1912 Menswear Article

Dad and I were looking up men's Titanic clothing and came across this article which has great information on men's styles from 1912. If you're interested in creating a more authentic impression for the ball, check out the info and links at the site below:
http://www.vintagedancer.com/edwardian-titanic-mens-formal-suit-titanic-memorial-cruise/

Fashion Inspiration & Sewing Patterns

Here's a link to an article on 1912 fashion with quite a few pictures of clothes, hats, and hairstyles:
http://sensibility.com/blog/reproducing-1912-fashions-remember-titanic/

In that article there is a link to a post with more links to lots of 1912 sewing patterns, for those of you interested in making your dress (and are like me and haven't decided on a style yet :-):
http://historicalsewing.com/sifting-through-endless-edwardian-patterns

And... once again, please RSVP if you haven't already! We are still waiting on a lot of people to let us know whether they are or are not coming (we'd like to know either way :-).

Ladies Shoes

I pulled these out of the Eaton's catalogs so if you already looked at those, these will be familiar.

Like these!

Two similar styles

I like these too... as the description says, they're "swell"! :-)

That gives you an idea of the basic look of an Edwardian shoe... long, rounded pointy toes, and straps. Also be sure to check out the reproduction Edwardian shoes by American Duchess! They aren't cheap, but they sure are pretty...

Don't forget to RSVP if you haven't already!

Men's 1912 Fashion

We stated in the invitation that gentlemen are not obligated to wear authentic 1912 clothing; if, however, you are interested in being period correct, here is some info for you!

The most formal evening dress remained a dark tail coat and trousers with a dark or light waistcoat. Evening wear was worn with a white bow tie and a shirt with a winged collar. The less formal dinner jacket or tuxedo, which featured a shawl collar with silk or satin facings, now generally had a single button.

From Wikipedia

Rather dorky looking drawing but apparently this is an example of a 1912 fashion plate...

Film still from "Titanic" (which I have not seen and do not recommend that you see)

More Costume Photos

Check out Lily's 19-teens Pinterest board! Click Here!

Eaton's Catalogues

Lily sent us links to old catalogues that you can read online. These things have EVERYTHING you could possibly want, from clothes to bedding to furniture to groceries, so it's extremely long, but it might be fun to browse through. Unfortunately, they don't really have evening dress that I found, but they do have hats, gloves, shoes, etc. The descriptions are really funny sometimes too.

Eaton's Fall/Winter Catalogue 1909-10
Eaton's Spring/Summer Catalogue 1913
Eaton's Fall/Winter Catalogue 1913-14

Inspiration: Titanic Era Gowns

Here are some photos of actual 1912 (or very close to 1912) evening/ball gowns for your inspiration, whether you are looking to sew a dress from scratch or to modify an existing dress.

Not really sure what is going on with those things hanging from the sleeves, but the rest of it is pretty! I like the buttons.

Here's a dress that would be fairly easy to recreate using a modern formal dress. I have seen a lot of these types of dresses (with the split skirt) at thrift stores for under $10. Add some accents, tack a chiffon scarf around the top as shown and you've got something very close to this!

This one is kind of interesting with the waist "sash" that extends into an overskirt in the back.

This one isn't really ball-ish I guess because I don't think a ballgown would have that high, "turtleneck" look, but it gives you an idea of some of the unique draping of the period.

I think this one is really pretty and not too "out there."

The back is interesting with it pulled up on the side with that accent piece.

I wouldn't recommend you make a train like that - that's a recipe for a torn dress! :-)

This is rather bride looking but I thought it was lovely, and a style that would be pretty easily recreated in a color, which would make it look less like a wedding dress.

Interesting skirt on this!

This is kind of neat how the two sides of the overskirt are connected by the three ties which make a V pattern down the front.

We included this on in the dress sheet with the invitations but I thought I would include it here too.

All pictures except the last one are from Madame Guillotine (which site I do not recommend but she had some great gown sources). The last picture I got from Story of a Seamstress. No copyright infringement is intended in the posting of these images.