Nice!
Yah Yah, just let me know. 
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.
I love the idea of a dagger busque! I knew a girl who did her thesis on commedia d'larte, and she carved a busque out of wood. she had no friends and a lot of time on her hands. she didnt need to do that.
I think you are asking all the right questions. The most important thing about "historical accuracy" is not exclusively drawing from primary sources, it's making sure everything makes sense. Just like when you do worldbuilding in fantasy/scifi, make sure your world makes sense. If she has a dagger busque, what does that feel like when she bends over? I'm so happy you posted "the great" because i loved the costumes on that show. The costumes have RULES. Catherine is allowed to wear a peasant blouse in scenes where she's not at court. She can dress down when she's alone, but when shes with peter shes got to dress up. If she's seeing the ladies she's got to dress EXTRA.
reasons you cant trust primary sources:
-the extant period clothing that survives in museums has survived because it was never worn. it was either a one-time event specific piece (like a wedding dress), or it was ill fitting, or the owner didnt like it. A lot of extant gowns have tailoring flaws which explain why they were never worn. a lot of extant clothing is UGLY. I can imagine the 1870s woman whose gown is now in my museum being like "green, mother? this is the ugliest shit ive ever seen. ew. put it in the trunk." The costume collection i used to work at was largely a collection of clothing too ugly for people to wear
-preservation bias. pieces that were saved because they were special, and do not represent everyday fashion. We were thrilled to find an 1850s wedding gown that was STUNNING. it did not fit conventions of the time period for wedding gowns but it was STUNNING. Im going to write stunning in all capitals again. STUNNING. so anyway i wanted to write a paper about how unusual it was but when i looked up the provenance it was made by a textile merchant for his daughter's wedding. it was only unusual because they wanted to show off how great dad's fabric store was.
You should feel empowered to make your own rules, because individuals make unique clothing decisions based on their needs. There's no primary source for your original character. As long as your character rules make sense, you should be allowed to get away with it. And you should have rules. you should have a lot of rules. if your character is neurotypical, they probably dress differently depending on the situation. who are they meeting? what are those people gonna wear?
another note about your time period: you already know about separates, right? so youre looking at 1 piece of every clothing item, maybe 2, and they swap out. you could plan out their whole wardrobe if you wanted to, and i bet you already have. Any fabric you could see would be pretty, the interior layers were whatever they could get their hands on. Interior is butcher's cloth lining for rich people, anything for poor people. I found a pocket cut out of a feed bag in an 1850s dress. you could put a feed bag in your story if you want. you could do anything, lol.
i cant tell you exactly what your 1780s girls are gonna wear, because its gonna depend what their tailors could get their hands on. I can give you resources for costume design if you want, but you dont need it. where is their tailor? how big is their staff? how much time do they have? i assumed basques were a high court thing, provincial gals wouldn't have had that. what would colonials make stays out of? what they could get their hands on. oldest corsets Ive handled are 1870s and they had no bones, only reinforced cotton. then again, survival bias. maybe the boned ones didnt survive, and thats why their descendants only had non-boned ones to donate.
i can send you 1890s if you want primaries. my fav provenance story is an 1890s piece by a woman so rich she bought fabric in paris and then left it in a trunk for a year, because wearing the "newest" fabric was considered too "noveau riche." thats was a real thing people did. give a fuck about other people's opinions like that. im like, "girl if you got it, flaunt it"
Hell yes. GOTH-SQUAD!
Yeah, yeah, given the make up of the city and fantasy elements, the clothing has been accommodated as such. I'm personally going for more heavily inspired, bc it is. It just want enough that when people read they're like yah yah, 1700s and shit. carry on.
I'm glad you liked the busk-dagger, I'm super here for it. I saw this BEAUTIFUL one...hold on, I think I have it...
I DO!
Idea was that it was concealed and fairly easy to pull out of her stay. It would be more like a cane-sword, and because she has plant magic, she would grow the excess of the handle. Spoiler, not spoiler. But I'm in love with it so much and I think the idea of it so damn cool.
