by Kassadee Marie, HSM team writer

Lockwood’s recent offering of the lovely Abbey Hill Cottage personal estate has made many of us take another look in our wardrobes and in the stores for matching themed clothing items. Of course the developer itself is offering two wonderful outfits for both the gentlemen and the ladies of Home, but many of us want even more. One set is in their store and the other is in their gift machine. You will find the “George” is offered in black and brown for the gentlemen and the charming “Felicity” is offered in white and gray for the ladies, in the store. Either four-piece set is sold for $2.49. The gift machine has the lovely dark blue set for the ladies called the “Victoria” and a blue and brown set for the gentlemen, called the “Philip”. These are in sold in two packs: one for 256 tokens and the accessories pack for 128 tokens.

Be sure not to overlook the companions and parasol and fan locomotion items to help complete the look. Although parasols and fans can be found in other stores on Home, these particular items allow you to wear gloves at the same time, which were an essential item for the ladies — and for gentlemen as well, by the way.

The ladies’ dress style of this era was known as the “Empire Silhouette” in France and surrounding areas and was known as the “Regency” style in Great Britain and its territories; it has a unique high waistline just under the bust with a long, softly flowing skirt. Also, it was during this time that men wore trousers for the fist time, though breeches or pantaloons were still often worn in the evenings. They were usually paired with an overcoat or tailcoat and worn with a waistcoat and cravat.

It is actually easier for the males to find suitable clothing in the stores than the females, because tailcoats have since been and are still a fashion item for the men. A quick search in AlphaZone 4 will lead them to items like O-Two’s Peakvox long overcoats and the “Victoriana Gothic Tailcoat” in Threads. Even some of the Pottermore items for men, would be suitable for a themed casual at-home style, called “undress” as opposed to “half dress” for day wear or “full dress” for evening wear. These terms denoted the formality of the clothing, not body coverage. Search “waistcoat” for these items or go directly to the Pottermore store. Be sure to wear these items with suitable trousers and shoes. Either of the black Paris pants would be fine and such shoes as the Paris Victorian style shoes for $.49 from Costumes Originals or simple leather shoes would do, also.

The ladies will have a harder time finding suitable clothing due to that unique waistline. Interestingly, Granzella did come out with a dress of this nature this last Wednesday, called the “Diagonal Stripe Dress Outfit Set”. Before short puffy sleeves became popular, these dresses were often made with bare arms in the Grecian style, so this dress is eminently suitable, with the right shoes and a hat, and fan or parasol. Fortunately, this dress comes with a hat (in two sizes) that is nearly perfect. You may also want to check out O-Two for wonderful full-brimmed hats that fit over many hairdo’s and come in five colors – black, white, red, pink, and yellow. You will have your choice of three colors, blue, purple, and black for the new Granzella dress and it comes with lovely shoes that you can wear with other outfits.

For ladies’ shoes I suggest these: the Paris Victorian style boots and the Alice shoes in Costumes Originals and the Victoriana Gothic boots from Lockwood’s Delirious Squid line. All three of these items are sold separately. The off-white boots are sold for $.49; the white Alice shoes are sold for a mere $.25; and the black boots are sold for $.99 for the pair. Almost any pair of flats, called slippers or pumps; or a pair of backless low heeled shoes, called mules, would be suitable. Granzella sells this second type of shoe in their luxury line, but unfortunately, only in the full packs.

In addition to that unique waistline, having the dress be floor length (or nearly so) is crucial to this style. Finding long skirts and pairing them with blouses, shoes, accessories and the right hairdo can help give the “feel” of this era without the exact look. You might like the Victoria dress (skirt) sold in Costumes Originals for $.25, paired with the Green overcoat and scarf sold in Threads Originals for $.49 and the Paris Victorian style boots, for instance. Just add an up-swept hairdo and parasol to complete the look.

Two other common ladies’ items were the tippet and pelerine. Tippets were boas and pelerines were short capes that covered the shoulders and usually had high collars. You can find these items in the Lockwood store, also. The Starlet Stole can be found under the Drey tab for $.99 and the Victoriana Gothic Shrug can be found under the Delirious Squid tab for $.99, also.

As always, I recommend that you check your own wardrobe and storage before you shop, at least for inspiration. You may be surprised to find what you have tucked away in there and forgotten about until you look over your items another time.

Share