No worries! I totally understand ^_^ No rush!
Yo, I feel this on a spiritual level.
@liaroger LISTEN, go down your rabbit holes. SOMEONE WILL CARE. I promise.
I got a truly lovely comment the other day for using the historically correct 'stay' instead of a corset, and even went into a mini rant about what specifically was happening and that Ophelia's clothes were NOT to blame for her breathing problems.
My co-creator and I are the type of people who will see the research vortexes people will do and be even MORE into the story. The people that will care with REALLY care, and the people that don't are, meh. It carries so much more weight than you'd think, even if the people who would appreciate don't show up at first. There is nothing better than someone else as frenzied as you are, pointing to your story and going ''yoooooooo, yas, yas yas!"
Lean into your shit. Do it.
D O. I T!
Also, enjoy:
(I've watched this like 3 times already, it may actually start in the middle, whoops)
I'm so happy we are talking about this. Yes, I think readers definitely give a shit and respond to cool historical facts. If you can teach a reader something new, they love that shit. This is from my experience as a reader, but if I hear something fun I might even write it down to research later. Ever stupid small facts have a snowball effect. They build the world of your story. Thats such a cheesy thing to say but its so real.
Like, klaus and magnus wear linen blouses. A few times they wear cotton, and Klaus points out how expensive it is. Theres an intimate scene where klaus tells magnus the fabric for his waistcoat is imported cotton and his waistcoat buttons are made out of abalone shell, which is endangered in the southern british colonies. Then klaus undresses magnus and tosses the waistcoat so hard the abalone buttons scratch the paint on the wall. this tells the reader that even though that waistcoat is fucking expensive, klaus thinks magnus is even more precious. (adorable.) Also that Klaus owns a lot of expensive things and doesnt give a shit about any of them (foreshadowing).
i applaud your choice to use "Stays" instead of corset, but as a former costume historian I must emphasize that its better to build people up than tear them down, and if anyone criticizes you for using a wrong word they are at fault, not you. I have a costume design degree and I worked in a textile museum for two years and I hate it when people on the internet gatekeep fashion history. I miss the days when textile historians got into debates about the origin of sequins. All the youtube videos about "why this movie has the dumbest costumes" and "if you say this term I hate you" are so reductive. I also hate the growing gatekeeping about "sure you made a corset but did you carve your own needles and make your own fabric?" No, Karen. I bought fabric at joanns. But I had a lovely time and I think everyone who makes something should be celebrated. Full stop. I like making historical costumes with fabric that didnt exist in the period because you cant convince me that early gothic princesses wouldn't have chosen pink sequin fabric and maribou feathers if it was an option.
YAS!!!
But like, linen is breathable and also aseptic, and wicks water/sweat away, and like, don't ruin the clothes. Too many people put far too many hours into that for far too little money for the disrespect (also, just learned about that, whoo!)
But yas, yaaass.
Here's my stance, if I had to look up what greaves and pauldrons and what-have-you while reading fantasy as a child, then you all can look up pinafore and petticoat. If you want historical accuracy then you're getting it from all genders. But that is a rant I'm not going to go into right now.
breathes
ANYWHO!
I don't know who needs this info, but since we're all 'Goths' here, Evanescence just released a new album. 
@liaroger Hey, hey. I sent prelude to my Co-Creator (they're a musician) and they're super curious what/if you play an instrument. I know you had mentioned it, but unless I forgot, I didn't find which. Oh, I should also mention, they're super into music history, too. 
I was gonna put a gif of Amy Lee here, but there are too many good ones. So just...
Here's this instead:
Please go on the rant. Go on it.
Also, I think if you're going to mention a period garment you gotta describe it to me. I think this is like, a rule that only I have.
RULE: if I cant tell what the garment is based on the sentence its in, you gotta explain it.
Also, different fashion historians call garments different things. There are forty words for the fabric that goes around a mans neck in the eighteenth century. It depends on what historian is describing it. The british historians have one word, europeans another, american historians are downright wild and will make shit up. One of the dudes i studied under was against using white gloves while restoring because it impairs you ability to tell when you're damaging the fabric. He was in the camp "just wash your hands." My other professor was the GOAT could look at anything and tell you "thats 1736 because that seam was invented blah blah" (not to flex, but i can do this, too. another reason those youtube videos drive me NUTS. im not out here flexxing on main. I'm nice. I COULD blow up little women, but i dont because the dresses were pretty and that pleases me more than strict historical accuracy, which is a myth because it doesnt exist.)
anyway the GOAT was convinced that the first queen elizabeth was a man. we could not convince her. she also believed that expiration dates were a lie and ate a two month expired yogurt.