I also think it's super cute that they could be exchanged, especially from sailors, as a token of love and what not. They were mean to be super intimate.
OOOOH, do you have an resources on accessories? Like I know perfume bauble things were a thing, but I'm not even sure where to start looking for fun stuff. I wanna do a chapter with a Milliner.
I'm okay for now on Gilded Age and Victorian, I'm still in the 18th C. for clothing right now in terms of books and as it is looking, going to be in there for awhile.
Yeah, I'm still going through THE GREAT, but I love the clothes. I've been taking lots of inspiration from it.
Fox!! Hey 
Yeah that sounds great! I was thinking of doing a shoutout on the latest chapter then also adding a hyperlinked pic w/info and cover of the story at the bottom of every chapter (where the "custom ad" can be placed in a story) that either I or the author can create. Something like:
Ooh 
I like this! I’m in the middle of changing my cover anyway 
depending on when you want to do this, I’m hoping to get it done in a few days. But I could get some other art done. What are the dimensions you did for this so I can get started?
Oh yeah I'm all over that dagger. The plant powers making the wood grow? chefs kiss. I love this. I love everything about this.
I understand when you say "heavily inspired by" because that's a vibe. Your story vibe is more adventure/ fantasy and it's been my experience that a lot of readers will check out if I spend too much time "setting the place" so to speak. When you said "just enough that when people read they're like...carry on" I feel that. I think there's a conversation to be had here about the appropriate way to introduce setting into the narrative. Something about doing it in a way that doesn't hamstring the action? I took a writers class this past winter because I'm a fucking joke and my classmates kept giving me feedback about starting every single chapter with a long description of the setting. And they were goddamn right I shouldnt live like that.
The little token as gifts between sailors is amazing and precious. I love this. Everything about it. That's my next book (my previous two books were pirates.)
The best book about millinery of all time is https://www.amazon.com/Neck-Up-Illustrated-Guide-Hatmaking/dp/0941082008/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=from+the+neck+up&qid=1618333224&sr=8-1
it is also a hat making guide so
1. you can make the damn hats
2. your character can convincingly make the hats because there's a step by step guide. write your book like "she was whisptitching wire to the buckrum" because that's a real step from the book.
My cheat for everything costume is john peacock's book:
-every item of clothing is labeled, including accessories.
-silhouette cheat sheet forever. it gives you 8 for every 50 years of history
-just like. cannot be understated. the shoes are in here. the hats. the accessories. the hairstyles. one stop shop.
-divided by English regent so I don't even have to look it up
Darling, you are a blessing!
I had that book on my list the other day to go buy from the book store. I'm glad to know it is now endorsed.
If you ever need anything --my vacuous knowledge is yours. <3 GOTH-SQUAD!
I have mixed feelings about writing classes. And, I say this as someone with a degree in English Lit & Fiction Writing --meh. The biggest thing I had to overcome, and bless the patience of my Co-Writer for this, is because that was the only circle I was in (other Lit Degrees) we just got into this vortex of trying to impress one another, instead of actually writing a story. Writers writing for Writers was a cesspool of terrible that I don't wish on anyone.
So, I had to step back and reevaluate what I wanted. Do I want to strive for the next 'great work of art' or do I want to write books for people who need everything that I needed? I knew that my end goal was to write all the books I was desperate to read, so -- that's where I'm at now. Am I striving for some award, no, not anymore.
What I want now, is to one day see fanart, and people cosplaying as my characters. I wanna see people reaching out and going 'yo--your book helped me when I was in a bad spot. That character is someone I think about when I need strength,' because in the end, that's what they do for me. I write these people, for people, and for me. For real, there's a character than I cling to when I'm in a bad way and having an episode. "What would they do?" and the answer is "not put up with this shit, that's for sure" and that's given me strength.
I straight up stood up for myself a couple weeks ago, and told someone off, and then hung up the phone on them, and sat on my couch wide-eyed going 'what the hell just happened to me? I think that character possessed me!'
ANYWAY--tangent aside.
If you want help, or have questions, or want to bounce writing stuff back and forth, my DM is always opened.
