Life, vita di corte: a 18th century day in Stupinigi

Last month I could visit the beautiful palace of Stupinigi not as simple tourist but as reenactor. I'm kinda new into 18 and 19th century reenactment (you're probably tired to read it every time lol) so I was kinda nervous about my costume. We were allowed to wear dresses from 1740-1770 so I originally planned to sew a robe à l'anglaise; due to time and budget, I decided to use a beautiful pink satin fabric two friends gifted me last year but I couldn't figure my anglaise in pink. After looking to my books I decided to make Norah Waugh's sack dress (info e details about the construction in the next post).

I finished the dress and hat the night before the event. I did a fully boned cotton satin stomacher with matching petticoat, cotton ruffles, pink choker and straw bergére hat with paper flowers. For sure I was wearing chemise, stays, pocket hoops and petticoat underneath. 

I started with a pinned bodice but it didn't stay in place so after lunch my boyfriend had to sew the robings to the stomacher to keep me dressed up. I'll never use pins again! 

The dress came together quite easily but has some imperfections I need to fix. I wore very few make up to stay accurate: just red on lips, light pink on cheeks and black mascara. That's all. 

The event was about the daily court life so some of us were dressed like aristocrats and others as servants; we spent the day chatting, walking and taking photos, while some ladies from the group were teaching visitors how to drink hot chocolate (yummy!). 

Walking in the palace has been a real dream. Some furniture is authentic, the mirrors are still bright, the tapestries are fabulous. I felt like the Duchess of Devonshire hehe 

Just to say: keeping my hair up was a nightmare. Trust me. At the end of the day my neck had enough and I had to make a simpler hairstyle (not so accurate but I was suffering). 

I spent most of my day doing embroidery. I started to sew a linen stomacher a couple of months ago and still hadn't the time to finish it. 

We also had the time to take some funny shots ;) 

And now, off to the next event of Life, vita di corte: hunting! Let's make a riding habit then! Thanks for reading! Don't forget to visit Le Vie del Tempo on Facebook for more photos!