I Hope This Letter Will Find You Before I Do

25+, amateur costumer and artist, beginning reenactor. They/them. Here I will post about my historical hyperfixations and related things. I follow you on my main: @ofmiceandwomen

[neylo]

The resident grumpy orange cat

My name is Nelyo, but my Napoleonic friends started calling me Neylo so it stuck.

Main: @ofmiceandwomen

My ko-fi with my free stuff: https://ko-fi.com/neylo

This is a side blog dedicated solely to the history matters and historical fandoms , unlike the fandom-focused main. Be not afraid - I am as crazy with history as with "normal" fandom stuff.

What will you find here?

I took up historical sewing recently so I will share my progress. My current project is replica of Marshal Ney’s uniform from 1804.

If I have a critical need for procrastination or a bright moment of inspiration, I will post some mediocre art. If I am really desperate, I shitpost.

You will see content mostly related to Napoleonic Wars, Age of Sail (Hornblower + recently Arctic Exploration because of the Terror brainrot)

[fawnweb]

sorry for the shirtless ney in a towel jumpscare. below the cut is some corpse war 1793 fanart im working on, although i'm a little stuck on how to finish it.....

[vastwinterskies]

so apparently in German one can pronounce Michel Ney's surname [naɪ],,,

Like... like Bill Nye the Science Guy. Michel Ney the cavalry guy,,,

[night-or-blucher]

Dan O'Herlihy as Michel Ney ☆ Waterloo (1970)

1/2

[femamerica13]

Apparently, Zapp Brannigan and William Laurence are two steps from the same inspiration character (Hornblower). Jack Aubery and Jim Kirk (in TOS) are similiar, but Kirk has a rep.

[chimaerakitten]

truly a wild character family tree when you think about it

[rougeaud]

“Ney and ‘Imposter syndrome’”

Thanks to AI translation, I have finished reading Louis Garros’s biography of Ney. I found the analysis of Ney’s character particularly interesting; although he is said to have been stubborn about his own authority, short-tempered and difficult to get along with, he was deeply admired by his soldiers.

〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜

“…. According to these witnesses, Ney was not in the least ashamed of his humble origins. When making arrangements for battle in the privacy of his office, he was sometimes anxious and indecisive; however, once in the heat of action and in the presence of the enemy, he would regain all his self-assurance. He was admirable in difficult circumstances, certain of the confidence he inspired in his troops, and maneuvering with as much sang-froid as if he were at an exercise. His mere presence electrified his soldiers, who relied on him as he relied on them; as a result, he was loved as much as he was esteemed.

At this moment when Ney is about to reach the heights of the military hierarchy—an advancement due to his merit alone—it is necessary to strike a balance between these somewhat contradictory data. The "indecisiveness" for which he would so often be reproached was perhaps the result of an excessive shyness that he endeavored to hide under an appearance of brutality. A long experience of military life, in every rank from the most humble, had taught him that one must earn the confidence of the troops by sharing their perils, but that it is equally appropriate to show firmness toward officers and to demand from them an even greater effort as their ranks become more elevated. Knowing how to make oneself respected by inferiors and feared by direct subordinates is undoubtedly the secret of command. This was Ney's method. It is not extraordinary that some of those who passed under his iron rule sometimes retained a bitter memory of it. But his intimates—the officers of his immediate circle and his aides-de-camp—were unanimous and took pleasure in praising their leader's kindness beneath an apparent roughness.

Those in the Marshal’s inner circle who have left us their memoirs—and they are unfortunately few in number—have vied with one another to praise his kindness, his frankness, and his bravery on the field of battle.

One must undoubtedly come to the conclusion that Ney composed a persona for himself; jealous of the prerogatives of the high dignity conferred upon him by the Emperor, he defended them fiercely in order to prove himself more worthy of them. He is sometimes reproached for having acted with a certain independence, but did he not have the right to try to make his own opinion prevail?

For ten years, he continued to carry himself like a soldier who lived in constant fear that a sudden decision from headquarters might strip him of his rank or relegate him once again to a subordinate position.”

〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜

The honors, wealth, and status Ney had secured were won at the risk of his very life. Yet, because of his humble origins, the author analyzes that he was perpetually driven by an obsessive anxiety—akin to imposter syndrome—a haunting sense that these rewards might not truly match his merit, or that they could be snatched away from him at any moment.

[rougeaud]

[ihatemoskatoes]

James Fitzjames and his funny hair 🫶🏻🤍

[sushisushilover]

Heh..I love the holy alliance but..

Who tf invited that blondie to the holy alliance like bruh nah😭😭💀

AND BEHOLD...

My New kittens..

Brothers

8 Weeks old

And they're from Netherlands...

WELCOME...

(Orange-white is Ney named after Michel Ney)

(White-Tabby is Fritz named after Frederick William III)

Ney is shy and Fritz is energetic they're both brothers >:3

From now on pls I appreciate it to check my other posts they have low likes because I rushed and bloggers there..I posted too much😅

[injouable]

I find it so wonderful that in the book it is specifically said that Anderson has trees (!) that he had grown from seeds and also orchids (!) in his garden. That's so funny like let me introduce two main orchid appreciators from English literature - Rebecca de Winter and freaking Captain Anderson from To the Ends of the Earth.

I was so disappointed by the Anderson's garden in the series, because we don't see the most of it which is on the balcony and what we actually see is so bleak and miserable.

