4mm Edwardian figures

[Compound2632]

There are various pictures from the 90s of quite bright colours. 

 

Hmm. I didn't find Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe that helpful as a guide to mid-19th century female fashions.

[ChrisN]

Hmm. I didn't find Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe that helpful as a guide to mid-19th century female fashions.

 

Maybe not, but the other pictures are links.  There was discussion from about page 13 on my Traeth Mawr thread on the colours of Victorian clothing.

[bertiedog]

The aniline dyes changed fashion all right, the Electric Blue fiasco was the result, when society, as one, reacted to the availability of the new blue dye and virtually all dresses suddenly became bright blue. It cause consternation at balls, dances and in the audiences in theatres , when women found themselves in effect, all wearing the same dresses..........I forget the exact year, but it was commented on by the Punch and other papers, and caused blue to go completely out of fashion  for about seven to ten years!

 

The 1890's were the decade of return to colour, but it did not affect menswear, which remained black in general , unless country wear. The working man would not be colourful at all, using older clothes with plain faded dyes.

 

The fashionable young women had reacted tp mourning black about 1870, but at first colour was only as an adornment to the basic black, which changed to grey as a base, then expanded to the pre-mourning early Victorian tastes but about 1890.

 

A famous mention of colour tastes was made by George Grossmith, in the comedy, The Diary of a Nobody, where Mr Pooter uses the then (1890's) new enamel paint in his favourite bright red, to paint everything in his house red, including the bath..........Maybe Mrs Pooter had an Electric Blue dress!

 

Stephen

[southern42]

Hi

 

I have just been on Stadden's blog.  The Victorian set is excellent but I am drawn to the loco crews with separate heads and arms for my late 1930s goods yard project on GWRd.  Choose the most suitable heads and arm shape, and give them the right colour uniform and they should look fine - just like the ones in my photo.  From what I have seen available, these look as though they would be just the job.

 

I was also after the Cob in LNWRmodeller's photo but it is no longer available.

Edited November 13, 2016 by southern42

[JCL]

I love the figures in general,and the 1860 sets are lovely.

 

For my 1890-1910 period set on a rural branchline the 006 Edwardian may be a better choice for me as a way of showing farm workers in a field. As I noted on my Wainfleet thread the other day, a photographer would a a positive boon as it would successfully explain why they are standing around. I've seen enough photos now of farms and stations with people standing to attention to know I could put together a good scene.

 

as a ps, I remember a radio 4 program about the discovery of mauve, and that it was indeed the first artificial dye. If anyone is interested, you can hear it just here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0608nvg

Edited November 13, 2016 by JCL

[bertiedog]

A small colour point for early Victorian models is the colour of iron railings, which today are gereraly black in finish. But prior to the death of Prince Albert most iron railings were painted bright red. The propeties of the Duke of Westminster across London were the most extensively iron railing fitted houses and streets in the capital, and were red with gold finials and fittings, but on the orders of the then Duke, were painted black in mourning. As he lead, so all others followed and black remained the fashion.

On country estates of landed gentlemen who had no title, the colour used was green, and most Railway companies used Green on railings and gates. Some companies, possibly with titled shareholders used red on the railings, certainly the L&M did, as paintings show.

 

Assessing colour from old photos is plagued by the type of film used, which was orthochromatic, and totally insensitive to red and its near colour shades, all rendered dead black on the photos . This can explain the still sombre looking dress in late Victorian photos, giving the impression of mourning dress. The real revival in colour was the Edwardian period, but again photos may give the wrong impression, and a visit to art galleries may give a better view of the look of the period.

[Nearholmer]

Parisians, c1890, in their Sunday Best.

[Jol Wilkinson]

Hi

 

I have just been on Stadden's blog.  The Victorian set is excellent but I am drawn to the loco crews with separate heads and arms for my late 1930s goods yard project on GWRd.  Choose the most suitable heads and arm shape, and give them the right colour uniform and they should look fine - just like the ones in my photo.  From what I have seen available, these look as though they would be just the job.

