Fashions of Sidewalks of New York Part 1: Journey to the New World

In chapter one of Sidewalks of New York, the heroine Ashlyn Maloney leaves her home in Ireland to join her lover Will Murray in America.

  
Ashlyn works as a seamstress, so I imagine that she would be at least somewhat aware of fashion and would do the best she could to follow it. Sidewalks of New York takes place in 1898 and the turn of the century is one of my eras for fashion. The silhouette of this era is examplified by puffed sleeves and  a-line skirts.  Ashlyn’s  blouse comes from this period illustration. 

  
Her skirt comes from this sewing pattern. 

  
Ashlyn’s outfit was partly inspired by the Annie Moore statue at Ellis Island. This is where her coat comes from. 

  
With this outfit, she wears a green tam o shanter hat which I took from this period catalog page showing ladies sporting hats. The green tam o shanter hat was a parting  gift from her father.

The idea of her wearing a green tam’o’shanter hat came from  Disney redhead, Thomas from Pocahontas

She also wears a red shawl, a parting gift from her mother.

Ashlyn’s companion on her trans-Atlantic journey is her Aunt Nora

 Aunt Nora’s outfit was inspired by this contemporary sketch of Annie Moore, the first immigrant to come through Ellis Island.

She carries a carpet bag like this one from Victorian Trading Company.

When they go through Ellis Island, Ashlyn is subject to a medical examination and is uncomfortable being examined by the male doctors while wearing only her underwear. Aunt Nora quips that she must learn to be comfortable in such situations since she is going to be married.

 The first layer of a Victorian lady’s underwear would be a chemise and stockings and a corset.

 Ashlyn’s corset and chemise were inspired by these.

Next would come a pair of drawers  

The finally layer would be a petticoat and a camisole like these from Victorian Trading Company

When they arrive in New York City, Ashlyn and Aunt Nora search out where Will is living and they run into his Aunt Deirdre who warmly greets them.

Aunt Nora’s blouse and skirt come this picture I found.

 With it, she wears a grey shawl like this.

 Ashlyn spends an uneasy night in her new home and is comforted by Will

 Ashlyn’s nightdress  was taken from this one.

Stay Tuned for More:)

Fashions of Retribution Part 18: Summer Into Fall

The first person Marianne meets when she returns home after her evening with her family is her neighbor Louise. Louise is impressed with Marianne’s beautiful dress and wants to hear about the evening she’s had. 

  Louise’s dress and apron were taken from this 1930s sewing pattern 

  

The combination of red dress and blue apron come from the costume worn by Emily Blunt as The Baker’s Wife in Into The Woods. 

  

At the beginning of chapter eighteen, Adèle returns home from shopping on a rainy afternoon. 

  
Adèle’s pink blouse and black skirt were taken from this period sewing pattern

  
Her hat would be a black version of this hat 

  
Her raincoat would be a black version of this one 

  
On the same rainy afternoon, Catharine is at home looking through old photo albums 

  
Catharine is also dressed in pink and black. Her pink and black outfit was taken from this worn by Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley in Downton Abbey. 

  

A few days later, Marianne visits her friend Manon who is sick with the measles 

  
Manon’s white nightdress would be something like this. 

  
Prostitutes Marie and Cerise spend their days sleeping before “working” at night. 

Cerise wears a lavender colored eyelet slip 

 

Something like this 

 

 Marie wears a bra and a petticoat 

 

 Like these 

 

 To “work”, Marie wears a blue sweater , a red skirt, and a golden brown scarf.  

  
Her skirt and sweater come from this period photograph 

 

Her scarf  would be like the one worn by the girl on the right in this picture 

 

 Marie is paid by a young man (who turns out to be Edmond) to follow a girl wearing a yellow dress and a green sweater (who turns out to be Marianne who is going to visit Augustin before his trial) 

  
  Marianne’s yellow dress and green cape were inspired by the costume worn by Elle Fanning as Aurora in Maleficent 

  

As wells as this costume worn by Sandra Mae Frank as Wendla Bergmann in Deaf West’s Spring Awakening. 

   

 Augustin’s Tante Maude is seen at his trial, weeping for her nephew 

 

Her dress and hat taken from this period sewing pattern 
 

Marianne is also at the trial and tells Augustin that she loves him for the first time as he is being dragged away. 

 

 She wears a black sweater and beret, and a yellow skirt like this outfit worn by Holliday Granger as Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde. From this point on, Marianne adopts the Bonnie Parker look. 

 

  Chapter nineteen opens with Charles dreaming about the evening where he met a woman named Mado and wakes up and talks with his wife Adèle who has just gotten out of the bath and is doing her hair. 

   She wears a teddy and a robe

  
  
 Except Adèle’s robe would be made of a sheer material. Her teddy and robe are inspired by the Barbie Fashion Model Collection The Ingenue doll. 

  
Stay Tuned For More Designs 

Fashions of Retribution Part 11: Underworld

In chapter six of Retribution, we have our first foray into the seedy underworld of Paris when Augustin and Léon go to a speakeasy called Le Monstre where a singer called Mademoiselle Hélène performs.

Hélène is beautiful and voluptuous with dark hair and pale skin made artificially rosy with rouge. She wears a   slinky crêpe de chine evening dress like this worn by Keira Knightly as Cecilia Tallis in Atonement, except in blue rather than green.

