1776 hetting dressed in a Polonaise dress

The late 1770s to the early 1780s is an interesting time in fashion, with a lot of new styles popping up and a completely different silhouette from the previous one, with the volume of the skirts shifting from the sides to the rear. So hello and welcome, I'm Maria from SewThroughTime and this time we're getting dressed in one of the most iconic styles of the late 1770s and early 1780s, This style was inspired by Polish national dress and started appearing in the fashionable world by 1775. But before we can get to the actual dress, we need to put on the correct underlayers first. I start in my shift, this is the basic linen underlayer that is worn throughout history. This is your underwear, your base layer, your first line of defense against sweat and body odor, and all the things. This is also the layer that gets washed the most. And next come stays on top of that. Stays are the corset of the 18th century. They usually close with spiral lacing down the back but some of them also have lacing in the front. Your shift protects your stays from sweat and body oils and at the same time it protects your skin from the more rigid stays that could leave nasty marks on your skin and could cause irritation. The spiral lacing means that only a part of the stays can be done off your body and the rest needs to be laced on your body. So first you put on the lacing, making sure that you go out one hole and in the next one so that it stays in that same direction, spiraling either up or down your body depending on whether or not you're lacing it yourself or you're having somebody else do it. I find that I can't do it on myself going up but I can do it downwards. In the 18th century though this wouldn't have really been an issue because nobody really lived alone so you always had help if you needed. In the 1770s the stays usually extend a little bit past your upper hip but that lacing actually doesn't usually go down that low, it goes only a little bit past your waist. The way the spiral lacing works is that by lacing it so that the lace goes to the inside you can just pull down on the lace and that will usually tighten it pretty well. At some pressure points like at the waistline you might need to a little bit pull the laces by hand. And to secure the laces I just loop it over and under the last spiral and then tuck the ends in. And the front lacing here on these stays are just to secure the wooden busk into the front. And while stays throughout the 18th century give a conical shape, in the 1770s that shape starts to shift a little bit and this is partly done with the help of shoulder straps. They can be either self-fabric or ribbon like mine which crisscross then in the back and then are tied in the front. This not only helps keep your shoulders back but also shifts some of your bust from the sides to the front. This forward thrust silhouette will become more prominent during the 1780s. And next because we are dressing as a fashionable lady it is time to do our hair. Throughout the 1770s tall hair is fashionable and it is done with the help of hair cushions, extra hair, and hair pins. But for women not wigs. Men would absolutely wear wigs in the 18th century but not women. The hair was pomaded and powdered and dressed in the high hairstyles. If you're interested in learning more about the hairstyles I have a separate video on that which I will link down below. And now that our hair is dressed it is time to dress ourselves. I start with my under petticoat. This is typically linen for the summer but for the winter it could be also wool or even a quilted petticoat. The under petticoat is actually worn kind of underneath the stays so this could have been put on before the stays but I personally find that that oftentimes creates a pressure point at my waist which I really do not enjoy so that's why I do it after. But this is a personal preference thing you can do it either way but putting the under petticoat underneath the stays does help with the silhouette and keep everything smooth and trim around the waistline. Just make sure that you get all those tabs from the back of the stays on top of the petticoat and not some of them stuck under. And next to build out your silhouette comes your bum pad. These are small or big pads that are worn underneath the stays to create that fashionable silhouette oftentimes focusing a lot on the rear but earlier you do also see styles that have some side padding along with the back padding. Most of these bum pads are worn underneath the back of the stays so that the stays themselves help create that really smooth silhouette rather than having a sharp bump at the back. And this is also why the lacing doesn't extend to the bottom of the stays because it allows for different sorts of bum pads. And next come your pockets. In the 18th century pockets are a separate garment allowing you to carry a lot more weight in your pockets without it dragging on your skirts and also this means that you can just put your things all in that pocket like you would a purse and then wear it with whatever outfit. Pockets could be worn as a pair like I'm wearing or you could have only a single pocket. I like wearing the pair especially at reenactments because I can have the period accurate things in one pocket and the modern things in the other. And while not all pockets were quite this big I really enjoy them because it keeps the bulk of anything that I have in my pockets below my hip line so it won't be visible in my skirts. And while you could add more petticoats for volume or for warmth depending on the weather the next garment that is necessary is the outer petticoat. In the 18th century your petticoat is a visible garment so it would be what we would nowadays call a skirt and the reason why it wasn't called a skirt is because the skirts