MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

Working Title: A guide to distinguishing between late 17th century and 18th century women’s costume and fashion

Audience: Historical reenactors, history students, art history students, textile and fashion design students.

Context: At first glance, late 17th century and 18th century fashion appears quite similar. Upon careful examination and research, late 17th and 18th century fashion, particularly women’s fashion, is vastly different. Distinguishing between these two periods of fashion is an important and useful skill for historical reenactors or students of history, art history, and fashion. Looking at a portrait and identifying key pieces of clothing can help you accurately date the portrait and time period the portrait belongs to. In my document, I will focus on the key differences and similarities between aristocratic women’s costume of the late 17th century and 18th century. I will explore all aspects of aristocratic women’s fashion, including gowns, shoes, hairstyles and headdresses, and other accessories. I will focus on the evolution of fashion from 1650- 1699 and 1700- 1789. I will also make a few comments on costume from 1790- 1800 and note how costume changed from the late 18th century into the early 19th century. I will also comment on the social changes of these two time periods and the relevant historical events and key figures that impacted fashion and style of the day.

Purpose: The purpose of my document is to know how to determine whether a piece of clothing is from the 17th or 18th century. The purpose is to know how to date a portrait or artifact of clothing accurately.

Document type: Content for a blog or a web exhibit for a museum or other institution.

Design/format: The design of my document will be in a blog post style. I will have multiple sections that delve into different pieces of clothing. I will also have sections that explore the societal changes and relevant turning points and events of the time. I will have a brief introduction and conclusion, as well as a list of brief working definitions of key pieces of clothing. I will include images of paintings, fashion plates, sketches, and artifacts of clothing to give a better understanding of what clothing from the 17th and 18th centuries looks like.

Intro
17th century: 1650- 1699
Key pieces of fashion and costume
Societal changes and historical events/figures that impacted fashion
18th century: 1700- 1789
Key pieces of fashion and costume
Societal changes and historical events/figures that impacted fashion
Similarities between late 17th century and 18th century costume
How to look at a painting and identify key elements of costume that date the painting
Conclusion

Citation style: Since my document will be for a blog or web exhibit, I will mostly use natural language and referral links. Natural language and referral links will be the easiest to read and the most useful as this document would ultimately be published online. I will also include APA citations at the end of my document as I do want to cite historical documents and institutions where I retrieve images of paintings and artifacts from.

This sounds super interesting. I like the design which I think will make it more interesting and relatable to the audience.

This looks really interesting. I like that you're going to have a section on dating paintings based on clothing style; that's a really cool way to apply this knowledge on differences in 17th and 18th century styles.

This will be amazing, especially for a student like me who is interested in history. I will be able to approximately time stamp historical drawings, paintings, and portraits based on the clothing. This could give me an inside edge and make me seem really smart in class by identifying who a royal leader is based on the clothing they are painted wearing.

I'd love to read this when it's finished! I love costumes and would definitely be interested in learning about 17th and 18th century fashion. Quick question: are you focusing on European/Western styles?

So, you have readers! You could make a WordPress blog and post there....I might have another idea for you and think you may really want to share in some way.

FUN!