Mixing and Matching To Extend Wardrobe

[Mme de Beaufort]

How many gowns do you have? Do you have a selection of pelisses and such to make them different for each event?

I only have two gowns, one long-sleeved day-dress, and one white plain gown which I make new pelisses for whenever there's a party or ball that requires it.

If you have photos, please do share them!

[cosmoblue]

I was just wondering this same thing. How many gowns do you have? I am a newbie to the Regency Society and historical costume and I am slightly obsessed. I have sketches for 3 dresses done and I have ideas for at least 10 more. I can't even decide on which year I want to start with to base my neckline choice off of. I don't know if I should do a long or short sleeve gown or a high or low neckline. How do you even choose where to start your wardrobe. I hope a lot of people will share their photos of their regency wardrobe.

[Mme de Beaufort]

We're working on pics.

In the meantime, here is my suggestion: Go to this site: www.simplicity.com/index.cfm?page=section/histCostume/historyCos_Reg.html and look at the dress on the top left. The pattern is from Simplicity, but it comes from Sensibility.com (she designed it). The dress on the left has a medium neckline; you'll notice the one on the right has a higher neckline and a gathered front. It's more of a day-dress, to hang about the house, and such. The other gown would work as a ballgown. You can make it without the overlay, as the pattern suggests. It has short sleeves, so you can always add a chemisette and sleeves out of any type of lace or sheer material you'd like, and on top of that, you can add another sheer-overdress, or a robe or pelisse, it's a very flexible gown. Start with a solid colour for the basic dress; you can add all the extras to make it go from a day-dress to a ballgown without having to make a new dress every time.

I have two dresses, as I said before. I have a white one made with that very pattern (dress A) and I have one made with dress B. The longsleeved dress, I use for parties and such. Dress A has a robe made of silk that goes over it, in a deep greyish blue, and also a sheer net overlay dress made with the same exact pattern as the dress. It turns it into a completely different gown.

Here are some really good examples of mixing up a wardrobe with single dresses.
A basic gown enhanced with a velvet coat (you see a simple white gown, and then you see it with the velvet coat--roll your mouse of the images and they'll show another view: www.dragonflyformals.com/Bibi2005.html

This is another totally stunning robe on a basic white gown: www.dragonflyformals.com/Liza.html

Short sleeves, long gloves, very elegant. THese are two ORS members. farm2.static.flickr.com/1086/1240933071_bfa2822a01.jpg?v=0

Long sleeves looks more casual at an event: farm2.static.flickr.com/1119/1241823894_61333b1265.jpg?v=0

More short sleeves: farm2.static.flickr.com/1275/1240961979_b0cce96af6.jpg?v=0 This already looks pretty formal; but for the ball, Thea has ordered a sapphire blue pelisse/robe to go over it for the ball.

I hope these examples helped.