La-madame-x - Tumblr Blog

Close up of Alexei, Tatiana, Maria, and Olga.

La Toilette, 1878 by Henri Gervex (French, 1852–1929)

Les Modes : revue mensuelle illustrée des arts décoratifs appliqués à la femme, no. 5, vol. 1, mai 1901, Paris. Paul-Albert Besnard. — Portrait de Mme X. Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. Bibliothèque nationale de France

by Maria Babintseva

Portrait of Agnes Margaretha Albinus (detail), by Mattheus Verheyden, 1750. Oil on canvas.

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia

Russian vintage postcard

May 2024

Who knew trying to find historical silk stockings would be such a dreadful and agonising struggle...

Being a fan of circa 1890 fashion, I never thought the 1880s would be so alluring...but this 1884 gown has captured my heart.

𝚅𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙷𝚞𝚎𝚜 As usual, all photos are from Pinterest.

My new corset has finally arrived! Now it's time for drafting...

𝚁𝚞𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚚𝚞𝚎 𝓎𝑒𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝓁𝒶𝑔𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝒾𝒸𝓀 𝓈𝓊𝒸𝓀𝓈

𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚙𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 All photos are from pinterest.

John Singer Sargent       Madame X (Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau)  1884

Rainer Maria Rilke, from a letter featured in Letters to Merline, 1919-1922

favorite artists (3/10): eduard manet (1832-1883)

necklaces/chokers + art

She was a picture-book beauty … Taller even than her mother, willowy and with a tiny waist, she was the most elegant and 'aristocratic’ looking of the four sisters and exuded a sense of her status from head to toe. People often remarked that she behaved 'like the daughter of an emperor’. Confident with her beauty, with a fixed, almost challenging expression in her eyes, Tatiana could look effortlessly imperious. Her profile was exquisite; with her pale, almost marble skin, lovely dark chestnut hair and a slightly mystical Asiatic look about her wide, tipped-up dark grey eyes, she was naturally photogenic. She loved clothes and carried them with grace and elegance, as well as a slightly coquettish air. But she was very much her mother’s daughter: reserved, inscrutable, less open and spontaneous than her sisters and less inclined to smile…. 

By nature Tatiana was a romantic idealist and a dreamer, but she never let this get in the way of her very practical talents and her sense of balance, which meant she was very focused and at time opinionated about what she wanted. Although younger than Olga she was the more forceful of the two, and her elder sister frequently deferred to her  judgement. Tatiana’s fragile features and figure belied a physical strength and energy that she constantly applied around the home and in organisational skills. 

Helen Rappaport: Ekaterinburg - The Last Days of the Romanovs

Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanov at the Livadia Palace, 3rd May 1914.

Alexandre Dubois-Drahonet: detail of Female nude, back view (1831)

𝚃𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚊'𝚜 𝚄𝚗𝚒𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖 - 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

This particular project will be a blend of two things - Grand Duchess Tatiana's Ulan uniform and a late Victorian walking suit [meaning the skirt will be changed from an asymmetrical riding habit skirt to an 1890s fan skirt, and the jacket will be cut to a curvier profile]. The patterns for the both the jacket and skirt will be entirely self-drafted based on the original photos shown above. Let's go over the materials: For the body of it, I chose a medium-heavy weight [450 gsm] English herringbone tweed in 'Dark Navy'. This totaled to 6 metres. The yellow front is also of tweed, but this time a plain weave and only 1/2 a metre. They are pictured below along with silver dome buttons and an antique fob necklace, because who doesn't need one of those. Additional materials such as trims for the collar and cuffs, as well as the belt, will be shared in a future post.

Photos are not mine [except for last one], I found them on Pinterest.

Sunlight, 1909

Frank Weston Benson

Nikolai Yaroshenko - Mount El'brus (1894)

𝙰𝚗 𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

Good evening. I am a tailor; I have been for a very long time. I first learned to sew when I was 5, and ever since I've been experimenting with styles, fabrics, eras, and inspirations. For the past few years, I've been designing [and sometimes recreating] gowns and outfits from the 1890s. My favourites are those from the long-gone courts of Russia, and those based on its intricately detailed uniforms. Currently in the works are two silk court dresses, and a recreation of Tatiana's Ulan uniform.

When I'm not lost in the 1890s, I'm making vintage suits, playing with fountain pens [and inks!], collecting antiques, and obsessing over old jewelry.

Shall we proceed? — 𝙼𝚊𝚍𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚇