By the Sea

This fortnight’s challenge in the Historical Sew Fortnightly is By the Sea. I haven’t taken part in this challenge, although I was tempted by a couple of images.

First up was this studio portrait of a lady in a dress so nautically inspired that it even seems to have an anchor attached to it!

Victorian lady, with anchor

Try as I might, I can't see anything supporting the anchor. Unless this is the Victorian equivalent of Photoshop, my best guess is that it may be attached to the skirt somewhere under the lady's right arm.

I bought the photograph at an antiques fair, and there is no information about it other than the fact that it was from the studio of Arthur J. Melhuish; portrait painter and Photographer Royal to Shah Nasser-ed-Dini of Persia. He also took a number of photographs of the British Royal family, so I assume that the sitter must have been reasonably well-off.

She was also something of a completist when it came to accessories. As well as the anchor on the dress and the large anchor necklace, she even has anchor earrings.

More anchors

The second image is from the Tinne Collection. This is a wool serge two-piece bathing costume from 1910, and was worn by Emily Tinne on her honeymoon. It has a matching pair of espadrilles and a rubberised cotton sateen bathing cap.

1910 bathing costume, © National Museums Liverpool

I love this costume, especially the colour, and in a perfect world with a lot more free time it would have been fun to replicate it. In a similar vein Cait, who writes the Curse Words and Crinolines blog, made a lovely, slightly earlier bathing costume for the challenge; you can see the result here.