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In this episode we interview Michael Koropisz, an amazingly skilled portrait painter with a love of Victorian fashion. We wanted to get to know Michael a little better after he appeared in several online articles, so we had a nice long chat about art, aesthetics, his history, his love of Victorian clothing, costume vs. clothes, art for art's sake, and more. We hope you enjoy this casual chat. You can find Michael here: Website - https://www.michaelkoropisz.com/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mr.koropisz/ Instagram - @michael_koropisz_artist Also, don't forget to check out another fabulously-dressed gentleman, Dandy Wellington, who provides the music for our podcast - https://www.dandywellington.com/ ---------------------- Get social with us! Instagram: www.instagram.com/americanduchess Facebook: www.facebook.com/AmericanDuchess Blog: blog.americanduchess Patreon - www.patreon.com/americanduchess Youtube - www.youtube.com/c/americanduchess1 Shop our Website: www.americanduchess.com Don't forget to subscribe! ❤

Designing historically-inspired footwear is trickier than you might think! Join Nicole Rudolph and Lauren Stowell as we have a behind the scenes chat about the process of designing and making American Duchess historical shoes. From spec sheets and measurements to choosing leather and trying on samples, we go in depth with some of the process, challenges, and development of our old-fashioned footwear line.

Victorian women wore bustles to enlarge their hips, bum, and to give them the fashionable shape, but did you know that there was more than just one type of bustle? In fact, there were loads of different types! In this episode, we sat down with Christina DeAngelo (our beloved Operations Manager and all-around cool chick) to discuss her research into several different types of bustles that she's recreated over the years - from the Phantom Bustle to the Lotta, and everything in between (just not a tapioca bustle, Abby...🤣) So, if you're interested in exploring the 1870s or 1880s bustle-era fashions, but are intimidated by the "Lobster Tail" Tonure bustle, you're going to love this episode! LACMA Bustles: https://collections.lacma.org/node/214157 & https://collections.lacma.org/node/206419 ------------------------------- Get social with us! Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/americanduchess Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AmericanDuchess Blog: http://blog.americanduchess Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/americanduchess Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/c/americanduchess1 Shop our Website: http://www.americanduchess.com Don't forget to subscribe! ❤

It's been almost 2 months since Covid-19 turned our world upside down. As small businesses, we've been struggling with what to do, how to move forward, pivoting, and trying to out-think a pandemic. Featuring Cynthia of Redthreaded, this is a business-related episode, focused entirely on what we and Redthreaded have been doing to keep everything afloat while we isolate in our homes, and our costume-related events get canceled for 2020. Quick thinking, acting fast, and pivoting are normal when you operate a small business, but none of us ever thought this would happen. After all, both American Duchess and Redthreaded were founded during the Recession. However, Lauren and Cynthia have been working tirelessly to keep everyone employed and their businesses operational during this time of crisis. Throughout this episode, we discuss the PPP loans, Paypal, other sources of funding, how we've changed our business operations, focusing on Youtube, the growth of Patreon (THANK YOU), and more. A little bit serious, a little bit lighthearted, if you want to know how some of your favorite small businesses are doing during the lock-down, sit back and have a listen. Check out Redthreaded : http://www.redthreaded.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoVgyEruqAMbaUixPGyI5HA http://www.patreon.com/redthreaded Get to know Dandy Wellington: https://www.youtube.com/user/indiglonyc & http://www.patreon.com/DandyWellington ------------------------------- Get social with us! Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/americanduchess Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AmericanDuchess Blog: http://blog.americanduchess Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/americanduchess Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/c/americanduchess1 Shop our Website: http://www.americanduchess.com Don't forget to subscribe! ❤