And, also, because I suppose this is now tradition...
Your Historical Fun Fact:
Medieval Peoples, at least in England, were afraid to fart in bed, b/c they thought it would invite the devil.
They also slept naked, and it was not unheard of, of same-sex to share the bed...naked.
Use that how you want. 
I did 1800px x 1156px and I used canva I'm down to do it whenever so we can wait for your new cover!
farts are evil? then my husband is defs the devil.
I kind of needed to hear this today because its been a day. Ive yelled at multiple people on the phone, and its only 4:40pm. I still have another rant in me. Sometimes, when I get really mad, I don't tell people I'm a therapist. I tell them I'm an artist. Oh yeah, I'm unhinged. Im completely fucking bonkers but I have fuck-you money from my vanilla ass therapy job. No, you cannot talk to me like that. No, I will not use professional language on the phone. I will fire you, and then hire another one of you.
You should always assert yourself. full stop. break the phone if you have to.
Weird question: have you ever done a playlist for your story? I saw somebody post about making one and its POSESSED ME. Like, what if i just did that? Idk wanted to run it by you.
I will totally slide into your DMs. Feel free to slide into mine. I have no skills but i love reading and looking at art/ historical fun facts.
historical fun fact: the first duke of Marlborough marched his men 28 miles in 22 hours to beat the french to lassines. it was unheard of in that time period. He fumbled oudenarde because his troops were too tired but he stopped the french siege of oudenarde.
YES!
I have many playlists for my stories and book, and characters.
I am also super-duper lucky that my Co-Writer/Creator is a phenomenal musician, so we're actually writing official music for the book.
There's one that's already live, it's on my twitter, patreon, and (now) TikTok.
(should be the post with the music ) https://twitter.com/blackorchidsaid/status/13784252305201111061
But let's not even get into Pinterest boards, b/c oh man, even I don't wanna get lost in there, LOL
I've also been 'fan' casting characters, b/c who doesn't, and the more that I look at certain actors, the ANGRIER I get at how perfect they are.
Yo, sometimes you just gotta rage.
And yes, slide on in there anytime! I am always down to chat
Yes I saw your music project already! How could I forget? I think its AWESOME. It's exactly the kind of engagement that hooks readers, you know? It's immersive! This is like, goals. Of course I will probably have to curate music by others, but that's okay too. We can't all be cutting edge, lol.
Fan casting? Like when you pick real actors for your characters? I haven't thought about that. Obviously now Im going to ask you about it!
Ps. what happened to this thread?
Cool! I’m almost done with it, so I’ll use those dimensions and send you something similar to what you made
Yeah yeah, I have lots of music, so let me know if you're looking for them sweet sweet 18thC. vibes. I just made a whole one that's modern techno and house versions of songs, b/c they're good to bop along to.
La Revolution by Saycet (decent enough show, but amazing Score) is one a I listen to regularly.
Yah, yah, You figure out who you would 'ideally' like to be in the role if it were live-action or what not. I have most of the chat picked out, and sometimes i just makes me angry how perfect some people are for the role. LOL.
And yes, Fox, learning did happen! Hahaha. Of which, I am now due:
HISTORICAL FUN FACT:
Curse words are way, way older than you think. The 'F-bomb' was actually one of roughly six other words that held the same impact when in speech. It's true competitor: 'swived" (in Middle English it would be more like [ swee-ved ], which means ' to swivel ' ( yes, exactly in the dirty kind of way ) was just as popular ar the F-word. However, I think we all know what the F-word survived. It's punchy! It is also the only inffex in the English Language.
So there's prefex (before a word) suffix (after a word) and inffex (middle of the word)
You can also use the F-bomb as almost all forms of words, too. Noun, verb, etc.
Anyway--thank you for coming to my ADHD-rant TeD talk.
So, gothic-squad @blackorchid @sarahmassey998 @foxnflames @jkb4753 DM me your covers and PFP and I'm gonna try to do A Thing to make our liddol group official this weekend!
(It's a website. A website listing our author bios and story links and synopsis.)
