FashionJunkie4Life: Victorian Style Chatelaines

Victorian Style Chatelaines

- Thursday, August 20, 2009

I thought I would do a blog post about the Victorian Style Chatelaines as I find them a very fascinating and beautiful piece of history. We still use Chatelaines today for reenactments such as Renaissance Fairs and they are still a very popular piece of history.

Chatelaine means "Lady of the Castle". Chatelaines were worn by many housekeepers in the 19th century. According to Wikipedia a Chatelaine is a decorative belt hook or clasp worn at the waist with a series of chains suspended from it. Each chain is mounted with a useful household appendage such as scissors, thimble, watch, key, vinaigrette, household seal, etc.

Here you will find a series of pictures of Antique Replica Sterling Silver Chatelaines and common items found on these chatelaines. Most items are hung from the Chatelaine by a lobster clasp or a large spring clip so they can be easily removed.

Since most wealthy women were rarely seen outside of their house without their chatelaine, they became a very decorative piece to show off their wealth as many of the Chatelaines were made of either Gold or Silver. See picture to the left.

Besides decorating their chatelaine to show their wealth, they was also used for a functional purpose. During the 19th century when almost every wealthy family had servants, the women of the household kept their pantry locked to keep the servants from stealing food. Tea and sugar were very expensive so the women of the household would keep the keys to their pantry on their Chatelaine and only open the pantry when the servant needed to cook.

One item that was commonly hung from a Chatelaine that I found extremely fascinating was the vinaigrette. During Victorian Era, women didn't have the luxury of bathing everyday. They would take these vinaigrette's and dip the pad in scented oils and wear them around their necks and when needed, they would take the pad out and re-apply the oils to their neck or where ever needed.

Belt Chatelaine

Chatelaines also took a large role in sewing. Since sewing was a large part of a woman's duty during the 19th century, it was essential for her to have all of her sewing supplies on her waist. The large lobster clasps or the large spring clasps that hung from the chatelaine would hold many sewing items such as scissors, pin cushion, thimble cases, tape measures, and needle cases.

The images above show a number of Victorian Replica sewing items made of sterling silver that would have been hung from the chatelaine. They are still used a lot today and the real vintage ones can be found online for thousands of dollars, but they are extremely gorgeous and have so much history. Everything was made with such fine attention to detail. The belt chatelatines have small images of cherubs or working women with such magnificant designs.