Miss Lizzy'sMiss Lizzy’s Traveling Historical Fashion Show is an ICG Special Interest Group (SIG) that was begun to study and preserve authentic Victorian and Edwardian clothing and artifacts, including photos and everything related to dress and sewing. It’s intended to help us get a more immediate idea about Victorian domestic life. I founded the SIG and am its Chairman.

Miss Lizzy’s has had no planned events over the past year. Soon after Costume-Con 39 in San Jose I sustained a catastrophic ankle fracture, requiring hospitalization and surgical interventions, thus effectively cancelling my summer. I had planned flea market searches and  working on Miss Lizzy’s tiny museum.  It was constructed over the summer, but I have been unable to start filling it and organizing. I will certainly need help carrying boxes and furniture out to the museum. I have been unable to go to any local or regional conventions, nor show any of my Victorian finds, except via Miss Lizzy’s Facebook page and my personal page.

I usually give out a “Miss Lizzy Award” at Costume-Cons, to the costume in the Historical Masquerade that is “the most Victorian”. Remember that the Victorian and Edwardian periods span the years from 1837 through WWI (which ended in 1918), so it includes the Industrial Revolution, the beginning of sewing machines for home use, the rise of photography, the discovery of aniline dyes, the American Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Russian Revolution, the Titanic era, and Art Nouveau, to name just a few of the movements during that time.  I usually give nice reference books about the era. I honestly don’t recall who has received it in the past.

Anyone interested in Victorian dress is welcome and encouraged to visit Miss Lizzy’s museum in Pennsylvania and examine authentic garments and artifacts. I’d be delighted to host you. And anyone interested in helping to get the tiny museum up and running, I’d be more than thrilled.

Lisa Ashton
Chair, Miss Lizzy’s Traveling Historical Fashion Show
lisa58@juno.com