The Finished Indian Cotton Robe a L'Anglaise

As I type, I still have my hair set in this silly 18th century hedgehog style! Yes this is all my own hair! The last time I photographed an 18th century costume (my purple pet en l'air) I wore my huge hedgehog style wig (which is massive!) but this time I decided to try and create a similar style with my own hair. I slept in rag curlers and pinned everything up and fluffed the curls out! Hopefully it came out convincingly 1780's! I'll try and do a video tutorial of the style eventually, as it was easier than I thought it would be to achieve!

I am so so happy with how this Indian cotton robe a l'anglaise came out. This fabric has had a storied history on this little blog of mine. I bought it to make a late Victorian bustle gown, but could never settle on a design I really liked. Instead I decided the fabric was more suited to a late 18th century design. I like that the fabric is actually from India, just like many cottons would have been in the 18th century! I added tapes to the inside to wear the back retroussée like a polonaise. This is the first time I have properly pleated the back of an anglaise, as I usually just use a quartered back pattern, and I love the results (even if it isn't perfect). I ended up adding a simple box pleated self fabric trim at the sleeve cuff and neckline for the finishing touch. I wore the gown with my sheer black striped petticoat and an ivory voile kerchief. I tried my best to keep my tall black ostrich feathers in line but they wanted to blow all over the place! The slightest breeze sent them turning around which resulted in some rather funny looking outtake photos :)

From hemming the gown this morning (curlers still in my hair), to photos this afternoon, and now this blog post I have had a busy day! It was well worth the rush to capture this gown amongst the last of the golden leaves before they fall like the rest and the world turns from gold to grey!