Fashion of The Cahill Witch Chronicles

Hi! Thanks to everyone who voted to help me decide what to read next. You all voted for (in order) THRONE OF GLASS, PRODIGY, and CODE NAME VERITY, so those three are definitely coming with me to PA tomorrow!

Now that the YA Scavenger Hunt is over, I thought I’d share the Cahill Witch Fashion collage I made for it here.

You can click to embiggen. I’m going to start at the top left and go clockwise, explaining each dress’s relevance to the CWC.

• Minus the weird shoulder action, this first dress is very like something Cate would wear – high necked, puffed sleeves, a sash to emphasize her waist, a bell-shaped skirt, and a dark color. Cate definitely prefers blues, grays, and browns that won’t call extra attention to her – which was not the current fashion, which favored the kind of crazy prints you’d see in your grandmother’s dining room wallpaper.
• A cornflower-blue dress with a black buckled belt, like the one Maura wore to the Ishidas’ tea. Her dress would have had puffier sleeves and black lace trim on the tiered skirt, though.
• Inspiration for the violent violet dress Cate wears to the Ishidas’ tea. This is an 1874 Worth dress. Hers would have had a peacock-blue sash at the waist and less full skirts. But you can see the bright color, the yards of fabric, the horrible bustle and butt bow, and the ruffled skirts and sleeves.
• This is actually an 1895 riding habit, but it’s very like how I picture the Sisters’ somber, unadorned uniforms.
• This gray dress is very like one of Cate’s favorites, which she wears the first time Paul comes to call and declares his intentions – but hers has a pale blue sash at the waist and lace at the throat and cuffs.
• Three fancy Elena dresses in a row – a peony-pink silk like the one she would have arrived at the Cahill house in (except hers would have puffed sleeves), a gorgeous inky blue taffeta, and a cream-colored silk absolutely dripping with ruffles. Is it any wonder Maura envies her wardrobe after Cate’s reign of blah?
• This is a dress from the 1860s, but if you add puffed sleeves and make the skirt less full, the pink and ruffles and lace are very Sachi – and exactly the sort of frou-frou dress Cate loathes.
• Another Sachi dress! She loves her crazy patterns, and this shows off the bustle Sachi would need with her slender, petite figure (Maura’s curvier hourglass figure was all the fashion).
• This last dress is my favorite – a 1896 Worth design – and a Rory dress if there ever was one. She loves her scandalously low necklines and red dresses, and she wears this exact thing in a key scene in STAR CURSED – with a red feather in her hair.

All of these dresses caught my eye from the OMG That Dress! tumblr, and you can find more of my fashion inspiration (especially for STAR CURSED) on my own tumblr.

What do you think? Which dress is your favorite?