Object Thursday: Linen Corsets and Leather Pants

It’s not your typical Casual Friday, but it was a Wonderful Wednesday morning.

Dana Signe Munroe, Justin Squizzero and I dressed for a photo shoot for a new museum rack card. We have a new audio tour at the John Brown House Museum, and for that we need an ad campaign. Justin got a brainwave and off we went,  with J.D. Kay taking the photos.

We started out pretty seriously: after all, we’re a museum. When I couldn’t figure out how to hold the iPod and the bucket, somebody said, “It’s a fantasy.”  My lame response? “My fantasies are all documented.” Such is reenacting…
The clothes we’re wearing in these images are all hand-sewn and documented to period materials as well as print and image sources. The clothes date from the late 18th century–roughly 1799–and are appropriate for John Brown’s time.
Last year, we cleaned the house.  This year, we have other tour plans in development in addition to the new audio tour. On Saturday, you can take a furniture tour of the John Brown House, or you can enjoy the new audio tour, or both!
Justin was lucky to have pockets in his deerskin breeches.  Having forgotten my pocket, I was left to improvise. An iPod does not a busk make.
We had fun recreating some fashion plate images, Justin held a musket—which he never does—and we tried the City Shower motif.