Historical dress is not always about opulence and formality as is frequently seen in the Rococo period. V. Birchwood is more fascinated by the practicality of historical fashion and how it can be incorporated into everyday, contemporary life. Wearing historical clothing daily now for a few years, she’s found that sporting this attire is often not as one might expect.
Although it began as a love for wearing historical fashion, in August 2020 Birchwood started constructing her own wardrobe. All of the garments she makes for herself are 100% hand-stitched, sometimes taking 400 hours of work for a single ensemble. V. Birchwood finds hand sewing to be an incredibly therapeutic and calming practice – so she doesn’t even own an electric sewing machine! Through this medium, she is able to recreate historical garments using traditional methods that she can then wear out and about in day-to-day life.
Birchwood posts educational historical fashion content on her YouTube channel, where she discusses her personal experience of living in historical garments and shows the process of construction, encouraging all to discover their own authentic self-expression, to wear what brings them joy, and to not be afraid of jumping into a new creative practice, like hand sewing historical clothing.