Want to study Fashion History for Free (!) - by joining FutureLearn's Course "A History of Royal Fashion" (https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/royal-fashion) you'll be able to learn about British Royal Fashion from the Tudor Era through the Windsors, with everything in between! This course is an excellent way to enjoy spending quality time at home, and learn some excellent dress history! Dr. Tuckett sat down with Abby last week to tell her all about the course, what it offers, how to enroll in the FutureLearn course, and shares her favorite topics, as well as who she thinks is the best-dressed royal and the worst dressed royal. So whether, you're interested in Tudor fashion, 18th-century court dress, or what Queen Victoria liked to wear, there is literally something for everyone! One of the best features of this course is that it was in collaboration with Historic Royal Palaces, and so you get to see incredible pieces in their collection, that many people have never seen before! This course is a great option for all of you out there who are thinking about going to school for costume history or if you just want to learn more about historic royal fashion! Sign up for FREE (seriously, it's totally free!) Here: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/royal-fashion 🎶🎵 Get to know Dandy Wellington: 🎶🎵 Dandy's Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/indiglonyc Dandy's IG: https://www.instagram.com/dandywellington & http://www.dandywellington.com ------------------------------- Get social with us! 🎉🎉 Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/americanduchess Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AmericanDuchess Blog: http://blog.americanduchess Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/americanduchess Podcast: Fashion History with American Duchess Shop our Website: http://www.americanduchess.com Don't forget to subscribe! ❤

In our last podcast episode, Lauren and Abby sat down with Dr. Robyne Calvert to discuss all things related to Artistic and Aesthetic Dress, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Margaret MacDonald, the Glasgow School of Art, and Glasgow's own unique spin on clothing during the Edwardian Era. This week, we get to actually exaDaisy Anges McGlashamine the original garments that the Glasgow School of Art Archives brought out for us. Featuring a gorgeous embroidered velvet collar, velvet and fur capelet, and a *stunning* Edwardian Dress that was also a Suffragette Dress, this episode is just brimming with gorgeous embroidered goodness! We still dream fondly of the collars and dress, and so we hope you enjoy this episode! Again, we want to extend our sincerest thanks to Dr. Robyne Calvert and the Glasgow School of Art Archives for their time and generosity. ------------------------------------------------------------------ If you'd like to read more about the original garments we looked at, you can find them here: Embroidered Velvet Collar by a Student taught by Ann Macbeth: https://gsaarchives.net/collections/index.php/nmc-0420 Fur and Velvet Embroidered Capelet by Grace Melvin: https://gsaarchives.net/collections/index.php/gm-9 Embroidered Silk Edwardian Dress by Daisy Anges McGlashan: https://gsaarchives.net/collections/index.php/nmc-0432 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ann Macbeth's Books (Free!) Educational Needlecraft: https://archive.org/details/educationalneedl00goodrich/mode/2up Embroidered and Laced Leatherwork https://archive.org/details/embroideredlaced00macb/mode/2up School and Fireside Crafts https://archive.org/details/schoolfiresidecr00macb/mode/2up The Playwork Book https://archive.org/details/playworkbook00macb/page/n5/mode/2up ------------------------------- Get social with us! Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/americanduchess Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AmericanDuchess Blog: http://blog.americanduchess Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/americanduchess Podcast: Fashion History with American Duchess Shop our Website: http://www.americanduchess.com

Welcome to Episode 30 of our Podcast! We have been waiting to release this episode for *months* (almost a year at this point!) - last summer, when we were in Scotland working on the Isabella MacTavish Fraser wedding gown (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43ZTV_YxlgI) we were able to take some time to slip away to the Glasgow School of Art Archives (https://gsaarchives.net/) to have a chat with Dr. Robyne Calvert about Artistic Dress and "the Glasgow Style" (& Glasgow has some of the best style around...) In this first part, we spend our time talking about Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald - the husband and wife artist power couple at the turn of the 20th century, the Glasgow School of Art, and just the concept behind artistic & aesthetic dress. With lots of delicious visuals, we know you're going to *love* this art history lesson. For the next episode, we're going to take some time to really explore the original Edwardian clothing that Dr. Calvert shared with us, including an Edwardian Collar (in the Glasgow Style), and Edwardian Capelet, and an Edwardian Dress (that is also *probably* a suffragette dress - but more on that later. 😉) We also want to give a special thanks to Dr. Robyne Calvert and The Glasgow School of Art Archives and Collections for allowing us to visit and enjoy your collection. https://gsaarchives.net/ --------------------------- Like what we do? Support Us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/americanduchess Get Social: https://www.instagram.com/americanduchess https://www.facebook.com/americanduchess https://blog.americanduchess https://www.soundcloud.com/americanduchess Want to buy our shoes, patterns or books? Go here: https://www.americanduchess.com

