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ThinkData Works and IBM Partner to Make Open Data More Accessible

IBM today announced it is now offering ThinkData Works’ open data solution on IBM’s platform-as-a-service, Bluemix, to give application developers access to clean, open data from all levels of government in Canada.




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IBM Invites Cities Worldwide to Compete for Grants to Help Address Their Toughest Challenges

IBM today announced that it is extending the annual Smarter Cities Challenge, a worldwide, highly competitive grant program that provides pro bono consulting to help cities improve the critical services they provide to their citizens.




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A Little Confession…

What would the Internet be without Wikipedia? I remember when it was still a brand new thing back in 2001... and what an awesome thing it was, and still is: the Open Source philosophy applied to human knowledge itself. Can you imagine not being able to look something up on Wikipedia, if only to get a […]



  • Root Cause Analysis
  • wiki

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The Weather Company, an IBM Business, to Integrate Global Flight Tracking Data from FlightAware

The Weather Company, an IBM Business announced today that it is enhancing its global flight operations solution WSI Fusion, with live flight tracking data from FlightAware. WSI Fusion provides early insight into changing flight, airport and airspace conditions, enabling aviation providers to carefully plan and track flights, optimize operations and reduce the impacts of disruptive events. With the addition of FlightAware’s data, including its private network of over 12,000 Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) ground stations in over 160 countries, WSI Fusion customers will have access to enhanced flight following capabilities worldwide.



  • Travel & Transportation

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IBM, Packet Clearing House and Global Cyber Alliance Collaborate to Protect Businesses and Consumers from Internet Threats

IBM Security, Packet Clearing House (PCH) and The Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) today launched a free service designed to give consumers and businesses added privacy and security protection as they access the internet. The new Quad9 Domain Name System (DNS) service helps protect users from accessing millions of malicious internet sites known to steal personal information, infect users with ransomware and malware, or conduct fraudulent activity.




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Press Freedom?

The AFP’s media raid warrant gets slapped down by the High Court.  Plus, Trump and the media’s latest bout, Boris Johnson gets released from “prison”, the Daily Mail find a bogus Barnsey, and an angry shop keeper flips the bird.




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The Weather Company, an IBM Business, and UCAR Collaborate to Advance Weather Science Globally Through New Global Model Powered by IBM Supercomputing

At the International Supercomputing Conference in Frankfurt, The Weather Company, an IBM Business, today announced a plan to help improve weather prediction globally via a new collaboration with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), a federally funded research and development center for the atmosphere and Earth’s geospace systems.




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IBM Press room -




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Three Mile Island Lessons for COVID-19: FEMA and Me

Forty-one years ago this summer I was a young investigator working in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC for the President’s Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island, a big federal investigation chaired by Dartmouth Professor John Kemeny, who is best known as the father of the BASIC programming language. I learned a lot that summer and fall not only about nuclear accidents but about how governments and industries respond to crises. Some of those lessons apply to the current COVID-19 pandemic, which is also being poorly managed. This may surprise you (that 41-year-old lessons can still apply) but governments, especially, change at a glacial pace. The two federal agencies with which I mainly dealt were the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Nuclear […]






Digital Branding
Web Design
Marketing




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COVID-19 Lessons from Three Mile Island #2 — the NRC

My last column was about crisis management lessons I learned back in 1979 while investigating the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the President’s Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island (TMI). Let’s just say that FEMA wasn’t ready for a nuclear meltdown. Today we turn to the other federal agency I investigated at that same time — the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). While FEMA was simply unprepared and incompetent, the NRC was unprepared and lied about it. Like FEMA, the NRC had recently undergone a rebranding from its previous identity as the Atomic Energy Commission — a schizoid agency that had been charged with both regulating nuclear power and promoting it. It’s difficult to be the major booster of technology while at the same […]






Digital Branding
Web Design
Marketing




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IBM Builds On Growing Social Business Momentum with New Clients and Services

IBM today announced continuing momentum for its social business offerings with clients around the world ushering in the next era of collaboration with IBM Verse and Connections. IBM also announced expanded capabilities in its collaboration portfolio with new innovations that make it easier for clients to gain and share business insights across teams.



