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Click hereIn the hall, she caught sight of herself and the maids in the large mirror. She looked like a ship in sail, dwarfing the two simply dressed maids in height and in width. As they helped her down the steps to the garden, Becky could dimly see her husband waiting in the distance through the thick veil.
It was at this moment that she then realised with a feeling of horror, that as she had dressed in the full regalia once, her husband would expect it every day from now on, and she was now committed to the wearing the crushing stays, the heavy wigs, the cumbersome panniers, and the crippling high heels for the rest her days.
FINIS
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AUTHOR'S NOTES
Very little of the above story is exaggeration:
The design and the rigidity of the stays is well documented and the 'grand corps' formal stays with the offset shoulder straps are mentioned in detail with and actual account can be found in Norah Waugh's Corsets and Crinolines.
The high-heeled shoes were of an uncomfortable design as they were not fitted to the shape of the foot, with just a flat sole raised by a wooden block heel, giving no support except at the toes; the patens were very necessary, due to the mud on the unpaved roads and streets and went to even greater heights than six inches. (Venetian courtesans wore patens of up to twelve inches.)
The prodigious height of the wigs is shown in paintings, and their construction documented in books.
The size of the panniers is also not exaggerated, as those worn at court extended up to four feet at either side.
The heavy cloaks with the stiffened hood, and the complete veil, is also recounted in costume books.
The rigid night cap is a slight exaggeration, although it should be noted that extreme measures were required to protect the fabulous hairstyles; from letters, it has been found that a neck support was used in bed to raised the hairstyle up from the bed, and some women even slept sitting up. I do think that some women might have worn some sort of a rigid night-cap to protect their hairstyles.
- COMMENTS
nthusiasticover 7 years agoGood grief! Hello? It's a fetish! Do you even know what a fetish is?!? If it's not your fetish, fine, don't read it but there's no reason to bash someone else's hard work. Crawl back under your rock and go away!
I certainly appreciate the amount of research involved. As a period reenactor who wears this type of clothing frequently, I find it intriguing. Although with all the coffee she's been drinking, I'm curious why you never touched on the challenge regarding the process of eliminating while wearing all this regalia. Inquiring minds want to know!
