Any ideas on how to get dressed in full period costume?

[Ambushedbycakeinmydreams]

I'm looking for good ideas. Back story - I've always been fascinated by period costume and my secret wish is to be whisked off and dressed up from head to toe in a Georgian or Victorian costume, complete with authentic underwear, elaborate hair do and make up.

I have googled and tried to find someone who could accommodate my wishes. Sadly I'm not an actress or I would apply for a role in a costume drama. I don't know how to contact TV costume departments to see if they could help (for a fee, naturally).

Otherwise it appears the only crappy option is hiring a costume from a fancy dress shop or the local theatre costume dept, but it's not the same thing.

If you have any contacts in any costume department who may be able to help please kindly point them in my direction!

Ruth Goodman in her book “How to be a Victorian” emphasises that the authentic experience is difficult to achieve:

If you want to know what it truly felt like to wear Victorian clothes, you need to commit yourself fully, and that means sourcing the right fabrics, cutting out the patterns using the right pattern-cutting techniques for the date (they changed a lot), using the right sewing thread, the right tools for the job, the right techniques (ways of doing things also changed regularly). It also means wearing all the layers, not just the few that show. It is difficult, but the experience is quite different and very revealing.

She emphasises the layers, and the fact that people dressed for warmth in a way that we don’t normally consider nowadays.

There's tons of stuff on Youtube.

Have a look at Berdnadette Banner's videos, for example. About her here [[https://coveteur.com/bernadette-banner-interview]] Just Google her name: she has a great many videos showing how she makes historic costumes.

CrowsEye Productions have a whole series of videos, covering a much longer timespan: just Google one, and many others will be displayed in a sidebar. Here is one about 7th cent AD:

Here is one about 17th cent Europe:

They also have a very interesting blog:
www.periodcostume.co.uk/

If you want to make your own costumes, there are lots of excellent books with patterns. Janet Arnold is the classical expert on this; her books are very expensive secondhand, but you should be able to order them from your library.
Or books like this give a simplified overview www.goodreads.com/book/show/1106564.Patterns_for_Theatrical_Costumes

There are study courses you can go on - this one has a very good introduction and mentions some pattern sources, for example:

www.lancasterhistory.org/a-stitch-is-worth-part-1/