh, no. That would have been easy. What period did I have to fall in love with? In what improbable backwater of fashion history have I marooned the dinghy of my academic career?
The Renaissance. In England, no less. By the time I figured out that Ren Faires were fun as a hobby, and a great place to pick up guys, but really lousy subjects for costume-history research, it was far, far too late. I'm stuck now, a well-known fanatic (do one lousy symposium on landsknechte at the National Design Museum and you're pegged as a Renaissance scholar for life, I've found).
Ergo, my thesis, which is very tentatively titled "A Partlet and A Pair of Bodies: The Replication of a Tudor-Era Gown"
...
I'm very sorry about that title. Really, it's my fiance robk's fault. He came up with it.
As I make progress, I'll write entries. I hope these will prove useful to anybody who is trying to make a Tudor-era outfit for re-enactment or theatrical purposes, foolhardy enough to attempt a similar academic effort, or just trolling the Internet looking for an amusing way to waste some time.
Much love,
06 April 2004 - How It Began
10 May 2004 - Approval, and Other Matters
12 May 2004 - The Corset