  • IBM Social Business

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The Weather Channel Launches Bot For Facebook Messenger, Powered By IBM Watson

The Weather Company, an IBM Business announced today that The Weather Channel has launched a cognitive weather bot for Facebook Messenger – powered by IBM Watson. Around the world, Messenger is used to stay in touch with friends and family. Now with The Weather Channel bot, it offers a way to view and share personalized weather-related news content, current conditions, forecasts, severe weather notifications, and other relevant weather information.



  • IBM Social Business

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IBM Vice President Supply Chain Joanne Wright to Speak at Supply Chain Leaders in Action Business Forum

IBM today announced that Joanne Wright, Vice President Supply Chain has been selected to speak at the upcoming Supply Chain Leaders in Action Business Forum, which takes place in Naples, Florida on June 5-7.




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IBM’s Harriet Green Named One of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business

IBM today announced that Fast Company has named IBM’s Harriet Green one of its 100 Most Creative People in Business for 2017. The annual list honors an influential and diverse group of leading thinkers from a vast range of global industries.




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IBM Expands Watson Data Platform to Help Unleash AI for Professionals

IBM today announced new offerings to its Watson Data Platform, including data cataloging and data refining, which is designed to make it easier for developers and data scientists to analyze and prepare enterprise data for AI applications, regardless of its structure or where it resides. By improving data visibility and helping to better enforce data security policies, users can now connect and share data across public and private cloud environments.



  • IBM Cloud Computing

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Stranger Things Lightbulb Message Maker

Stacy and Angela painted the alphabet on the wall of their living room, hung lights, and it looks amazing. I built a web app that lets you compose and deliver a creepy message to a friend!




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Semaphore Flags Message Maker

I put together a web app to send messages in semaphore, an archaic flag-based alphabet system.




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Letting a Homeless Person Sleep on my Couch

Are my tools going to be stolen? Is my car going to be stolen? What if she refuses to leave? What if she leaves in the middle of the night? What if she leaves the door open? What if she has lice or bedbugs or hepatitis? What if she locks herself in the bathroom? What if she never wakes up? And I'm sure she worried about me.




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IBM Acquires Vivant Digital Business in Australia

IBM today announced its intention to acquire Vivant Digital business (Vivant), a boutique digital and innovation agency based here. This acquisition extends the strategy and design expertise of IBM iX, one of the world’s largest digital agencies and global business design partners, with Vivant talent and expertise to accelerate clients’ digital transformations.



  • Services and solutions

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IBM Study: Responding to Cybersecurity Incidents Still a Major Challenge for Businesses

IBM Security today announced the results of a global study exploring the factors and challenges of being a Cyber Resilient organization. The study was conducted by Ponemon Institute and sponsored by IBM Resilient and found that 77 percent of respondents admit they do not have a formal cyber security incident response plan (CSIRP) applied consistently across their organization. Nearly half of the 2800 respondents reported that their incident response plan is either informal/ad hoc or completely non-existent.




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The Weather Company, an IBM Business, Named Official Weather Partner of NASCAR

NASCAR and The Weather Company, an IBM Busines, announced today a multi-year agreement that will optimize the weather-related decision process for NASCAR as it incorporates hyper-local weather data and forecasts into their races to improve race-day operations and fan engagement. As part of the agreement, The Weather Company, via The Weather Channel brand, becomes the Official Weather Partner of NASCAR.




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IBM Unveils a New High-Powered Analytics System for Fast Access to Data Science

IBM today announced the Integrated Analytics System, a new unified data system designed to give users fast, easy access to advanced data science capabilities and the ability to work with their data across private, public or hybrid cloud environments.




