Jess Fox

Inspiration

This outfit was made for a historical parade group called “The Wildies: Legends of the West”, where women of today portray real women of the past from 1820-1920; the women who made it possible for us to live the way we do. These women include trailblazers, lawmakers or breakers, and everything in between. When joining the parade group, each member is tasked with choosing a historical figure to portray. Upon joining the group, Jess Fox researched a fantastical woman by the name of F.M. Miller.

F.M. Miller’s Bio (pulled from The Wildie website):

“A dashing brunette with a charming demeanor, Miss F. M. Miller was a woman of great abilities. Known for locking up numerous criminals in the name of the law, she was an expert shot and a superb horsewoman, and brave to the verge of recklessness. It is said that she had aspirations to win a name equal to that of Belle Starr, except she wished to achieve this within law enforcement. Being the first known woman to serve as a US Deputy Marshall in the Indian Territory she was a truly incredible woman. At this time, the Indian Territory was ripe with wanted criminals and was a mean place to work. But while other women chose to sit on the sidelines and let the men do all the fieldwork, Miller refused.”

“It all started in 1891 in Paris, Texas where she was first commissioned by the federal government as a US Deputy Marshall. At first, she was set to guard federal prisons in Oklahoma and accompany Mr. Ben Campbell, a fellow Deputy Marshall, on his tasks. Her regular activities included tracking down, apprehending, and escorting criminals and outlaws to jail. During this time she made quite a name for herself, multiple contemporary newspapers of her time claim she was a woman who knew how to handle a criminal, and she had a knack for taking them down. Described as a woman of great charisma and charm, she could think and fight her way through anything. She was never seen without a Colt Pistol strapped to her hip and a Winchester strapped to her saddle. She was a woman of power and tactic. While little is known about her personal life or her ultimate fate, she left a strong mark on women of the time in law enforcement. Upon her appearance in the field, multiple other women started to step out from behind the desk and tackle hands-on positions. She was but another great marker for the progression of female rights in the workplace and empowerment in everyday life.”

Design Development

2022 Iteration

During designer Jess Fox’s second iteration of her F.M. Miller portrayal, Fox decided to stick with the same garment combination, but update the outfit with a new color palette, textures, and fabrics. The final outfit included a shirt, vest, and walking skirt. Underneath these garments a set of bloomers, underskirt and corset are worn.

When coming up with the design, Fox drew numerous sketches based off of historical research conducted of the 1820-1920 wetern fashion era. This included research through museum archives, print sources, and fellow historical costumer’s resources. Fox attempted to achieve a historically accurate set of garments that still exhibits her own style.

The making process included altering a standard set of womenswear blocks to match Fox’s own measurments, drafting a custom design, pulling a pattern, making a sample, and sewing the final garments.

Fabic used in these garments are pulled from wholesle deadstock supplies, and promote sustainability in the fashion & costume industry. This is an important concept to the creative women in The Wildies group; Leanne Landers, head costumer for the group often repurposes, redesigns, and brings life back to mundane garments or scrap materials & decor by turning them into fabulous historical garments. Fox emulated that with her recycling of unwanted fabrics, hand-me-down lace, and vintage metal buttons to name a few items. A common practice of sustainability in The Wildies is to use curtains or bedsheets when making your historical undergarments such as bloomers and petticoats, which is a technique Fox also employed! All of the garments in Fox’s final outfit are clean finished with interior linings, machine sewed button holes, zippers, and overlock stitching where applicable.

Making-of video: COMING SOON.

2018 Iteration & Comparison

In Fox’s original outfit design the process followed a similar path with design variations coming from alternate research and inspirational images at the time. The main difference between the two costumes are the materials being used. While both iterations use sustainable deadstock materials, the brown outfit from 2018 is much warmer to warm, with a thicker fabric used in it’s vest and skirt, and a thicker cotton material used in the shirt.

Additional Design Variations

The 2018 shirt is fitted where the 2022 shirt is loose, and the sleeve’s volume points are reversed. Likewise the design feature on the 2018 shirt is a laced yoke, where the 2022 shirt has a yoke, ad pintucks running vertically down the front panels.

The 2018 skirt and the 2022 skirt are early identical, but the 2018 skirt focuses gathers at the back with a straight sihouettes, while the 2022 skirt uses pleating for volume at the back and has a more a-line silhouette. Both include side-seam pockets, and only the 2022 skirt is fully lined with a zipper closure. The 2018 skirt uses an elastic waistband.

The 2018 vest is a open style vest with ties to menswear fashion, it is fully lined with no exterior design details. The 2022 vest on the other hand is form fitting, and can e worn open or closed, it has faux elt pockets, paneling, a back cinch and a curved lapel. It is also fully lined.