Not a terribly exciting or very original title, I know: maybe I can think of a better one. In this series, I'll take one garment and look carefully at its textiles, trim, and construction details, including evidence of alterations made to keep up with new trends, or much later changes made for dress-up. (So many…
Introducing a Series: The Dating Game
I call it my "parlor trick." Like any costume historian, I can look at the clues in costume and hairstyles in painted portraits and photographs and deduce a date or a date range for the image. I enjoy being asked if I can help people date their family photos. Is it 2x-great-Granny or 4x-great Granny?…
Introducing a Series: The Bookshelf
In this series, I'll do brief posts focusing on a book on costume or social history. Some will be recent releases; others will be classics that I think should be in the library of anyone interested in studying historic dress. Sometimes I'll take something from my far-too-large TBR (to be read) pile (which is not…
Introducing a Series: Fashion Influencers (Historical)
Before social media and cute terms like "influencer," there were plenty of people who made names and reputations for themselves as trend-setters, intentionally or otherwise. In each blog post in this series, I'll look at one historical influencer, propelled to fashion fame by the social media of their day: chiefly gossip, monthly fashion magazines, and…
Introducing Myself: Who is this Curator and what is a Curio?
My name is Alden O'Brien, and I've been a curator of costume for nearly thirty years at the DAR Museum in Washington, DC (USA). I've been curator of the quilts since about 2003, and of the needlework since about 2017. My undergraduate degree was in Art History, but I took a lot of English and…
The Curator's Curio 