Lizzie Borden: Warps and Wefts

With the proliferation of Lizzies popping up at haunted hayrides, ghost tours and Halloween venues all over the country,  Lizzie duds are in demand for the season.  The same fashion ensemble used for the Living Dead Dolls series is now available up to a woman’s size 12 in a “dead ringer” three piece in black and scarlet, selling for $44.95.(hatchet not included).

Those leg o’ mutton sleeves are de rigeur of course, but the rest of the costume is easy to manage from your closet and tool bench, being a long skirt, boots and weapon-in-hand.  Lizzie’s frizzie bangs and tight little bun complete the look, and perhaps a slightly crazed glint in the eye.  Internet tips on Lizzie costuming urge red hair, but of course Lizzie was not a redhead- light brown hair is listed on her passport from 1890. 

Don’t forget the costume contest Saturday night at the Eagle on North Main Street, a special feature of Lizzie Borden Live ! , the award-winning play starring Jill Dalton.  First prize will be a night’s stay at the famous house on Second Street.  Strap on your corset and come on down!

The popular gigot, or leg o’ mutton sleeves continued to grow in size from 1890 until they reached ridiculous proportions by 1898.  After reaching gargantuan dimensions, there was nowhere to go but down- and they did.  The new Edwardian era changed the emphasis entirely from huge sleeve, hourglass figure, and wide -bottomed skirts to a slim silhouette, monobosom, the “S” shaped curved silhouette and by 1911, a pencil slim hobble skirt which barely allowed a lady room to walk at the bottom.  All of that was topped off by monstrous cartwheel hats which were recently glorified in the Cameron film, Titanic.

An advertisement for starch, 1898, the leg o’muttons last gasp

 (blogger’s collection)

Fresh from the McDowell Dress Cutting Academy Journal in New York- Summer fashions for the seaside. This could have been Emma Borden and her friend Helen Brownell at Fairhaven shore, dressed in some serious leg o’ mutton sleeves.

(From the blogger’s collection)

Over the years since 1991, it has been fun to re-live the 1890’s and to re-enact history as part of the cast at the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast.  Every August 4th there is a new script and new faces to fill the roles.  Before the house was open to the public in 1996, some of us had fun dressing up and giving performances and carriage tours around the city.  In 1992 the city put on an impressive effort to mark the centennial of the Borden case with Maplecroft open, plays, a Victorian Cafe, city exhibits and a conference at the local Bristol Community College.  1992 may never be equalled.  The Second Street Irregulars, a group of armchair sleuths, evolved from the conference as friends were made there who wanted to continue to meet when the centennial ended.  Today the group is going strong again, and meets twice a year to discuss aspects of the case and visit places pertaining to the Borden family and the crime. 

Finding costumes for the past 16 years has been a challenge, but thanks to Butterick and Simplicity patterns, and a new company called Recollections, (see link) dressing the part has become easier. 

 Thankfully costumes for the men are not as difficult, and for many years the part of Andrew Borden has been played by Borden scholar Ed Thibault who has made Lizzie the subject of interest for over 30 years and has worn a black frock coat to great effect! There’s nothing quite like time traveling in a costume with friends who share the same interests with matching enthusiasm.

 After the decline of the second rigid bustle period, the 1890’s ushered in an interest in the reprise of the leg o’ mutton sleeve, called “gigot” in a previous incarnation. While skirts became plainer and wide at the bottom, sleeves became elaborate and grew to an alarming rate at the upper arm, reaching ridiculous proportions by 1896. After reaching the limit, mercifully, the gigantic ballooning sleeves collapsed and returned to the more pleasing contours of pre-1890.  Big shoulders and sleeves, a small waist, neat, close-to-the- head hair with frizzled bangs, and dainty boots were the aim of Lizzie’s 1892 social set.  Those who could afford it had their evening gowns from Worth.  It was a great time to be a girl! Images from www.fashion-era.com, the Delineator magazine, www.costumersmanifesto.com and Long Ago Fashions.

Set design and costuming as well as casting, can make or break a film.  For those have seen the 1975 Legend of Lizzie Borden starring Bewitched’s beautiful Elizabeth Montgomery, getting the house and costumes just right were very important.  The famous house had been photographed and blueprints of the layout have been well- known since the murders in 1892.  Lizzie herself is frozen in time in those leg o’ mutton sleeves.  The house owners received Lizzie’s famous acquittal dress from Paramount Film Studio, and it is currently on display in the room where Abby Borden met her violent end.  It is a popular item for visitors spending the night at the house on Second Street.  Miss Montgomery was a size 4 when she wore this dress, which is actually a gray nubby-textured wool blend with a caplet with accordian-pleated long lappets which hang down the front and tuck into a belt at the waist.  The very full accordian-pleated wide sleeves give the impression of the popular leg o’ mutton sleeve which was growing ever-larger in 1892.  The back of the cape is finished off with heavy metallic bead fringe.  Sadly, guests at the house have purloined some of these fringes as souvenirs (see photo).