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IBM Closes Acquisition of Vivant Digital Business

IBM today announced it has completed the acquisition of Vivant Digital business (Vivant), a boutique digital and innovation agency based in Australia, to join IBM iX. Financial details were not disclosed.




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IBM Analytics Speeds healthAlliance Business Management Reporting

IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced that healthAlliance, New Zealand’s largest shared services organisation for the health sector, will use an IBM Netezza analytics appliance to provide faster, more accurate clinical and business analysis to better manage hospital resources and services.



  • Healthcare and Life Sciences

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IBM sets its sights on medium-sized businesses

IBM today launched Express Advantage – a portfolio of affordable business solutions designed especially to meet the performance, usability and pricing needs of medium-sized businesses.



  • Media & Entertainment

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IBM Makes $4 Billion in Financing Available for Business Partners; Announces New Mobile App to Speed Access to Credit within Minutes

IBM announced today it is providing IBM Business Partners worldwide with $4 billion in financing for credit-qualified clients over a period of 12 months. This financing, through IBM Global Financing, can make obtaining credit easier and more accessible to enable IBM's global partner ecosystem and their clients to acquire advanced technologies such as cloud, analytics and PureSystems. As part of today's news, IBM is also launching a new mobile app as another step to simplify the way IBM's Business Partners can apply for and secure financing for their clients within minutes via any mobile device -- anytime, anywhere.




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IBM Press room -




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IBM CEO Study: CEOs are re-balancing operational control with organisational openness

A new IBM study of more than 1,700 Chief Executive Officers from 64 countries and 18 industries worldwide reveals that CEOs are changing the nature of work by adding a powerful dose of openness, transparency and employee empowerment to the command-and-control ethos that has characterised the modern corporation for more than a century.



  • Energy & Utilities

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IBM étend ses solutions de stockage Flash pour adresser de nouvelles applications pertinentes dans le cloud

IBM (NYSE: IBM) annonce aujourd'hui un élargissement de son portefeuille de stockage flash pour aider les clients à extraire beaucoup plus rapidement la valeur issues des données afin d’en tirer un avantage concurrentiel. IBM a lancé trois nouvelles baies « tout-flash » dotées d’une performance de pointe – une latence minimum de 250μs (microsecondes) - afin de résoudre le défi consistant à accéder rapidement à un grand volume de données pour les applications et les workloads cloud.




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Étude IBM : Plus de la moitié des organisations disposant de plans de réponse aux incidents de cybersécurité omettent de les mettre à l'essai

L’entité sécurité d’IBM a annoncé aujourd'hui les résultats d'une étude mondiale sondant le niveau de préparation des organisations en matière de résistance à une cyberattaque et de récupération ensuite. L'étude, menée par le Ponemon Institute et sponsorisée par IBM Resilient, a révélé qu'une grande majorité des organisations interrogées ne sont toujours pas prêtes à répondre de façon adéquate aux incidents de cybersécurité, 77% des personne interrogées indiquant qu'ils n'ont pas de plan de réponse aux incidents de cybersécurité appliqué de manière cohérente dans l’ensemble de l'organisation.




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Une étude d'IBM montre que le coût des violations de données est en hausse et que les répercussions financières sont ressenties depuis des années

L’entité Sécurité d’IBM (NYSE: IBM) a annoncé aujourd'hui les résultats de son étude annuelle sur l'impact financier des violations de données sur les organisations. Selon le rapport, le coût d'une violation de données a augmenté de 12 % au cours des cinq dernières années et coûte désormais 3,92 millions de dollars en moyenne. Ces dépenses croissantes sont représentatives de l'impact financier pluriannuel des violations, de la réglementation accrue et du processus complexe de résolution des attaques criminelles .




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IBM « Social Business » : nouveaux services de conseil et de formation pour saisir les opportunités associées aux réseaux sociaux

IBM (NYSE : IBM) lance de nouveaux programmes, services et partenariats afin d’aider les entreprises à renforcer leurs capacités à utiliser les réseaux sociaux pour se saisir de nouvelles opportunités affaires.



