18th century blog

Sofia Magdalenas brudklänning i tidens smak by AnneMarie Dahlberg
This is a tiny little book sold at the Swedish museum Livrustkammaren. It’s about the wedding dress of Sofia Magdalena who later became queen of Sweden. It tells of the wedding and of the construction of the dress, and contains x-rays of the dress bodice. A few other dresses and objects are also shown. There are no actual descriptions on how to go about making the dress, but it’s still useful if you’re interested in making 18th century clothes. It’s an interesting little book with many pictures, and it’s very cheap. if you’re ever at Livrustkammaren I recommend picking it up.

Another Livrustkammaren tip is the pattern of Gustav III:s wedding suit also sold in the museum shop.

There’s a completely new ballet about Gustav III currently playing at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm. I haven’t seen it myself and the only pictures I’ve found are very small, but you can see a clip from it. If anyone has seen it I’d love to hear what you thought.

39 screencaps from the second part of Gustav III:s äktenskap after the cut. You can find screencaps from the first part in the previous entry.

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Gustav III:s äktenskap
This is a Swedish mini-series from 2001 in two parts, about Gustav III and his wife during the time when they had their children. The first part builds largely on a rumor that the royal couple needed actual hands-on help to consummate their marriage, so it’s not entirely based on cemented facts. The second part is a bit more slow, and much darker. It’s obviously in Swedish, but English subtitles are available on the DVD.

I thought it was really great, and very beautiful. When I first started watching the acting seemed a bit stiff, but the feeling soon went away. Even my boyfriend who doesn’t have an interest in 18th century fashion really liked it. I thought the actor playing Gustav, Jonas Karlsson, was such a great choice. He is a very good actor and really looked the part.

I found some of the outfits a bit costumey looking, but there were many great ones as well and the overall effect was gorgeous. It’s also really beautifully filmed. I definitely recommend it!

Tons and tons of beautiful screencaps (69 of them!) after the cut. Screencaps from part two will be in a separate entry.

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Gustav III of Sweden on Wikipedia.

More portraits after the cut.

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En bädd av dun by Christopher O’Regan
This is a book about life at the court of Gustav III of Sweden, and also quite a bit about Gustav himself. I thought it was great. Fun to read and lots of interesting facts and stories. It is illustrated with paintings and drawings from the period, and also a few photographs of people dressed like 18th century people and of existing costumes and items from the 18th century. This book exists only in Swedish as far as I know.