When reading the plot description for the first time I vividly imagined something like an indoor rainforest, so after seeing the series I had to give him MORE PLANTS.

Also if he tries so hard to surround himself with plants probably it's because he misses the land and hates the sea... being a sea captain... poetic...

[catilinas]

[20th-centuryghost]

HEY ARTISTS!

Do you design a lot of characters living in not-modern eras and you’re tired of combing through google for the perfect outfit references? Well I got good news for you kiddo, this website has you covered! Originally @modmad made a post about it, but her link stopped working and I managed to fix it, so here’s a new post. Basically, this is a costume rental website for plays and stage shows and what not, they have outfits for several different decades from medieval to the 1980s. LOOK AT THIS SELECTION:

OPEN ANY CATEGORY AND OH LORDY–

There’s a lot of really specific stuff in here, I design a lot of 1930s characters for my ask blog and with more chapters on the way for the game it belongs to I’m gonna be designing more, and this website is going to be an invaluable reference. I hope this can be useful to my other fellow artists as well! :)

[redstonedust]

pet peeve is when you look up fashion references from a specific era and you keep getting modern day '[era]-inspired' fashion like NO i want authenticity damn it. i can see your 2020 photo quality and your 2020 hair and your 2020 makeup. youre not fooling me.

[bincliff]

hello i'm a historical fashion researcher and i have a lot of experience looking up things! this is a very widely experienced irritation and you're definitely not alone in this, but i am here to share everything i know!

so, ways to get around this:

turn off AI results. they're literally nonsense to us

don't use pinterest because the sources/provenance is often hard to trace

a standard internet search can be okay, but museum collections are the top tier (list of collections below this list)

instead of broad terms like victorian, regency, tudor, renaissance etc. try using the decade you're looking for. if you're not sure of what decade it is but have a vague image in your head, look on the fashion history timeline and just jump around until you find it. but even changing to e.g. 19th century will give better results than victorian

including terms like womenswear/menswear, daywear, formal wear, evening wear, court dress should increase the value of your search too

including "fashion plates" in your search can give you a nice impression of the intended silhouettes of the era. some of these might be a little stylised but will show you what was considered in vogue

for pre-fashion plate eras or things like makeup and styling, you'll have to look at portraiture or manuscripts. these are harder to actually find what you're looking for, but searching museum collections and limiting results to specific date ranges will be your friend

when looking at art, do bear in mind sometimes artists would paint fabric extra flow-y to show off their skills. it might not have been exactly like that in terms of fabric weight or drape. so, a pinch of salt required!

if you find something on image search where the provenance is dubious, reverse image search and you might find a source! i've been able to trace random pinterest images to real sources, but this does take a lot of time and effort and is often not worth the headache

some online resources and museum collections:

fashion history timeline is an invaluable resource if you're trying to get a feel for everything and should be your first port of call. it'll also link to good examples

the met has a vast number of extant examples of clothing, as well as fashion plates

costume institute fashion plates is a subcollection of the met for fashion plates (1800s-1922)

v&a also has many extant garments, fashion plates, and incredible articles on clothing and aesthetics. read the details of the objects because they'll often reveal a lot about the piece

lacma is good for C19th-20th pieces

nypl digital collection for photographs

national portrait gallery or similar for portraiture, or literally any museum in your country that has historical art

national museums scotland can be useful situationally but might be oddly specific

stout style history is a great collection for finding image references for fat people wearing historical clothes. survival bias of a lot of museum pieces tends towards smaller clothing that couldn't be repurposed, but this aims to counter that. it's not sortable, but is still a really nice resource

wikimedia commons is surprisingly handy! and the images, if you should need to link/repost them, are public domain

auction websites sound like a funny one to recommend. some won't have mannequins and some will. just look up historical garment auctions and you'll find some!

anyway, i hope this has been a good place to start for anyone interested! there are probably some i've missed because there are so many museums across the world and i don't know about all of them or can't remember them. but these are the ones i've used the most! (my specialisation/jobs i've had to research for have only really been in western fashion, so my resources reflect that)

[leona-florianova]

Man is named Hornblower and doesnt even play any wind instruments...

doesnt like nor understand music at all... completely tone-deaf..

If I was wordplay and nomen omen loving musical man like JA, such revelation would have probably deeply saddened me... *but its also really funny..

[neylo]

Someone please force me to get a haircut, otherwise I’m gonna look like a Victorian man.

Or I can let it grow and do Hussar Ney instead. Idk.

[sadierosewrites]

"He had another side and that was a ruthless streak, never better shown than in the very callous way that he treated his wife. One can make all sorts of excuses. One can point to the fact that it was a marriage of convivence, that it was a marriage of esteem rather than of love and lust. And that he had found in Emma Hamilton a woman that perfectly matched him in every way and inspired him. But even when those allowances are made, the way that he treated poor Fanny Nelson was really very cruel.

One has to take that as part of the rich tapestry that makes up the man. No one is perfectly pure and wonderful. And one of the great problems of the Victorian portrayal of Nelson was that they tried to twist this very human, flawed man into this impossible hero.

One of the great things about modern scholarship is that we're learning that one doesn't have to be perfect in order to be great, and that great men inevitably have great weaknesses."

Colin White, Head Curator, Royal Naval Museum, in The Great Commanders, "Horatio Nelson."

[indifferent-century]

A very important chronology of James Clark Ross’s hair.

(Follow-up post with details to come, shortly)