 

I was also after the Cob in LNWRmodeller's photo but it is no longer available.

I think the horse in the photo is A14 in the Dart Castings range. Possibly not totally correct for the trap - I am sure someone will tell us - but seems a reasonable match.

[bertiedog]

Don't forget the picture is Paris, they never had the Victorian obsession with mourning, Parisian fashion was considered almost scandalous by late Victorians just look at the Toulouse Lautrec and the impressionists generally, bright clothes, vivid colours. Parisians joked about British Visitors being dressed in greys and black, and standing out in a crowd.

Stephen

[ChrisN]

The aniline dyes changed fashion all right, the Electric Blue fiasco was the result, when society, as one, reacted to the availability of the new blue dye and virtually all dresses suddenly became bright blue. It cause consternation at balls, dances and in the audiences in theatres , when women found themselves in effect, all wearing the same dresses..........I forget the exact year, but it was commented on by the Punch and other papers, and caused blue to go completely out of fashion  for about seven to ten years!

 

The 1890's were the decade of return to colour, but it did not affect menswear, which remained black in general , unless country wear. The working man would not be colourful at all, using older clothes with plain faded dyes.

 

The fashionable young women had reacted tp mourning black about 1870, but at first colour was only as an adornment to the basic black, which changed to grey as a base, then expanded to the pre-mourning early Victorian tastes but about 1890.

 

A famous mention of colour tastes was made by George Grossmith, in the comedy, The Diary of a Nobody, where Mr Pooter uses the then (1890's) new enamel paint in his favourite bright red, to paint everything in his house red, including the bath..........Maybe Mrs Pooter had an Electric Blue dress!

 

Stephen

 

Stephen,

I am old enough to remember the 60s, no the 1960s, when men's fashion changed and men began to wear bright colours, even frilly pink shirts.

 

It is also amusing that hair began to be long again for men, which I think, was the first time since the first war,  (WW1), and my impression was that the style before that had been longer.

[BG John]

Stephen,

I am old enough to remember the 60s

In which case, you weren't actually there .

[Nearholmer]

Bertiedog

 

My Parisians seem to fit with what can be seen in British paintings ( and photos, in the case of the pale dresses of the little girls), so perhaps their more exuberant use of colour didn't extend to Sunday constitutionals.

 

Kevin

Edited November 13, 2016 by Nearholmer

[Compound2632]

Maybe not, but the other pictures are links.  There was discussion from about page 13 on my Traeth Mawr thread on the colours of Victorian clothing.

 

... and indeed there is a heap of discarded blue clothing.

[Penlan]

Look at any Youtube film of the 1900's, and there's plenty of outfits to be seen there, the ladies all seem to be wearing ankle length skirts / dress's and have to hold up the hem from dragging in the dust / mud.  

Of course back then there wasn't a lot of colour about, seems to be all shades of grey...   

Edited November 14, 2016 by Penlan

[PhilJ W]

Look at any Youtube film of the 1900's, and there's plenty of outfits to be seen there, the ladies all seem to be wearing ankle length skirts / dress's and have to hold up the hem from dragging in the dust / mud.  

Of course back then there wasn't a lot of colour about, seems to be all shades of grey...   

It wasn't just the dust and mud that the ladies had to worry about, there were a lot of horses about as well. In many photographs of the era the horse droppings are clearly visible. A crossing sweeper would be considered a very steady job.

[Poggy1165]

I remember my grandmother remarking on a fashion that (I think) hit women just before WW1. The 'hobble skirt'. Apparently it was so tight she had grave difficulty getting on and off trams. (Which in those days had quite high steps.) It was, of course, full length.

 

An interesting book on this area of life is The Wearing of Costume By Ruth M Green. It's aimed mainly at actors (many of whom could do with reading it!) but it explains how clothes were worn at different periods. People walked and stood rather differently to we moderns. Much of this is irrelevant to railway modellers (as unfortunately our little people don't self-propel) but it's a fascinating read, nonetheless.

