The Lover’s Eye was token of affection exchanged between lovers that was popular in the late 18th century to early 19th century and later worn as mourning jewelry in the Victorian era.

When the lover's eye was incorporated as part of Victorian mourning tradition, the artist often added teardrops as if the deceased were mourning their own death.

The trend originated in the late 18th century, likely when the Prince of Wales—later George IV—sent a token of his affection to his lover Maria Fitzherbert.

The relationship was frowned upon as Fitzherbert was a twice-widowed Papist, so the prince commissioned an artist to paint only his eye to preserve decorum and anonymity and gifted it to Fitzherbert. It is also said that the prince wore a miniature portrait of Fitzherbert’s eye under his lapel.

because I want to meld my major interest with my favorite aesthetic and also it’s my blog I can do what I want

~ staying up past midnight reading about 18th century stay making techniques

~ FINALLY getting your hands on a Janet Arnold patterns of fashion book

~ rubbing the sleep from your eyes as you continue hand sewing 

~ staring and sighing at the pair of combinations on the MET website

~ the satisfaction of pulling the last thread tight and looking at the product of hours of painstaking labor

~ books piled around you in the library as you search for the *one* bit of information about late 1860s corset boning

~ either making all your own clothes or thrifting old sweater vests and tweed suits

~ having to explain *again* that corsets were not torture devices

~ spending a whole week researching a very specific thing and knowing you’ve only just scratched the surface

~ looking back on your progress and realizing how much you’ve improved

~ seeing bernadette banner or cathy hay upload a new video and stopping everything

~ your eye twitching when people think that stays and corsets are the same thing

~ carefully moving your teacup away from the fabric you were just about to cut

~ wistfully staring at antiques and extant garments

~ scouring fashion magazine archives in the wee hours of the night

~ wishing with all your heart to one day go to the garment district and just walk around in awe

~ always finding scraps of fabric in the weirdest places

~ putting on the garment that you tirelessly worked on and feeling like you could kill God

~ diligently working through tedious hand sewing

~ trying out the gibson girl hairstyle (and failing)

~ eventually figuring out how to do the gibson girl hairstyle and rocking it everywhere you go

~ putting on a classical record and falling into an almost meditative state as you work

~ delving into a new fashion era and being thoroughly overwhelmed and excited

~ spoiling yourself and getting that one REALLY pretty pair of cloth shears or embroidery scissors, you know the ones with the golden handle and the intricate designs on it that looks like the fates used it once upon a time, THOSE scissors

Yes?