V79: ASTORIA Important Information - Please Read

My Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Astoria, our latest shoe style and our most successful product to date, in the largest and most important order we’ve ever placed, was delivered to us this past weekend, and we have discovered that a large portion of the order has not met our quality expectations.

Basically, the factory didn’t use the materials we specified and while the construction of the shoes is fine, the quality of finish falls below the standard that we were promised and expect.

We’re afraid to say that we cannot in good conscience ship these shoes to our customers. Despite knowing that many of you depend on us for your footwear for upcoming events, these shoes do not represent what we sold to you, and we cannot say, hand on heart, that the Astoria represents an American Duchess shoe.

We’re very proud of our products and go to great lengths to make them the very best available in quality and price, and in this instance we feel that we’ve let both our customers and ourselves down. You cannot imagine how sorry we feel for breaking our promises on delivery dates and the inconvenience that this has caused our customers.

The long and short of it is: the entire shipment of both ivory and black Astorias is being remanufactured with an even higher quality calf leather than originally specified, and under a significantly tighter quality control regime than before. The quality of finish of these shoes will be everything that you expect.

The expedited remanufacturing process will take approximately 4 weeks plus shipping to the USA, so we will be expecting the remanufactured batch to arrive in the last week of April. This is the fastest that this can be done without cutting corners.

All of affected customers have been sent an email with more information about the situation. We continue to stand behind our 100% no questions asked money back guarantee, and will make every effort to continue to be available to our customers via email (info@american-duchess.com), telephone, and live chat, through www.american-duchess.com.

We thank you for your understanding, patience and support in these challenging times.

Most Sincerely,

Lauren & Chris

V78: 1950s "Ladies Who Lunch" Outfit

I gave my presentation on hats, 1850-1960, yesterday, and wore something I thought was appropriate for an afternoon luncheon.

Dress: made from vintage Butterick 8154
Hat: vintage mink "caterpillar" toque found in Alameda
Gloves: vintage from Sacramento Antiques market
Shoes: Payless, oh yeah.

I got the amazing opportunity to examine some antique shoes, particularly button boots, and will be sharing a couple photos of those with you soon.

Special thanks to the Churchill County Museum in Fallon, Nevada, for having me for a speaker, and for housing such a wonderful collection of vintage and antique clothing and accessories.

V77: Green Shoes Throughout History

1720-50; The Met

Today I'm giving my presentation on hats, but my heart belongs to shoes. :-)  It's Saint Patrick's Day, so how about celebrating with a look at green shoes throughout history:

V76: A Late Elizabethan Portrait...with Shoes

It's busy times here at ADHQ, so I'll make today's post quick.

This is one of my favorite portraits, a lady thought to be Vere Egerton, Mrs William Booth, attributed to Robert Peake (1541-1619).

I love her mix of textures and colors - like, that jacket totally doesn't go with that skirt, but it does! The length of the jacket is also quite interesting, as well as the relatively narrow shape of the skirt, but what I find most intriguing about this image is her shoes.

I've got more for you on the (very brief) history of Elizabethan footwear, later.  For now, I'll leave you with Vere.

V75: The True Origin of "Mad as a Hatter"

Here's a random bit of trivia for you to pull out at your next Mad Men cocktail party...

The Mad Hatter, illustration by John Tenniel , 1865

Where Does the Phrase "Mad as a Hatter," or "Mad Hatter" come from?

Today we are most familiar with "The Mad Hatter" from Lewis Carroll's famous "Alice in Wonderland," but the saying goes back further than Carroll's 1865 publication, and potentially had nothing at all to do with the crafters of fine headwear.

The common belief is that the name "Mad Hatter" references the fate of hatmakers who suffered from consistent inhalation of mercury, a chemical commonly used in the curing of hat felts. The long term effects of breathing mercury everyday included uncontrollable twitching, trembling, and demented behavior. It makes perfect sense to us today, when we imagine the illustrative renditions of Carroll's famous character.