  • Global Business Solutions

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ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, IBM, Scentre Group and Westpac Commence Live Pilot for Lygon, A Blockchain-based Platform to Transform the Bank Guarantee Process

ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, IBM Scentre Group and Westpac have jointly launched a live pilot for Lygon, a new digital platform using blockchain technology to transform the way businesses obtain and manage bank guarantees that are often required as part of a retail property lease.




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IBM Smarter Government Implementation To Help Reduce Reporting Burden For Australian Businesses

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the successful delivery of the Core Services IT platform that supports the Australian Federal Government’s Standard Business Reporting (SBR) initiative, which aims to save businesses time, money and effort through the provision of an online reporting capability.




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IBM to deliver essential business and operational support systems for NBN Co

IBM Australia (NYSE: IBM) has been awarded a multimillion dollar contract with NBN Co Limited to implement and manage the core business and operational support systems required to operate Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN).




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IBM Press room -




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IBM Acquires Vivant Digital Business in Australia

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced its intention to acquire Vivant Digital business (Vivant), a boutique digital and innovation agency based here. This acquisition extends the strategy and design expertise of IBM iX, one of the world’s largest digital agencies and global business design partners, with Vivant talent and expertise to accelerate clients’ digital transformations.




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IBM Research and Thiess Use Data ‘Vital Signs’ to Predict Mining Equipment Health and Drive Business Performance

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a new collaboration with Thiess, one of the world’s largest contract miners, to use Big Data to improve machine availability and operational productivity utilizing predictive analytics and modeling technologies. This initial collaboration focuses on Thiess’ Mining haul trucks and excavators, and will help unify asset management and business operations.




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Successful blockchain trial for bank guarantees

ANZ and Westpac have teamed with IBM (NYSE:IBM) and shopping centre operator Scentre Group and have now successfully digitised the bank guarantee process used for commercial property leasing.



  • Banking and Financial Services

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IBM addresses gap in industry around knowledge and expertise of Smart Grids

IBM collaborates with academia and industry to educate and prepare IT professionals, telecommunications engineers, and electrical power engineers for the electricity networks of the future



  • Energy & Utilities

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Study Reveals Australian Office Workers Stressed by Irrelevant Email Overload

Study Reveals Australian Office Workers Stressed by Irrelevant Email Overload




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Lesson #3548 - Class Dismissed


Thank you, first and foremost, to theSwede. When I told you I wanted and needed to do some creative work, over a decade ago, you simply said "Okay" and were nothing but supportive. None of this would exist without you. Thank you as well to both Cannonball and Torpedo. Someday you'll be old enough to read these, and I hope you find them all as enjoyable, meaningful, and as embarrassing as they are/were intended to be.

Thank you to Mom, Dad, Hanna, Emma, my grandparents, all extended family, for giving me the experiences, insight, and humor that crafted STW. Thank you Mitch, Donna, and all for their support as well. Thank you to so many friends, innumerable to name. Your support has meant everything.

Thank you to classmates, advisors, and colleagues from the past 10 years at Cornell, NIST, and Northeastern, particularly to those who never found out about STW when it needed to remain a professional secret, and just as particularly to those who were in full support and encouragement when the secret came out. Thank you to so many students, but especially everyone from the NU ChemE class of 2015, who I am ever indebted to.

Thank you to so many in the comics/creative community, especially Danielle Corsetto, Jon Rosenberg, Joan Cooke, Christopher Moore, Jessica Hagy, Holly and Jeffrey Rowland, Sara McHenry, Gary Tyrrell, Zach and Kelly Weinersmith, Matt Lubchansky, Monica Keszler, Ryan Walsh, every artist I have collaborated with, so so so many others. Thank you for all that you have done to bring me into your world, and for all that you have done for my career.

It's been a very long time since I worked there, but thank you as well to Three Point for all those experiences at creative writing that almost certainly led to the creation of STW.

