Old Rags

Dress and stole worn by Empress Elisabeth of Austria, 1854 Germany

Check out the Arabic lettering:

Queen Victoria wearing rubies by John Partridge, 1840 England, the Royal Collection

I really like that portraits of Victoria from early into her reign portray her as the kid she was. You can tell that this is a young girl and not the fully mature woman she was probably expected to be. (Also I like how they weren’t afraid to put in the mouthbreathing. It adds a certain quirkiness to her.)

Anna Pavlovna by anonymous, ca 1800’s-10’s Russia

Elisabeth Alexeievna by Jean-Laurent Mosnier, 1802 Russia

Anyone know anything about lower class dress in the American South in the mid-1800’s?

This is a picture of my g-g-g-grandma, who was from a poor farming family, taken any time between 1860 and 1862 in Davidson Co, NC on the occasion of her engagement. If you look closely you can see a ring on her finger which is coated in gold on the original ambrotype. Does anyone know what she’s wearing around her waist? It looks like a belt but some sort of elaborate, futuristic one that you could pick up at the mall today unless I’m looking at it wrong.

I always thought she looked like she was a riot. Look at that smirk:

Henriette Sophie Christine von Lüderitz, geborne von Rochow, mit venezianischer Karnevalsmaske by Christian Friedrich Reinhold Lisiewski, ca 1750’s-60’s, Galerie Bassenge

She’s wearing a Venetian-style Carnival costume.

Baroness de Neubourg-Cromière by Alexander Roslin, 1756, Nationalmuseum

Brigida Spinola Doria by Peter Paul Reubens, 1605 Italy, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Evening dresses, 1899 the Netherlands, De Gracieuse

Ensemble, 1912 the Netherlands, De Gracieuse