were a part of your outer gown where the petticoat would be visible and in a separate garment. And to allow for adjustability and waist size and also access to those pockets the skirt is tied in two separate pieces. First you tie the back and then you tie the front piece on top. Petticoats of the 1770s were short oftentimes showing off the ankles and typically had trim on the bottom. This trim could be either a smooth panel of embroidery or a pleated or gathered piece of self fabric, gauze, organdy, or lace. You do sometimes also see contrasting fabric but that typically does match some part of the dress then. And now it is time for the actual dress, in this case the polonaise. The defining feature of a polonaise, the one that sets it apart from all other 18th century dresses, is the fact that the bodice and the skirts are made in one piece, meaning there is no waist seam, though it does of course have vertical seams down the back. The skirts are oftentimes looped up or bustled, worn a la retousse, but this is by no means a necessity for a polonaise, and other styles of gowns in this era were also worn this way. And because the fronts of the polonaise were oftentimes left partly loose and flowy, these gowns could be worn with a separate waistcoat or stomacher piece, or they could have a false stomacher underneath them that you would pin in place like I have. Most dresses of the 18th century would be closed with straight pins, allowing for a lot more adjustability than any sort of buttons or hooks and eyes could. And yes, this is a very secure way to close your garments, even modern day sewing pins do the job fairly well usually, and 18th century sewing pins were slightly thicker and stronger than our modern equivalents. And no, you don't usually get poked by the pins, and you can't get poked by them once they are secured in place, because not only is there those bone stays between you and the outer garment, but you're also pinning the layers against your body, not the pin poking in towards your body. And next it's time for the makeup. I start by burning a clove. So you take a whole clove, and you hold it by the stem, and you put it under a flame, and then you let the tip burn. And then you apply it to your eyebrows in a crescent shape. You want to keep it about medium thick, and you want to follow the contour of your eye, so that the crescent basically covers your entire eyeball, but doesn't go much over on either side. Burnt clove could also be used to darken the eyelashes, though this is less common in the era. And next we apply rouge. This could be either in liquid form, solid form, or powder form. Alkanet root and carmine were the two most common colorants of rouge, and since modern day food coloring is carmine, you can use that as a historically accurate liquid rouge that you don't have to bother making yourself. You would use this to darken not only your lips, but also your cheeks. And unlike in many later eras, in this era you do not try to make your makeup invisible. You definitely want the visible rouge to look. In the 18th century, makeup is visible. And then lastly, you add a tiny little bit on your forehead, your nose, and your chin to give you a natural flush. And lastly, we powder the skin, not only to set all that makeup, but also give that matte finish, and also to brighten up the skin and cover any possible blemishes. And while powder isn't going to cover the same way as modern day foundation and concealer, it is definitely going to even things out. For accessories, I chose a pair of pearl bow earrings and a neck ribbon covered with lace. And for my hair, I decided to accessorize with a fashionable big cap. Smaller caps that covered more of the hair, like the one I was wearing in the beginning of the video, were worn instead of hairstyles, not only to give you a neat finished look without having to bother with a big hairstyle, but also to protect the hair from dust and grease that happens in daily life. While this type of big floofy caps were more fashion forward and worn more for aesthetic purposes rather than protection. And now that the cap is on, I finished off the hairstyle by adjusting those bottom curls to their right place. And now for a common thing seen in genre paintings, I put on my stockings and my garters last. Now in my opinion and in my experience, the reason for this is because especially in the summertime when it is hot and you do not have air conditioning in the houses like you didn't in the 18th century, you get a lot hotter when you're putting on the clothing than when it is on your body already. So a way to combat this is by putting on the stockings last. I don't know why it works, but it just does. And lastly come your shoes. While most of the 18th century shoes are closed with buckles, in the late 1770s a new style of pump emerges. These are typically trimmed with ribbon detailing and are made either of kid leather or silk like mine are. And here's the entire finished look. I really think it's a fun contrast with the really high hair and then fairly short skirt. And combined with the bum pad and the low neckline, this led to a lot of publications mocking the style. But while satire prints and men would mock women for their fashion, they absolutely still wore it. Because unlike fashion nowadays, fashion in the 18th century was created and made by women for women. Not only did fashion project one's status and wealth, but it was also a form of self-expression and autonomy in a world where women had very little control over their lives. And not only that, but also fashion provided a respectable income for many middle-class women, allowing for financial freedom in a world where most things were controlled by men. Well that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed this video and I hope to see you again next time. Bye!