Thank you to Westley, Sprite, Wakefield, Shiv, and Bitey, too. Why not.

And finally, thank you to all of you kind readers. For however long you have read STW, thank you. I am so incredibly humbled by your support and kindness and so incredibly grateful for all that you have given to STW as well. I wish all of you whatever joy and happiness that you deserve.

STW ran for 10+ years and 3500+ comics. It's as much yours as it is mine, now.

Thank you all, so harking much.




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Australian Research Report Shows Global Expansion Main Driver for Business Process Outsourcing

IBM Australia (NYSE: IBM) and The Sauce, today published the first Australian BPO Report 2012 (ABPO Report), which investigates the current state of business process outsourcing in Australia and points to future trends. Global expansion is seen to be the key driver and benefit of outsourcing decisions amongst 71 percent of organisations surveyed. The report also showed significant anticipated growth in business process outsourcing activity among large organisations with between 1,000 to 5,000 employees (this constituted one-third of all respondents). This group of Australian organisations is expecting an increase of 20 percent over the next two years.



  • Services and solutions

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IBM CEO Study: CEOs are re-balancing operational control with organisational openness

A new IBM (NYSE: IBM) study of more than 1,700 Chief Executive Officers from 64 countries and 18 industries worldwide reveals that CEOs are changing the nature of work by adding a powerful dose of openness, transparency and employee empowerment to the command-and-control ethos that has characterised the modern corporation for more than a century.



  • Services and solutions

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SLC-1L-09: Compressing Tonal Range With Specular Highlights



White marble, dark chocolate, one light source. Problem?

Not at all. Because pretty much everything you can actually see across the top of that box is not really the "correct" tonality of the chocolate. It's all specular highlights.

Controlling the density of specular highlights is what compresses the subject's wide tonal range and unifies everything into one smooth exposure.
__________Read more »




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IBM appoints Professor Iven Mareels as new Lab Director of IBM Research-Australia

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the appointment of Professor Iven Mareels as Lab Director of IBM Research-Australia.




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Good Lesson by Celtics534 [PG-13]

Getting to be there with her in the ghostly moonlight made everything Harry had gone through worth it... even if her brother was hellbent on tormenting them.




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Outfits for Denver Pop Culture Convention 2019 Maxi Dresses & Purple!


Here are all the outfits I wore in Denver recently. I was mostly pleased that I managed to wear the right clothes for the weather... always a risk when packing. And never easy with an event of a Comic Con size.


Day One: Black with Pink Print Maxi Dress from eShakti 


Hat was made for me by a fan.
Dress is from eShakti. Yes it has pockets! (Remember you can make many of their dresses into a maxi dress if you like.)
Leather gloves are vintage. Similar on Amazon.

Day Two: Blue Pattern Maxi Dress


Maxi dress on sale from Nordstrom Rack.
Mesh gloves from Amazon.
Teapot Bag from Amazon.
Turban hat from Amazon.
Sunglasses from Amazon.

Day Three: Purple Pattern Pleated Day Dress


Day dress is vintage 1970s.
Mesh gloves from Amazon.
Teapot Bag from Amazon.
Turban hat from Amazon.
Sunglasses from Amazon


Retro Rack is also on facebook where I post additional images and fashion thoughts.

You can shop my recommendations via the following lists:
Steampunk, Retro Jewelry, Makeup, Retro Clothes, Lifestyle


Product links on this blog are usually to Amazon using my associate code. At no additional cost to you this means I get a slight kick back if you make a purchase. Thank you! This allows me to continue to produce this blog without sponsors.




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In Red & Black Pencil Dress in Alameda for the Launch of Reticence


Recently I had an event in Alameda, CA for the launch of Reticence. Because the cover is quite red, I dug into my closet for an old favorite...


This is a red Jessica Wiggle dress from way back in the day. No longer available. 
I paired it with a little back cardy, black vintage leather gloves, cut jet tassel jewelry, a facinator from Amazon. You can find many items similar to these on this list. 
The shoes are from Shoes of Prey, make your own, a service I adore the idea of but hasn't really worked for me. 


