Some more reading of the Fashioned from Penury book. I’m reading it on the bus, and not much travelling going on over the holidays so slow reading. There’s a bit about the change from “tropical/Indian-influenced clothing (i.e. predominantly white) to European-influenced clothing (i.e. predominately black). This apparently happened sooner in Sydney and later in Queensland and the regional towns & cities, and was slower among working classes who dressed more practically. In Melbourne, the change from predominantly unfashionable rural/working clothing to European-influenced fashions seems to have happened within a year in the early gold-rush period. Which would make sense as the early gold-rush period brought an influx of European immigrants. They seem to have brought Civilisation to Victoria. (If you read books on any historical topic written by someone in Victoria, they invariably start in the 1850s. It’s a little odd.) There’s not much more you can say about men’s fashion in the Victorian-period. It’s basically coat, trouser and waistcoat for most of the time and into the next century. Some changes in the style of the coat, the tightness or the trouser legs or what held them up but it doesn’t change much at all. Your working guy can get by with moleskins and a cotton shirt in white or blue, for most of that time. Handy if you’re a time traveller. ~1830s or a bit earlier is when men stopped Being Interest In Fashion.

Women’s fashions varied more. More strongly influenced by European esp. Parisian trends in both imported and locally-made clothes. Local colours tended to be brighter.

This books, as usual, is mostly about the eastern states (i.e. Victorian, NSW, and a bt of Qld). This is, as usual, a combination of much of easily accessible source material is in those states and the authors usually are too. So OK, but for my purposed it leaves a bit of a hole, esp. as she keeps referring to “regional variation”. I might have to hunt down some pictures to see what is going on.

In other news, I now have a tea squirrel and two tea snails. (See photo at top.)

Also, I need to add something to the main page of my website. There is only one post there. But not sure what. First pages of WIPS? Explanations of what is where? Bio? (OK the last one was a joke.) It needs something.