The late Guy Verhille, veteran costumer of many large screen and television productions won an Emmy, as did the set designer, in 1975 for his work in The Legend of Lizzie Borden.  The hat to this ensemble was unfortunately thrown away.  It featured a strong vertical embellishment as seen in the photo below, which was exactly correct for the era.

With budget constraints, this was the only copy of the dress made for the television movie, and how lucky that Mr. Verhille’s great design has survived.  To see more of Mr. Verhille’s credits, visit the Internet Movie Data Base  http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0894181/

 When you ask just about anybody what Lizzie looked like, most will mention her pale, penetrating eyes, heavy lower jowl- and those leg o’ mutton sleeves ! Perhaps it is because the only photo of Lizzie facing the camera was taken on the porch of the Covell house on Farewell Street in Newport after the acquittal.. She has a certain relieved and self-satisfied expression as she gazes right at you, and that Mona Lisa smile is flanked by two enormous leg o’ mutton sleeves.

Actresses who are asked to portray Lizzie are always pressed to give the 1893 Lizzie look, complete with leg o’ mutton or gigot sleeves.  Surely Lizzie marched on with the trends of the times, and by her demise in 1927, had probably tried out the cloche hat, narrow, shorter skirts, sacque dress and flapper bandeau. For students of costume history, one thing emerges quickly when comparing trends from decade to decade- if the skirt is simple and plain, the bodice and sleeve will be elaborate.

By 1892, the bustle had come and gone twice, the soft bustle of the  early1870s, and the rigid and ridiculous second bustle period of 1883-89 – a bustle so wide a small dog could perch on it.   1884                           1875 & 76  http://www.fashion-era.com/bustles.htm (drawings from the Costumer’s Manifesto)

With all the emphasis on the skirt and bustle, elaborate draping of the layers, and passementerie, or trims, the bodice and sleeves were kept plain. This is sometimes referred to as The Upholstered Age in ladies’ fashion.  By 1890 things would change again as skirts became smoothly fitted over the hips and wide at the bottoms- made possible by many gores, sometimes as many as 9.  These were called bell or morning glory skirts and were a joy to more athletic girls who liked a rousing walk in the country.  To offset the plain skirts, the top part of the sleeve of the basque or jacket or waist (term for blouse) started to grow and grow into the leg o’ mutton monstrosity of 1896, and then it died a merciful death in fashion.  Lizzie kept up-to-date with her expanding leg o’ muttons at the trial, and probably was always aware of fashion’s fickle fancy.  It has been said by some who knew Lizzie Borden later in life that she kept to darker shades, quality tailoring, and the luxurious fabrics which money could buy.

“Monster Muttons of 1896“(click on thumbnails for larger images)

Some of the most revealing images of Lizzie appear in the brilliant newspaper cartoons and sketches found in various newspaper coverage of her 1893 trial. The description of items in her dress closet and observations made by others as to the neatness of her dress reveal a lady who knew what was fashionable.  She may not have possessed a closet filled with Worth ballgowns, but she certainly knew the latest styles in headwear and sleeves.

 The “chip hat” shown here in a trial cartoon used on the cover of Lizzie Borden Past and Present was all the rage in 1893.  Hats had to accommodate the bun of back hair or elegant French twist seen in this flattering image.

Although the hat does have the look of a “chip” with the back end tilted upward, chip actually refers to a machine made summer weave. The best plaited weaves of straw or thin willow wood came from Italy.

“In the valley of the Po River in northern Italy grow slender willow trees. From these trees are made chip braids—the only wood braid that is used to any extent in millinery. The young tree is split into sections, planed smooth and cut into fine strips. When these strips are planed off, a thin chip is formed.

There are many advantages to a chip hat. In the first place, it is extremely light in weight, smooth and attractive. It has a delightful soft, dull finish. A decided advantage of chip is its inexpensiveness. However it is not a durable material and does not wear as well as hemp or milan. ” http://www.vintagesewing.info/1920s/28-mhd/mhd-03.html

The embellishment on hats of this period tend to be on the strong vertical line and toward the center to front of the hat:  feathers, bows, birds and fruit often being the trims of choice. 

                  Grand Tour travel ensemble, chip hat                                

(L)  Exaggerated chip hat, early 1890s from The Delineator

The upscale catalogue, Victorian Trading Company http://www.victoriantradingco.com/index.html is offering one of the nicest Lizzie Borden costumes on the market, complete with large axe and a cunning little hat.  The calico two-piece ensemble is well-made and makes some of the other Lizzie costumes look- well, tawdry in comparison.  This little number would be perfectly in style for those hot August mornings as well.  Victorian Trading Co. offers thousands of Victorian-inspired home decor, holiday, fashion, and stationery items.