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....
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 - htt...
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...
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! Thi...
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...
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, inclu...
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 beco...
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 smal...
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