When we sat down to record our new season of podcasts, we realized we had made a terrible error - we had never, ever done a podcast about our second book, The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty, which was released in JULY of 2019! (Oops.) So, we put our booties in the chairs and made sure we talked about the book, the only thing was, was that we didn't want to talk about what was in the book...so we just kind of ended up talking about the experience of writing the second book, our favorite memories, projects, and our least favorite projects. It was definitely a good time (especially the part where Abby lost a fight with a chair!) If you don't have our second book, you can buy it here: https://www.american-duchess.com/book/american-duchess-guide-to-beauty And if you want our first book (which is all about 18th century dressmaking!) you can buy it here: https://www.american-duchess.com/book/american-duchess-guide If you like what we do, and want to support us, consider becoming a Patron over on Patreon! We have tiers for all the things, including private facebook groups, patterns, coupons, and early release access to our podcast and more! https://www.patreon.com/americanduchess Also, we want to give a special shout out to Dandy Wellington for allowing us to use his music for our podcast. You can support Dandy here: https://www.patreon.com/dandywellington and here https://www.dandywellington.com/ (Bonus: Dandy is now teaching Wardrobe and Styling online courses! YES!)

Welcome to a new season of the American Duchess Podcast! For our first episode of the season, we wanted to address some exciting changes that are underway at American Duchess. For years, we've been operating Royal Vintage Shoes as a wholly separate company from American Duchess (for a variety of reasons), but last year, we realized that it was time to merge the companies together, under the one name of American Duchess. So, as of early April 2020, American Duchess will be selling reproduction shoes from the 17th century all the way up through the 1940s. That's right, we've got almost all of history covered in shoes (and yes, more historical men's shoe styles are coming soon too!) Because of this merger, we realized that there may be questions from our customers and fans, and so we just wanted to take a moment to sit down and talk about the merger, why it's happening, when, and what to expect over the next couple of months. You know, all that good, delicious historical costuming small business and entrepreneurial content. While we did our best to make all the details correct, this podcast was recorded earlier in 2020, and so our timeline has shifted just a bit regarding manufacturing and the merging of the brands onto one website. For the latest information regarding the merger and our FAQs go here: https://www.royalvintageshoes.com/royal-vintage-merger-faq Get Social with us! Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/americanduchess Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/americanduchess Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/americanduchess Blog: http://blog.americanduchess.com Shop for historical shoes, sewing patterns, and books here: http://www.americanduchess.com Become a Patron of Dandy Wellington: https://www.patreon.com/dandywellington Check out his music here: https://www.dandywellington.com/ See you next time!

Hooray! We've got another episode of Fashion History with American Duchess for you today! This episode features our very own designer, Nicole Rudolph (http://www.instagram.com/silk_and_buckram), a historic shoemaker and shoe-historian. Just like corsets, there is a lot of mythology about women's shoes and Nicole is here to bust those myths, explain why shoe-making is HARD to do, trends and styles of shoes, and even a little bit about her thesis topic. So prop your feet up, sit back, and enjoy! http://americanduchess.com http://blog.americanduchess.com http://www.facebook.com/AmericanDuchess http://www.instagram.com/AmericanDuchess http://www.youtube.com/AmericanDuchess1 Be a part of our community & join Patreon! http://www.patreon.com/AmericanDuchess

