cimorene: closeup of Jeremy Brett as Holmes raising his eyebrows from behind a cup of steaming tea (eyebrows)
[personal profile] cimorene
You really should check the names of garments and especially check what kind of underwear people were wearing whenever writing historical fiction, even if you think it's well within the era of modern clothing.

(You could be surprised all the way up to the 1960s! The modern bra - with cups - didn't really come into existence until the 1930s, although brassieres were first sold in the late 1800s; and elasticated fabrics first appeared in the 1930s, but they weren't like modern stretch fabric. Meanwhile, just because a corset was involved doesn't mean the standard pop culture perception of undergarments that went with it is correct. There was a vast difference between the early 17th century and the early 20th century, and the early 1800s were often uncorseted or corseted only minimally. On the other hand, the Victorian era, which may seem the most familiar to many people because of its frequent appearances in pop culture texts, demonstrably involved about twice as many garments and undergarments as many, including those educated by popular movies and television, are aware.)

Anyway, I've just discovered that two errors in historical undergarments is my limit before flinging my phone down in exasperation, and even though in this fanfiction it would be an easy fix, I don't know that I'll be sanguine enough to compose a polite, casual, and friendly comment on the subject any time soon.

Imagine being easily able to imagine how it feels to not care about the minute details of historical costume! I can't. I mean... I've tried. I've gotten as far as logically understanding that people don't, but there's a huge emotional gap. The narrative just won't hold together. It's essentially a complete cipher to me.

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Date: 8 May 2019 06:45 pm (UTC)
phosfate: Ouroboros painting closeup (Default)
From: [personal profile] phosfate
I've heard a lot of different stuff, from rags doing the job, to some women being constantly pregnant/nursing that it was rarely an issue, but most of it has been theoretical rather than evidence-based.

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cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (Default)
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