 

Her dark hair is described as being worn in loose finger waves. I imagine her hairstyle being something like the one Clara Bow wears in this photograph.

These black Art Deco earrings would go great with Hélène’s slinky blue dress.

Later in the story, Augustin brings Marianne to Le Monstre, where they meet a couple who they assume have just gotten married because the girl is wearing a wedding dress.

Her wedding dress was inspired by the wedding dress costume worn by Laura Osnes as Polly Peachum in The Three Penny Opera. 

 

And this 1930’s wedding dress

With that dress would go this veil

In chapter nine, we are introduced to prostitutes Marie and Cerise.

Marie is described as wear a striped, sleeveless, knit top like the one the girl on the left is wearing in this picture.

And a white underskirt like this

Cerise is described as wearing a camisole like this

And a white skirt like this

Also introduced is a barmaid named Clare, who is the girlfriend of Augustin’s friend Jules.

I imagine Clare wearing an outfit like this one worn by Melissa van der Scyff as Blanche Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde the musical. 

Ganster Bruno Faucherie, wants Augustin to be involved with a robbery he is planning, he sends his beautiful mistress Hélène to persuade him.

Hélène’s look was partly inspired by that of famous gun moll Bonnie Parker. Her rose colored outfit was taken from this costume worn by Laura Osnes playing Bonnie

Hélène, the girl who lured Augustin into the crime, is also there when he is arrested for it.

Her black evening dress is something like this one worn by Ann Dvork as Cesca in Scarface. 

And her bib necklace is something like this one worn by Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby. 

Stay tuned for more designs

Fashions of Retribution Part 10: Madeleine

In the first few posts, I mentioned Marianne’s mother Madeleine. This post is going to elaborate more on her and her backstory.

Madeleine d’Aubrey was born in 1890 to an upperclass family from Normandy and was the second of three daughters.

She was seventeen years old in 1907. Around the age of 16 or 17 or 18, an upperclass girl would come out into society. A debutante would most likely be dressed in white. Here are some examples of gowns an early Edwardian debutante might wear.

A debutante might have a formal portrait taken like this one of Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith Crawley in Downton Abbey. This is wear I got the white fur stole from.

 

Madeleine met her husband James Beaumont in 1911 when she was twenty-one. She gave her new beau a photograph of herself holding a striped ribbon. The colors of the ribbon, purple, white, and green, are the colors of the women’s suffrage movement. Having your picture taken holding a suffragette ribbon would have been a daring statement at the time.

Here are some simple day dresses from the early 1910s from which I got the shape of this dress.

The color scheme of the dress and the decorations on it come from this recreation of a period dress.

James and Madeleine were married in 1913. Their wedding photo is the only thing their daughter Marianne has of her father.

The veil and top part of Madeleine’s wedding dress come from this fashion drawing from the period.

And the skirt comes from this wedding photo of Margret Wilson, daughter of President Woodrow Wilson, who was married in 1913.

The silver appliqués and the bouquet come from the wedding dress worn by Laura Carmichael during Lady Edith’s unfortunate attempt down the aisle.

Marianne was born in 1914 at the start of World War 1.

The shape of Madeleine’s blouse and skirt come from this Lady Edith outfit from season two of Downton Abbey which takes place during World War 1.

The floral pattern on her blouse and the pink color of her skirt come from this costume for by Haley Atwell as Ella’s Mother in Cinderella. 

 

The white frock worn by baby Marianne comes from this baby photo from the 1910s.

During World War 1, with the men away fighting, women were needed to keep the home fires burning. In 1916, Madeleine helped out on a near by farm.

Madeleine’s coat dress, leggings, boots, and cloche hat come from this season 2 Lady Edith outfit.

Toddler Marianne’s sailor outfit comes from this drawing of 1910’s toddler clothing.

New Years Eve 1916, Madeleine was at a party with her two sisters. James Beaumont is off fighting in The Great War and will go missing.

 

 
That New Years Eve, Madeleine wears a daring harem pants outfit, something like this famous outfit worn by Jessica Brown Findlay as Lady Sybil Crawley on Downton Abbey. 

 

Or this Paul Poiret evening ensemble.

or this period fashion illustration

Madeleine’s hairstyle would be something like this.

Madeleine’s harem pants outfit makes her stand out among the other women, including her sisters Catharine and Mimi.

Catharine’s evening dress was taken from this worn by Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley.

And Mimi’s evening dress comes from this worn by Jessica Brown Findlay as Lady Sybil Crawley.

After losing her husband, Madeleine and her daughter move to Cannes, where she finds work as a private secretary. The main reason she moves south is because she hopes the warmer climate will help her tuberculosis.

The shape of Madeleine’s yellow blouse and her black headband come from this Lady Edith outfit from season 3 or 4.

The yellow color of the blouse and the grey skirt and the black headband come from the outfit worn by Secretary Barbie.

But Madeleine’s health worsens and by the time we meet her at the beginning of the story in 1926, she is dying.

The shape of the nightdress she dies in comes from this sewing pattern from the period.

It’s blue color comes from the costume worn by Caissie Levy as Fantine in Les Miserables 

 

Madeleine sports a fashionable flapper hairstyle which comes from this page of fashionable hairstyles from the 1920s

Stay tuned for more designs