On this episode of "Fashion History with American Duchess" we welcome back our friend and fellow business lady, Cynthia Settje of Redthreaded Corsets (http://www.redthreaded.com) to discuss wages and charging what you're worth in the costuming and seamstressing world. Charging what your labor and skills are worth is a tricky balancing act that so many of us play. How much do I charge for my sewing? Is it too much? Is it not enough? and most importantly - "Does my [accidental] undervaluing of my labor and skills negatively affect those in the same industry as me?" Spoiler - it does. Over the past 10 years, Cynthia has been able to turn a business idea that started in her college apartment into a thriving corset making and costume atelier for Broadway and private customers. She's seen and heard it all when it comes to wages in the costume making, tailoring, seamstress, and etsy businesses, and we are so happy she has shared her expertise and knowledge on the subject with us. We hope that you enjoy this episode! Redthreaded: http://www.redthreaded.com http://instagram.com/redthreaded http://www.facebook.com/redthreaded American Duchess: http://www.AmericanDuchess.com http://blog.americanduchess.com http://www.instagram.com/americanduchess http://www.facebook.com/americanduchess https://www.youtube.com/americanduchess1

One of the questions we get asked the most is regarding what our favorite costuming books are. While it isn't always easy to pick favorites (usually it's easier to pick the ones we don't like - ha!) Lauren and Abby try to narrow their lists down to their top 5 picks. While there is some overlap, they do diverge on a couple of selections. Our Favorite Books Are: 1. Norah Waugh - Cut of Women's Clothes 2. Kyoto's Costume book(s) 3. Nancy Bradfield's Costume in Detail 4. FLORENCE (not Beverly...lol) Montgomery's Textiles in America 5. Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion (Lauren cheated.) 6. Norah Waugh's Corsets and Crinolines 7. Jean Hunnisett's Period Costume for Stage and Screen Series (again, Lauren cheated -- haha) If you want links to all of these books, head on over to our blog - http://blog.americanduchess.com - where we have links to everything. You can also buy our book (which Abby shamelessly plugs at http;//www.americanduchess.com) We hope you enjoyed this "shorter" episode (and the new sound and editing equipment!) Until next time! -- Abby & Lauren

Yay! We're back with Cheyney McKnight (http://www.notyourmommashistory.com/) to discuss the hair, headwraps, and head dress of Africans living in West Africa and in Colonial and Early America during the 18th and 19th century. As always, we learned so much from Cheyney (because she is incredible), and we think you'll really enjoy this episode. If you'd like to follow Cheyney or invite her to your school/museum/etc - you can find her at http://notyourmommashistory.com IG - @Notyourmommashistory Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/YourMommasHistory/ She's also contributed with us on our second book - which will be published July 2019! If you want to find us, Lauren and Abby, head on over to http://americanduchess.com & http://blog.americanduchess.com IG: @AmericanDuchess Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/americanduchess/ See you next time!

It's Part 2 of our interview with Jenny Tiramani from the School of Historical Dress (http://www.schoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk)! Continuing our conversation from last week, we go in to future book plans, more about Patterns of Fashion 5, and just general juicy costuming conversation. So sit back, relax, and go by Patterns of Fashion 5 if you haven't already! Blog: http://blog.americanduchess.com Website: http://www.americanduchess.com Instagram: @AmericanDuchess Facebook: /AmericanDuchess

Woo! Are we excited to share with y'all Part 1 of our interview with Jenny Tiramani from the School of Historical Dress (http://schoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk). Jenny was kind enough to sit down and chat with us about her career, working at the Globe in London, how she met Janet Arnold, founding the School of Historical Dress, and best of all -- all the glorious details about their new book, "Patterns of Fashion 5: The content, cut, construction and context of bodies, stays, hoops and rumps c.1595-1795" which is available for pre-order now! (https://shop.theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk/?product=patterns-of-fashion-5-the-content-cut-construction-and-context-of-bodies-stays-hoops-and-rumps-c-1595-1795) We had a such a great time with Jenny, that we ended up talking for over 2 hours --- which is why we broke this episode up into 2 parts. Part 2 will be released next week, hooray! Don't forget you can find us at http://americanduchess.com; http://blog.americanduchess.com and we're on Instagram and Facebook (americanduchess for both) too! See you next week!