You and @blackorchid’s rabbit holes about research make me and my 100+ tabs about 20’s fashion, plumbing, condoms, cars, slang, and old city maps worth it 
More people who spends hours of research to write one sentence or realize they don’t need it and make it subtextual 
Saw this a while back but I kept forgetting/ getting side-tracked and never replied to this thread xD I'd love to participate in this as well!
Here are my stories!
This sounds fun!
My stories are typically slice of life, slow burn, bl fluff type stuff. I'm interested in promoting some stories in a similar genre. Let me know if you think your story might fit!
My main two stories are
I mean, that's just my rule about anything while I write.
I've found a few people that I genuinely enjoy watching. I love watching people go into Professorial levels of rage when talking about stuff. Honestly, makes things so fun.
I mean, we should blow up Little Women (and Bridgerton) b/c the clothing is terrible, and doesn't really deserve the nod for fashion when it's just not...well executed. Watching my youtubers gave me appreciation for when it was done well --and were also the reason why I watched EMMA. (2020) --which is easily one of my all time favorite movies now. It's French Macaroon lovely with pretty people in Regency clothing going 'this biiiitch.'
I'm a 'visual' writer. I need the sensory input as much as possible. So literally watching how correctly tailored clothing moves while the actors are just fluttering about tells me a lot. I don't have access to clothing, especially since COVID, so watching things that are pretty damn close is wonderful.
I genuinely owe everything I know (and am learning) from them. I think it's important to find the right people. Sure, I could listen to someone rage, but I want someone who did their research and is dropping links for me to read more.
Prior to the 1700s vortex, I was deep in Victorian and Gilded Age, and before that I was deep into Medieval England--specifically the culture around alcohol (and curse words). I'm out of practice now, but when I was in school, I used to be able to read Middle English. Oof, some of the poems are hilarious!
I may have to poke you on some fashion history --trying to find things about men's fashion is limited and annoying. I've been calling the cloth around the neck a cravat or a kerchief.
I'm a little less picky about the exact years of what my clothing is for the book, but in my other one, I had to deep-dive b/c you told time based on the style, and it's a whole thing.
Anyway--!
There's a lot of knowledge floating around in here, which I absolutely love.
Yo, if you need help on Jazz and/or music, you let me/us know.
I also have some pictures floating around from car museums I've been to with the Husbando. We call him the car whisperer and our favorite game is 'Hey, what's that car?" --and then we just sit back and get struck my the tidal wave of info he has about it. It's wild.
luckily, one of my friends is a music teacher so I ask him a bunch of music questions 
but cars, YES! One of my characters is a car aficionado (and works in a car factory) so finding info on 1920's cars is so daunting because I want the details to be right and google doesn't always help.
Evie! 
I'd love to do something. I have the good BL fluff mixed in with the other things going on in my story 
lmk what you'd like to do
See, I disagree about Bridgerton. I haven't watched the show but I've looked at the fashion roasts and I can't agree. My personal rating system for costume design gives out "points" for "fun" and "original." I loved bridgerton because the clothing was not strictly period accurate. I've seen too many regency dramas. British regency dramas are IMPECCABLE. You can't TOUCH that shit. So, I've seen "totally accurate beautifully made empire waist gowns and men's tailored suits" before. I want to see something else. Give me feathers. fuck, give me sequins.
If you want examples of a designer "riffing" on period silhouettes and defying period accuracy in a fun way, look up colleen atwood. She designs for tim burton and has a thousand oscars. Queen of combining unusual materials into costume design.
