After the costume was finished, I treated myself to a professional photo shoot! Here are a few of my favorites.
All photos are by Sarah Lee Welch Photography, LLC. Locations include McCreery House and Foote Lagoon, both in downtown Loveland, Colorado.
The evening look, with long white gloves (these, along with the shoes & stockings, are the only part of the ensemble that I didn’t make) and an ostrich-plume headpiece.The quizzing glass belonged to my grandmother. After she died, each of her granddaughters was allowed to choose something from her costume jewelry. Needless to say, I grabbed it! (Fortunately, I was probably the only one who realized what it was.) I bought a length of 1/4″ black velvet ribbon and threaded through it.No Regency lady would go outside bareheaded! Besides my bonnet, I’m wearing the same dress as in the photos above, this time topped with a double-breasted pelisse cut short in the front in a style reminiscent of Regency gentlemen’s tailcoats. (Of course, Regency ladies would have different gowns for day versus evening, with long sleeves and high necklines for day wear while saving the decolletage and bare arms for evening, but I wanted a variety of looks with the fewest number of pieces.) I’ve also traded my long white formal gloves for short fingerless gloves made of lace. If you’ve ever read mentions of Regency ladies wearing “mittens,” this is what is meant by the term.This closer shot shows the bodice detail of the pelisse as well as the gloves. The buttons on the gloves are mother-of-pearl, while the buttons on the pelisse are covered with fabric. Since the pelisse fabric was too thick for the purpose, I used a lighter weight broadcloth in a matching shade of gray. There are 18 covered buttons in all: 10 on the bodice and 4 on each sleeve!This photo shows not only the bonnet in detail, but also the pleats in the skirt of the pelisse.More bonnet detail.The photo shoot was done in April, which turned out to be the perfect time: the weather was still cool enough that I wasn’t sweltering in a bonnet and pelisse! Best of all, the crab apple trees were in full bloom!Speaking of crab apples trees, the photographer actually climbed up in one for this photo looking down through the branches!