We got to sit down with Carolyn Dowdell PhD while at Costume College to discuss the ins and outs of 18th century women's dresses, their constant alterations, how Victorians ruined everything, and a lovely lady named Gertrude. We had a great time with Carolyn, and we know that y'all will love this episode -- so many great nuggets of information! You can find Carolyn over at her blog, The Modern Mantua-Maker (https://themodernmantuamaker.wordpress.com/)and her Instagram (@modernmantuamaker) to keep up with her research, current, and past projects! You can find us over at http://www.AmericanDuchess.com and Facebook (/americanduchess), Instagram (@americanduchess), and blog (http://blog.americanduchess.com)!

Hooray for a Mini-Episode! Inspired by a social media posts, we decided to do a quick episode for introverts and beginners to costume events. We cover: 1. 90% of us are introverts...so it's ok to be an introvert. 2. What to do at events. 3. What not to do. 4. Touching and physcial space at events - in or out of costume (Read: Costume is not consent y'all.) And just some antics and giggles from us as well. Remember everyone, we've all be new to the hobby and new to events, and we want everyone to have fun and enjoy themselves. So don't be scared to put yourself out there (but don't be scared to take some me time and decompression time, too!) Keep it fun! Abby & Lauren http://www.americanduchess.com http://blog.americanduchess.com Facebook.com/AmericanDuchess Instagram @AmericanDuchess

Hooray! We're back with a short and sweet episode devoted to giving you the quick run down about our new Kensington shoe offerings. While we don't get into the history of the shoe, we are just so excited to share with y'all all the new options with our Kensington 18th century shoe. The Pre-Order opens June 7th and goes until June 21st and if you want to see the pretty shoes and all of your options in person - head on over to http://american-duchess.com Till next time!

Lauren and Abby finally get to sit down with the *incredible* Zack Pinsent - Historic Tailor to chat about all sorts of different things - ranging from how Zack became a self-taught Historic Tailor, embracing your eccentric self, and nuances of fashion and the concept of masculinity. At 23, Zack has a self confidence and ease with himself that is infectious, and is wise beyond his years. Not only are we impressed by Zack's tailoring skills, but also just by him as a young person who understands who they are. Love Jane Austen? A good English Accent? A confidence boost? Well - this is the episode for you! You can find Zack over at https://www.pinsenttailoring.co.uk/ or on Facebook (/PinsentTailoring) & Instagram (@pinsent_tailoring). Be prepared to drool. If you wanna get to know Lauren and Abby better - find us over at http://www.american-duchess.com, http://blog.americanduchess.com OR on facebook (/AmericanDuchess) & Instagram (@AmericanDuchess). See you next time! :D

Today, Lauren and Abby sit down with one of their favorite women in the industry, Cynthia Settje (http://redthreaded.com) to discuss everything from how/why she started her business (hint: The Great Recession), creating historic ready made corsets, working for Broadway, and more (like why did she name her business "RedThreaded"?) If you're a bright young thing who is getting ready to graduate, or someone who is looking to have a change in careers - we hope that you find Cynthia's story inspiring and enlightening. We are so impressed by what she's accomplished, and we look up to her a great deal. If you would like to learn more about RedThreaded - visit them at http://redthreaded.com (they're also on Instagram & Facebook!) If you would like to visit us, check us out at http://AmericanDuchess.com or http://blog.americanduchess.com (we're also on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter!)