17 thoughts on “SNARK WEEK: WTFrock Is a Stomacher?

  1. Some of these are outright travesties, but I think the costumes in Fire Over England are pretty damn gorgeous even if they aren’t perfectly accurate — 3D rose and all. ;)

  2. I suggest you do an article showing the times when a stomacher is shown correctly.

    1. Oh & if you’re making something for yourself, don’t stress! We snark movies & TV shows bec. they’re out there making money off this stuff & often saying how “historical” they are. But unless you’re part of some strict reenactor group that’s told you they have specific costume standards, rock on with your bad self & enjoy what you make &/or wear :)

    1. I do kind of wonder why stomachers done correctly (or at least following more closely) isn’t seen as a helpful/good practice. If you use pins to hold it in, it saves work on attaching closures and can give you a bit of fitting wiggle room. I can understand not wanting to deal with corsetry (although not doing so will have a big impact), but why create extra work doing it wrong? And if someone really wants to use hooks and eyes, just, you know, put the stomacher under the main dress edges and it will be less obvious.

      Not gonna lie though, I want that first red and green Victorian-take-on-Tudor looking dress from Spanish princess (on the girl who played Lucy Pevensie in the Narnia movies). I would totally wear that. But I wouldn’t claim it’s accurate.

      1. I think the idea of using pins to fasten clothing scares modern folks who haven’t tried it. Prob. because today we don’t wear as many layers, so ppl think ‘omg I’ll get stabbed by the pins!’ But pre 20th-c., you’d be wearing so much clothing, pins in the top layer are very unlikely to work their way to your body. Any 18th-c. gowns I make close up with pins. It’s so much easier & much more forgiving with weight changes or changing up different looks.

  3. Great post! I like reading about historical fashions, especially the lesser known ones. It makes sense that a stomacher was originally made from fabric. I only know about them as jewelry. Particularely the stomachers left to Queen Elizabeth II from her mother, Queen Mary. One in all diamonds and one in diamonds and emeralds.

      1. That makes sense. I think modern times can live without the fabric stomachers, but I would like to se the jewelrystyle become a thing again. There’s no doubt so many antique stomachers lying in a dusty cabinet or stuffed drawer somewhere that the world deserves to see. Jewelry should be worn.

  4. I have a part-time business selling 17th/18th century clothing and accessories. I make stomachers in narrow and wide widths, stiffened with buckram. After the publication of ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’, women would come up to my stall at an event, see the stomachers, and exclaim, ‘So that’s what they are!’ as PFG mentions stomachers being fastened and (mostly) unfastened in the book. BTW, Mrs. Caroline Astor had a diamond stomacher that had belonged to Marie Antoinette.

Comments are closed.