American Duchess Historic Shoes Blog
V238: What Is This Style of 18th Century Jacket?
A beautiful image popped up on my Pinterest feed this morning: 1730-60, French manufacture, held in the Digitalt Museum I find this extant ensemble really interesting because, well, it matches....
V236: Please Vote - What's Your Favorite 1920s Spectator?
Spectator shoes are so cool, don't you think? I want to add a 1920s t-strap spectator to the Historical Footwear collection next year -called "23Skidoo" - but what color style...
V235: Pompadours and Kensingtons are On Their Way
Here's a behind-the-scenes look at what's now making its way across the Pacific to our warehouse... White Pompadours, and more Red Kensingtons White Kensingtons Happy days! We'll have black and...
V234: What Kind of Heel Is That? A Quick Guide to Historical Shoe Heels
Following yesterday's post about why we no longer have proper French heels on shoes, I thought it would be good to add to and define some of the terminology, and...
V233: The Death of the French Heel
VandA, 1760-70 Why don't we have killer French heels, the likes of which were *the* heel style for hundreds of years, on shoes these days? Where did they go? Are...
V232: Velvet Patches for 18th Century Dress Up, by Ruby Raven
Hi Ladies! Whilst visiting Costume College, a lovely lady, The Ruby Raven, gifted me with a delightful little box of velvet patches, or "mouches," the kind ladies would stick to...
V231: Indienne Chintz a la Waverly Window Curtains, 1780s
Good 18th century style Indienne print chintz can be hard to find. For some reason, rambling, graphic florals, in a limited color palette, on a white or light ground aren't...
V230: Small Biz Betties: When Are You a "Professional?"
Hi again! Welcome to this week's Small Biz Betties, where I'll be waxing poetical on how to know when you have taken the leap and become a "professional" in your...
V228: New "Valois" Shoe Buckles
Finally, after forever in development, we've got the Valois buckles for your Kensington shoes. Chris is doing official product photos right now, so here's a preview of how the new...
V229: Analyzing Hedgehog Hairstyles
I am always on a quest to achieve bigger, better 18th century hair styles. Some hairstyles are super complicated, like the poufs of the 1770s. Some appear to be more...
V227: American Duchess Silks Stockings Are Dyeable, Yay!
Great news! For those of you who were asking, I did a little test yesterday, on a sample pair of our new silk stockings, to see if they would take...
V226: Advertisement Fans, or Fans of Advertising?
I ran across this cool advertisement fan on Bobby Pin Blog awhile back, and thought it was a nifty idea... Advertisements on fans seem to have been pretty common in...