I love the people who make stuff on youtube. I watch that on loop mesmerized. I definitely don't do that, lol. When I sew with people I encourage them to finish the whole thing in a day before they lose the motivation. I'm the same way. Most of my stuff has big ugly zippers on the back because I was like "lets get this out the door." I have no regrets in my life. I know a lof of people in fashion/costume design who can't sew for themselves because it feels like work and is too stressful. i don't do it for a living anymore and that's why I have the free time. but anyway. my new favorite group of people to sew for is sports fans. This football season my neighbors realized that if they got me fabric I could make them anything. Packers sweatshirts. Packers blankets. I made them green and gold packers capes and they were screaming. so appreciative. you just don't get that from normal (non sports) people. i taught them how to sew and made me help. the worst thing I've ever made in my life is a bright yellow packers sweatshirt. the cringe of undergraduate costume designers is nothing compared to sports fans. he told me it wasn't yellow, it was "gold."
If you ever need fashion references hit me up. i have all the photos from when I worked at the textile museum. my job was photographing them for our online museum, but the online museum never happened. So I've got millions of useless photos, 1800-present.
fun fact most of the costume (historical clothing) exhibits went out of business in the great recession. most textiles museums are underfunded as shit. "temperature control" is the AC and dehumidifiers in every room.
Hi everyone!
Count me in 
Update 04/13: I went through the links but not sure if my work matches with any. If someone feels like it could work - please let me know.
Here's the list the most useful details of my novel so you could decide better whether to do a collab:
It is a science fiction (like with microscopes, genetic experiments and terms like transplantology, CRISPR/Cas9... you know). Plus.. in this novel I'm exploring the possibility and realization of uteruses' implantation to men.. or in men...
as it may be understood from the aforementioned, the novel is covering a few thousand years ahead into the future. Post-apocalyptic but NOT dystopian....
I guess you can call it a slice of life, however, a pretty vast one with a few time skips.
The main and whole plot is revolving around a YA male human who is ace and gay... well... the majority of characters here are, so it's definitely BL, LGBTQ+, also straight and bi-characters are not excluded, just not showing too much in the beginning.
In the present time, humans share Earth with friendly alien race. They make friends, co-workers here and also lovers... among humans, yes. An alien-human pairing. And it so happened that our main green guy is an ace as well which means it's a sloooow-buuuuurn romance Yay! They will need so damn much time to figure out what they want. And who they want...
This is an adult fiction that will contain 18+ scenes. Soon (like not tomorrow but in a month-ish time). So it's good to let the readers know what waits for them around the corner.
Remember the first list item? With the uteruses implantations? Rest assured, our boys will find their way to give it a test which brings us to the Mpreg tag, but ... the whole thing is not about the pregnancy itself, and not until... I don't know when, I didn't get to that part yet even in the drafts.
Long story long 
Generally, I suppose what will work with my novel, is a:
+ novel, but I'm open on this one
+ lgbtq+
+ sci-fi / future / space
+ not sure about fantasy / vamps / wolves / magic too.... but ready to consider
+ romance ..?
+ mystery / crime / detective story
--- abuse, humiliation and forced domination are not welcomed
And that's the novel in question:
My issue with the show wasn't the bright colors and what have you --it was the fitting of everything. And this is just in respect to the clothing the show itself has LOTS of problems, but I'm not getting into that.
On one hand, I think the wild and neon bright fabrics were technicolor horrorscape on my eyeballs --and I mean that as a compliment. (I like colors, but I don't like them on me. GOTH-SQUAD!) I think what bothered me, was the cut and fit of the gowns. They looked...uncomfortable.
Give me wild and wacky, but give it to me appropriate to said body. Those gowns just looked...like they weren't made well. And I say this as someone who knows little. But I feel like, if even I can go --oh, why is that so high up on her chest, they looks awful...then...you know. -shrugs-
I love Tim Burton movies, and those are a wonderful example!
I'm currently rocking 1770/80s for fashion right now in Bones and Blooms (with some hints to earlier, bc panniers crack me up and are a LOOK) --and my other big fashion story is late 1890s to turn of the century Edwardian. My biggest struggle really came with getting the difference between EUROPE and USA fashion. I know it gets mixed a bit, but that's been a bigger struggle for me while researching.
As it stands now, I'm trying to figure out this, and how valid it is:
I'm assuming there's just a shorter sleeved shift under the stay, and then there's a blouse on top?
I've seen variations, too, where there's a jump involved --my question then, too, is with a jump, is there still a stay, bodies, corset involved, or is the lacing of the jump what's supporting the chest?
AND, I am trying to figure out the validity of a busque down the front of a stay that would be pulled out and be revealed to be a dagger or blade of some sorts.
Hashtag, just writer things.