Judges of competitions have a difficult job of determining
which compromise is better than another, not to mention comparing
work portraying different time periods!
On May 9, 2009, at 12:22 PM, Käthe Barrows wrote:
Don't start thinking one period is "compared to" another period in
Historical masquerades. They aren't. Entrants with simple
costumes are often daunted by the big mid-Victorian or high
Georgian stuff. But their presentations can be just as compelling
as Anne Bolyn's was this year (I still get goosebumps). And just
as simple as the 1959 Dior.
I didn't say the time periods were compared in that sense. I
said the work. I suppose some of it is a documentation issue. Since
we were talking about seam finishes, for example, information on that
is not available for all time periods. For some periods there are
extant garments and sewing manuals. For others, all we have are
illustrations.
Given that there are more things to have to sew for an 1870s or
1880s outfit, the simple Medieval entrant could point to raising
the period breed of sheep, and to hand spinning, hand weaving, hand
dying, hand embroidery, and hand stitched construction, none of
which were common practice for rich city women in the Industrial
Revolution. And good fit was good fit, whenever it was.
So you're saying that judging these very different skills
against each other is not difficult?
-Carol
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