Era accuracy - specifically 1880s/90s (men’s, England)
What are the key features that give a piece the look of a certain time period? And what features similarly break immersion, for you personally? Colour, pattern, cut, location-dependency, detail, types of pocket, anything at all. The mistakes that no one else would even notice but which make experts watching a period drama want to ram their head into a wall.
I’m talking about things like… idk, “oh that lapel width wouldn’t be seen dead in [decade]” or “oh yeah that’s such a [decade] trouser cut” or “usually that detail wouldn’t fly but you see it in the French fashions of the time” etc. The little things that really pull it together.
I’m specifically in this instance trying to envision a men’s waistcoat that would suit the 1880s/1890s (specifically for a fashionable young man; dandy, tasteful, Oscar Wilde-type), and I just want to have an idea from the get-go of anything that will really help sell the look (and anything I should do well to avoid). I’ve looked at fashion plates but I kind of struggle to really detect the fine differences in styles; I don’t have the eye for it yet. I know fashion is hardly a monolith; I just don’t want to put all the effort in only to learn I’ve fundamentally missed the mark somehow.
I’ll probably end up making a whole ensemble, so if you know about it beyond waistcoats and such, I’d still love to have that information.