at the stroke of Midnight

Come hither, mortal! a blog for historical androgynous aesthetics. whimsy vibes.

[littledaisybell]

❝What you call sin, I call the great spirit of love, in all its forms.❞ MÄDCHEN IN UNIFORM (1931)

[chic-a-gigot]

Journal des Dames et des Modes, Costume Parisien, 5 juillet 1810, (1071): Habit habillé. Chapeau à Plumet. Epée à poignée d'Acier. Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Netherlands

Standing man dressed in a 'habit habillé', consisting of a habit à la Françause with a very high collar, vest and culottes. Wrinkled jabot and cuffs. Neckerchief and stockings. Under the arm a hat with a plume. On the left a sword with a steel handle. Further accessories: breloque, flat shoes with square buckles. The print is part of the fashion magazine Journal des Dames et des Modes, published by Pierre de la Mésangère, Paris, 1797-1839.

[clove-pinks]

I just found a delightful War of 1812 Christmas story! People of the anglosphere in the early 19th century didn't really celebrate Christmas like we do today, so I love finding period references.

This is from the diary of William Brooks Northcutt, a 22-year-old distiller’s apprentice from Bourbon County, Kentucky, who signed up for a yearlong stint with Captain William Garrard’s company of mounted volunteers. The context is the return to Fort Greene Ville after the Battle of Mississinewa in December, 1812:

We left it on the 18th and got to the fort on the 24th of December, it being Christmas Eve. We had a hard time of it getting in for we had to build a Breast work Every night clear until we got to the fort, but when we got to the fort we had a Jubule for there we found a plenty to Eat and drink, and we had a merry Christmas of it.

We Encamped at one Edge of the fort without puting out a regular guard and had a real old fasheoned Christmas frolick.

— Quoted The War of 1812: Writings From America's Second War of Independence, ed. Donald R. Hickey.

It's evident from the next few sentences that Northcutt means a Thomas Rowlandson-style old fashioned Christmas.

(A Christmas scene by Rowlandson published in 1812).

[fromtheheather]

Das Innere der Bärenhöhle bei Welschenrohr (1778) - Caspar Wolf

[ship-to-starboard]

[littledaisybell]

Lesbian kiss in 1930’s pre-Hays Code film Morocco.

[weirdvintage]

“The Fly-Catching Macaroni,” engraved by Whipcord, published by M. Darly, 1772

“Macaroni” was a pejorative term used to describe a fashionable man of 18th-century Britain, usually considered effeminate in nature. They were a common subject of teasing in caricatures at the time.

[littledaisybell]

GRETA GARBO and ELIZABETH YOUNG in Queen Christina (1933) | Garbo plays the eponymous monarch, who true to the real historical figure, shares a passionate intimacy with her lady-in-waiting and lover Ebba Sparre, played by Young.

[fashionsfromhistory]

Riding Habit

c.1770-1780

England

Royal Ontario Museum (Object number: 2013.17.3.1)

[broncoburro]

Art Fight 2026 - smileyfaceorg's Robespierre (DND)

[treasuresfromthearchives]

The Gay Lothario. The Great and Celebrated Amateur of Fashion

William Elmes British

Publisher Thomas Tegg British

Sitter Robert Coates British

March 16, 1813

[vintage-sweden]

Theater performers, 1954, Sweden. They are portraying the king of Sweden Gustav III with queen Sophia Magdalena and princess-abbess Sophia Albertina.

[charnel-grounds]

Francisco de Goya (1746–1828), El amor y la muerte (Love and death)

Plate 10 from ‘Los Caprichos’, 1796-97

[historical-fashion-polls]

which costume would you rather wear? (1837)

left 💚

right 💜

Voting ended onApr 3

[thoughtportal]

Dr Kate Lister explores drugs, booze and celebrities of the Georgian age navigating the astronomical impact of gin in the 18th century, who was drinking it and how they were making it (spoiler alert, it was strong, drunk in a pint sized jar and sometimes flavoured with urine!). She looks into how they tried to quell the gin craze after 50 years of gin madness in 1751 and how they promoted the obviously healthy drink of beer as an alternative!

Kate uncovers what went on betwixt the Georgian sheets: who’s doing what, where, how and with whom. Along the way she’ll explore extraordinary guides to sex work in London and Edinburgh and unwrap the world of 18th century condoms, syphilis and even high profile and hidden sex clubs. All of this will help to unearth the real lives of the people stomping the streets, pubs and back alleys of these lavish Georgian cities. No stone is left unturned in the quest to reveal the real lives of Georgian society!

[thelonesomelesbian]

angsty lesbians heavily breathing in historical menswear is my new favorite drug

[oldsardens]

Thomas Rowlandson - Two Maids and a Man