Anyway this was a fun out fit to throw together. And I do mean thrown, I had planned on a different dress but I find I have out grown it and don't like the way it looks with this foundation corset so I went into the chopping pile and I had to scramble for an alternative on the fly. 


The previous night I wore a new eShakti for a launch at Borderlands, with leopard accessories: 


Retro Rack is also on facebook where I post additional images and fashion thoughts.

You can shop my recommendations via the following lists:
Steampunk, Retro Jewelry, Makeup, Retro Clothes, Lifestyle


Product links on this blog are usually to Amazon using my associate code. At no additional cost to you this means I get a slight kick back if you make a purchase. Thank you! This allows me to continue to produce this blog without sponsors.




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Relaxing Victorians: Casual Wear From Unseen to Seen to Seen by Only a Few ~ Wrappers & Peignoirs & Dressing Gowns to Morning Dresses & Tea Gowns to Lingerie from Gail Carriger


One of the things the Victorian era saw, Fashionable Reader, was an exploration of that liminal space through casual around the house wear.

Wrapper 1855  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Here we have the wrapper that was only meant to be seen by family.

Dressing Gown  early 1870s The Metropolitan Museum of Art


Dressing Gown  1875  The Kyoto Costume Institute

 Dressing gowns, banyans and wrappers are often quilted all or in part.

Wrapper early 1860s  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

One of the signs of a wrapper is that the waist is designed to be loose or tied tight. Often they split up the front, like a carriage dress or a robe so they can be pulled over a nightgown or underpinnings, like a dressing down but slightly more tailored. Still NOT designed to be worn over a corset.


Peignoir 1860-1865  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Peignoir  1880s  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 Peignoir seems to be a catch all term.

Morning Dress  1860  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Morning dresses were initially gowns for the breakfast table that did not require a corset.They're characterize by a looser top lots of details in the neck and sleeves.

Morning Dress  1872-1873  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

One of the things we see evolving (and limits being tested) after the 1950s through the 1900s is the idea of what was not meant to be seen (undergarments and nightgowns) to what was initially only meant to be seen by family or lovers (wrappers & peignoirs) to receiving casual around house guests at breakfast (morning dresses) to I'm comfortable at home and I want to show my wealth with yet another space & occasion specific outfit (the tea gown).

Tea Gown  late 1870s  The Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Tea gowns were an evolution of the morning gown.

Tea Gown  1875  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tea Gown  1875-1880  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

1Harpers Bazar New York Sat June 13 1891 Dressing Gowns Nightshirts

This evolution is coupled with the rise of the middle class, the sexual revolution (including contraception and woman's suffrage) and various other factors.

Bed Jacket  1885  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dressing Jacket  1885-1890  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 We see a culmination in this towards the turn of the century in the popularity of (and wide-scale use of the word) negligées and lingerie sets, which specifically implies an article of clothing that is sexual in its nature for it is meant to be seen by a lover.

Negligée  1880  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This kind of clothing, prior to the first sexual revolution, would not have been acceptable for a fashion house to make, let alone a fashionable lady to purchase.

Negligée Callot Soeurs, 1898-1900s The Metropolitan Museum of Art


Lingerie Set  1880s  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

There was also head wear that was designed to be worn exclusively around the house, but that's a whole other story...

House Cap 1900  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

For Primrose!

Boudoir Cap 1895 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

nightgown 1894  The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Dressing Gown  1897-1899  The Metropolitan Museum of Art


Retro Rack is also on facebook where I post additional images and fashion thoughts.

You can shop my recommendations via the following lists:
Steampunk, Retro Jewelry, Makeup, Retro Clothes, Lifestyle


Product links on this blog are usually to Amazon using my associate code. At no additional cost to you this means I get a slight kick back if you make a purchase. Thank you! This allows me to continue to produce this blog without sponsors.