A friend with waaaaay too much time on his hands insists we throw a series of late 18th, early 19th century-era balls/country dances and says we should buy our costumes. Currently, we’re looking at 75 couples who have expressed interest in participating.
Where online can we buy costumes from this era in America’s history? Having them custom made seems a bit much.
Thanks.
I am not sure where you live, but in Dallas, TX we have several upscale costume rental stores that would supply period clothing. If you gave me your location perhaps I could assist you in finding some of these establishments in your area.
Melanie
There’s also the possibility of making your costumes yourselves (all it takes is a few people with sewing machines)- it wouldn’t be hard to get ahold of decent patterns, and as long as you don’t go for the shiny “costume” fabrics, you should look ok. Amazon Dry Goods might be a good place to start looking…
Well having lived near a Role Playing theme park for many years here are a couple ideas.
I’d call up places like :
Plymouth Rock
Mystic Seaport
Colonial Theme parks in Pennsylvania
Places like these would be able to tell you where they get their costumes. It would take some digging and probably some phone tag with people in their respective education departments but I am sure someone there would be happy to tell ya where to get the costumes…
Try the Greater Bay Area Costumer’s Guild for links to costumers, patterns and costuming articles. If you’re going the sew-your-own route and are not concerned with historically accurate cut and sewing technique, you could try the Simplicity, McCall’s or Butterick costume pattern lines. (Get 'em at a JoAnn’s fabric store during one of their 99 cent sales, if you can. Butterick and McCall’s are on sale this weekend, 5/18-19.)
I know you didn’t ask about music, but the Country Dance Society has some great CDs that are hard to find in regular music stores, in case you’re interested.
Pupshaw, fervently hoping for an invitation so she can have a reason to make a costume, too. 
Smoke and Fire Co. is one of my favorites–I got some great frontier-style knife blades (which I then made handles for):
Someone’s been keeping Williamsburg, VA in duds all these years. Maybe you can start there.
If you mean American, you could try www.jastown.com
By the same token, anyone know where I can get a Canadian mountie uniform? I’m talking about the red dress uniform that they hardly ever seem to wear now. This has nothing to do with sick fantasies… Just planning ahead for the big October 31st! – Magnum’s Mustache:cool:
Any costume shop will have one of those.
In regard to the OP. Another source is local community theaters and high school, junior college and college theater departments. Usually all will be willing to rent you them, and usually they are in better shape than commercial ones.
WHOOPS, A CHANGE OF PLANS!!!
The NEW plan (as opposed to Wednesday’s “old plan”) is to stage a series of balls like that which one would see in the film versions of Pride & Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, etc. Apparently, my friend is now focusing on both upscale outfits and venues, with the likelihood of a period music ensemble.
NOW WHERE DO WE GET THOSE CLOTHES?
Does anyone make patterns for early 19th century English clothing–presumably for the landed gentry, as it were? Are such clothes/costumes sold via the Internet?
Again, three words: Amazon Dry Goods. I think they have a website - Google will tell you if you ask it. They specialize in 18th and 19th century clothing, from hats to shoes and everything in between.
Those Jane Austen things were during the Regency period, so running a search for Regency clothing comes up with a few links. Here’s a link page from the Costumer’s Manifesto, and here’s a place that makes patterns. The first link has a section on “Costumes for Sale.”
My personal advice, RENT!
Unless you or your SO/date/friend/whatever is pretty experienced at clothing construction, making your own, high society clothes in the style of the 18th or 19th centuries is going to be difficult, and having them made will be expensive. Materials alone for a “formal ball worthy” gown of the period are likely to cost at least $100.00 for anything even close to looking correct, and that if you get lucky and shop smart.
It’s sounds as if this might sort of “passing fancy” for your friend. Unless you are really interested in investing the time and money necessary to make your own outfits (or have them made) you would be much better off to rent. Most costume shops (especially larger ones, or ones that also rent to theater groups) can provide a pretty decent selection, and the quality is at least passable. Renting is probably the cheaper solution unless you are certain this is going to be a long term thing. Besides, if you rent, you can just enjoy the event, rather then stressing a swearing for a month trying to get ready for it.
Good luck and enjoy. If you do decide to make your own clothes, I may be able to help if you have questions, my e-mail is in my profile
-Pandora
(who has made a variety of outfits from the 15th-19th centuries, and can now swear in a variety of languages and time periods)
Here’s another page of good links specifically for Regency costume (scroll down to “Sources for Purchase”): Jessamyn’s Regency Costume Links.
Again, the Greater Bay Area Costumer’s Guild has a bunch of useful links here. Look under “Buying Ready to Wear” and “Buying Patterns Online.” You might want to also check under “Costume Organizations” to see if there’s one in your area that you could call.