The Depp-Burton version of the character, entirely obnoxious, but creative. For the record, his hat is really quite spectacular, though doesn't appear to be made of fur felt...

However, the phrase "Mad as a Hatter" was not invented by Carroll, and was in use in literature as far back as 1829. Even prior, the phrase was in common use in England and is very possibly an evolution of a phrase of an entirely different meaning, "mad as an atter," with the meaning "as venomous as a snake," rather than as kooky as a hat maker, "atter being the original Anglo-Saxon form of "adder," and "mad" being synonymous with "venomous," as well as crazy and angry.

I bite you!

Of course, mercury-poisoned hatters makes for a far more interesting story, and is not at all untrue. Vaporized mercury was indeed used to remove the fur used in fur felt hats, such as beaver hats, from the pelts, to then matt into the felts. Steaming and ironing fur felts into shape kept all that mercury in the air, and on the skin, and lead to all kinds of horrible side effects.

A beaver felt hat, all the rage for particularly men's headwear in the 19th and early 20th c.

So there you have it.  Amaze your friends and impress your boss over the miniature franks and martini olives. :-)

V74: Thoroughly Modern Millie

Today's post is brief because I'm slammed with stuff-that-isn't-sewing-stuff (argh).  It's the opening credits from one of my favorite films ever, "Thoroughly Modern Millie," starring Julie Andrews.  I won't explain it; I'll just let you watch.  Enjoy!

V73: A Brief History of Feathers-on-Hats

I've been researching hats lately, and came across some fascinating information concerning feathers.

We all know the iconic mega-feathered hats of the Edwardian era.  The Edwardians were particularly enamored with plumage, but unlike their be-feathered predecessors, the Victorians and the Georgians, many a fine species of bird was taken to the brink of extinction by the incredible demand for ladies be-feathered hats.

Throughout history, hats have played a big role in indicating one's status.  We all know the famous scene in "The Duchess," where Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, sports giant ostrich plumes in her giant hair, and starts a craze that would last decades.  For the Edwardians, they took this to a new level, and often added entire birds to their heads, and sometimes these birds were fantastical creations cobbled together from several varying bird parts!

Popular plumage for hats extended beyond ostrich, to include heron, peacock, egret, osprey, bird of paradise, pheasant...even vulture.  The more "common" feathers for adornment were garden fowl, pigeon, turkey, goose, and coque/rooster.  These feathers were made into plumes, pompoms, aigrettes, wings, pads, bands, breasts, and quills, and not by marchandes, milliners, and craftsmen in quaint little shops, oh no, by massive factories employed thousands of women and children, and dealing in hundreds of thousands of feathers per day.  In 1900, in North America, the millinery industry employed 83,000 people!

1905-1910

Unfortunately, the demand for feathers began to damage the migratory bird population, and by 1918, lobbying groups such as the Audubon Society had succeeded in a federal ban on certain types of feathers, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.  Birds excluded from this law are still feathers available to us today - ostrich, turkey, goose, peacock, rooster, garden fowl, and pheasant, to name a few.

And ostrich is still expensive, though not quite as these feathers were in 1880, when their value per pound was almost equal to that of diamonds.

French plumes, which just means they've been curled on the end, adorn this Merry Widow hat  - these are comprised of multiple ostrich feathers sewn together to get the full, drapey look.

During The Great War, the fashion for massive plumed hats fell out of favor.  They just weren't practical anymore, not to mention the excess and expensive of these chapeaus, and the preference didn't come back after the War either.  Cloche hats became the rage, and still featured many a fine feather, but not anywhere in the realm of what was being worn before 1914.

Still, you and I are easily seduced by the pretty pretty of plumes, poms, and pads, especially as 18th century and Titanic Era costumers.  Nothing is so naked as a bonnet without a feather. :-)

You can buy various types of feathers online, at craft stores, costume stores, and in the secret floral section of places like Michaels and JoAnns.  Even a little feather goes a long way. :-)