[Edwardian]

It wasn't just the dust and mud that the ladies had to worry about, there were a lot of horses about as well. In many photographs of the era the horse droppings are clearly visible. A crossing sweeper would be considered a very steady job.

 

Apropos Stadden's 1860s folk, Frith's paintings, how one wore costume, skirts and crossing sweepers, this is an 1858 work:

[Poggy1165]

Our economics teacher used to say that if we failed our A Levels we could always work as crossing sweepers. At the time, I hadn't a clue what he was on about. 

 

As an aside, people used to spit a lot too. I dare say hems got really filthy. And wet. 

Edited November 14, 2016 by Poggy1165

[shortliner]

Granted it is set across the pond, but if you are watching "Westworld" watch the street scenes and the ladies holding up their skirts - there are other things worth watching, also! 

[Penlan]

Granted it is set across the pond, but if you are watching "Westworld" watch the street scenes and the ladies holding up their skirts - there are other things worth watching, also! 

Bare ankles ?

[bertiedog]

On the stance of figures, try to mount leaning forward, never backwards or level, by this I mean only by whiskers, and you can bend most whitemetal if they are to rigidly at attention. At least Stadden's figures are also in proportion, another supplier, no names, does seem to get a Neanderthal look or a simian arms length, and the poses are very flat.

Frith seems accurate from what I was told at the V&A, where of course you can ask to see the items in store. Some colours are unbelievably bright, but early items were much more muted in colour.

 

Don't take the postcards or illustrations as too realistic, these were coloured in by stencilling, and a standard range of fixed printing ink colours, not like modern printing where colours are blended. I doubt the women doing the colouring had ever seen the original view, they just work to order like a painting by number system.

 

Even with the Great Exhibition the catalogue in colour is shown to be wrong, as many items still exist, and the colourists just took a best shot!

There are no surviving colour photos till the 1910's that are accurate in rendition, and colour was rare till the 1930's. Colour systems for film existed but used the two colour principle to give an approximation of the real view, in Technicolor's case every thing was in salmon or pale green in the 1920's!!

 

Oddly enough a great resource is Hollywood, with costume dramas, in most colour films they went to great lengths to get costumes right, although they also could drop clangers. The people who hired them the clothes, like Bermans, are experts on period costume.

 

Living in Rochester in Kent where Dickens lived means we have several festivals each year in full period costume, but many of the characters are dressed in styles and colours that only came in after Dickens had died! He set most of his books in the Regency or George IV's reign, not Victoria. He died in 1870.

 

Stephen

[Craigw]

I make a point of buying every 4mm scale set of figures that Andrew Stadden releases.As others have noted, they are the best around. While they are no use for me at all, I pre ordered the two 1860s figure sets and received the bonus figures too. Attached are a pair of pictures of one of the sets of figures. Well worth the money. If you want more good figures I would suggest that you too buy the sets.

 

Regards,

 

Craig W

 

 

Edited November 30, 2016 by Craigw

[Anotheran]

I make a point of buying every 4mm scale set of figures that Andrew Stadden releases. As others have noted, they are the best around. While they are no use for me at all, I pre ordered the two 1860s figure sets and received the bonus figures too.

Mine arrived last week. No idea what I'm going to do with them, but they'll get painted and photographed in some pose even if nothing to do a railway model! I'm sure I'll be able to sneak one or two in though.

 

Kind regards, Neil

[ChrisN]

Mine have arrived, so I am told.  Andrew Stadden got them out before Christmas this year so I am going to have to wait the best part of a month before I see them. 

 

As I am having a parade on my layout I thought that the local policeman would wear his ceremonial uniform which dates back to the 1860s so that is another one I have squeezed in.

[ChrisN]

A. C.Stadden's loco crew are here!  Just in time for Christmas.  I have primed my family, but if they miss it then ithey will be a New Year present to myself.