American Duchess Historic Shoes Blog
V41: Edwardian Hair Styling Mysteries Solved - Part 2 - Brushing, Crimping, Fire
Last time in Part 1 of this series, I introduced you to some rather "exciting" sounding Edwardian shampoo and hair dressing recipes, taken from "The Manual on Barbering, Hairdressing, Manicuring,...
V40: Edwardian Hair Styling Mysteries Solved, 1905 - Part 1 - Shampoo and Other Scary Things
The other day, while washing my hair, I began thinking about hairdressing habits of the past, and how we ladies today treat our hair in *such* a different way from...
V22: More 19teens and Early 1920s Hairstyles {Videos!}
I've been talking a lot about hair lately. It seems to be the thing we have the most trouble with. In the first post, "Introduction to Hairstyles in 1912," I...
V20: A 1912 Hairstyle Tutorial - Gibson Tuck a la Hair Piece
Hi! Last week I posted about 1912 hairstyles, showing a handful of reference images to inspire some hair adventures. Then it was time to experiment. I have pretty short hair...
V10: Designing Your Costumes Using Adobe Photoshop, Part 1
Gettin' jiggy with Photoshop Hi all! I've had several questions lately about how I do my costume concepts, so I thought I would answer them here. Read on to learn...
How to Coffee or Tea Stain Your American Duchess Silk Shoes
Miss Sharon asked me the other night about tea staining her silk Georgiana 18th century shoes. She was reluctant to do it, so I embarked on that journey on her...
How to Tie a Regency Turban
You know those mysterious costuming mysteries that sometimes plague us? How to tie a turban is one of them. If you are practically hair-less like me, a quick and easy...
1920s Flapper Hairstyle Tutorial + Halloween Speakeasy Party
This past weekend we attended a speakeasy/housewarming party for friends who have just bought a 1920s home. This presented the perfect opportunity to practice more vintage hairstyling techniques, which I...
Shoe-How-To of the Week: Pretty Pretty Pink Princess Shoes
One of the coolest things about the Devonshire leather 18th century shoes is that you can paint them and decorate them easily, using leather paints, rhinestones, bias binding, trims, lace,...
The "What If I Were..." Historical Photo Project
As most of you know, I love photography. It's not only a very important aspect of presenting our work on our blogs, but it's also something we can have a...
How to Make a Quick and Easy 1920s Bathing Suit
In honor of the delightful 1920s events we've had this Summer, including the Lake Tahoe Gatsby coming up this weekend, I want to share with you a fun little project...
How To Paint Your Leather Devonshire 18th Century Shoes
Are white shoes just not your thing? Fancy green, black, blue, red, gold, any other color? Want to match your new leather Devonshires to your dress? Well this tutorial is...