An Informal Afternoon Tea: Etiquette, Fashion, and Excess in the Late 19th Century
(© Dundee Art Gallery and Museum)
During the late nineteenth century, an afternoon tea was one of the most informal entertainments to which a fashionable lady could invite her friends and acquaintances. The menu was simple, as were the dress requirements, and etiquette only required that a guest stay—at minimum—half an hour. It was an easy method of entertaining and one that soon grew in both popularity and extravagance, leading an 1895 edition of Table Talk to declare that the once inexpensive ritual had evolved into “a party in the daytime…[a] large, gas lighted ball at five o’clock where half of the ladies were in décolleté dresses, the other in fur tippets.”[…]Continue Reading
The Forty-Year-Old Victorian Bride
By the end of the Victorian era, some women were beginning to recognize the advantages of marrying a little later in life, after one had gained a modicum of maturity and life experience. In fact, according to a report in the April 19, 1901 edition of the Islington Gazette, “a spinster bride of forty is becoming more and more frequent, especially in high society.” The Gazette attributes this as much to cosmetics as to changing societal norms, stating that:[…]Continue Reading
The Matrimonial Advertisement: Exclusive Cover Reveal at USA Today!
Coming September 2018
Today, I’m thrilled to be over at USA Today’s Happy Ever After blog with Joyce Lamb for the exclusive cover reveal of my next Victorian romance novel, The Matrimonial Advertisement. You can click through to the USA Today website HERE. I hope you’ll all stop by and have a look! […]Continue Reading
The Lost Letter: 10,000 Copies Sold!
Dear Readers,
Today, my Victorian romance The Lost Letter sold its 10,000th copy! I am thrilled beyond belief and so very grateful to you all for taking a chance on a debut fiction author. When The Lost Letter released on September 19, 2017, I was guardedly optimistic about its chances. I hoped it might eventually sell a few hundred copies or maybe even a thousand. Suffice to say, it has exceeded all of my wildest expectations. […]Continue Reading
Gold and Silver Hair Powders for Fashionable Victorian Coiffures
During the mid-nineteenth century, Empress Eugénie of France was the undisputed arbiter of Victorian fashion. When she appeared at a Paris theatre in 1853 with her fair hair dusted in glittering silver powder, the fashionable world sat up and took notice. Ladies—from the upper echelons of the haut ton to the minor ranks of country gentry—were quick to imitate her and it was not long before perfumers, like Eugène Rimmel of London, began advertising glittering hair powder for the masses “as worn by the Empress Eugénie and the elite of the French nobility.”[…]Continue Reading
