Lauren Stowell started blogging in 2009 as a fun way to documentlearning historical costuming. While she loves a great many periods of dress,from the sixteenth century all the way through the early 1960s, Lauren's truelove has always been eighteenth-century clothing. In 2011, together with herhusband, Chris, Lauren began designing and offering reproduction eighteenth-centuryshoes for historical costumers and reenactors, which quickly grew into afull-time business manufacturing shoes, boots, silk stockings, shoe buckles andother accessories for all periods from the Renaissance to the Edwardian era.Throughout this time, Lauren continued to sew and blog about historic costume,experimenting, failing, succeeding and always learning more about old clothingand how it was worn and lived in.

Abby's passion for dress history and sewing started in college whilestudying art history, theatre, and history (B.A. Indiana University-Bloomington2008). From there she pursued her passion, studying Decorative Arts and DesignHistory at the University of Glasgow (MLitt 2009), and was able to beginputting her passion into her work while employed at the Colonial WilliamsburgFoundation. Her final three years working for the Foundation were spent at theMargaret Hunter Millinery Shop, serving as an apprentice milliner/mantua maker.There she learned and studied eighteenth-century dressmaking techniques. Abbynow serves as Vice-President of American Duchess and Royal Vintage Shoes inReno, NV.