ABOUT US

Founded in 2021, the Chicago Historical Costume Society is a group of Chicago based sewists and historical costume enthusiasts.

We are an open and growing group, welcoming members all over the midwestern United States, or anyone who is willing to travel to the Chicago area.

We welcome members at all levels of costumery, historical accuracy, and sewing ability. From thrifted/purchased looks to fully hand-sewn, anyone interested in joining is welcome.

We host monthly virtual and in-person events year-round.

Since we are small and relatively new, all event funds come out of personal pockets for participation. If you have any concerns related to cost of participation, please send us a message and we will do our best to accomodate.

Vintage Style, not Vintage Values

  • Sara Walls

    Sara is a multimedia artist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago specializing in performance art utilizing dance, historical costume, and technology to create portraits, emotive sketches, and commentaries on the world around her. Growing up around art, portraiture and history in central Texas, Sara was encouraged at an early age to sew and create, a passion that exploded during her study of Costume Design and Dance at McCallum Fine Arts Academy. After completing her first intentionally historical garment in 2019, creating historical clothes with CHCS has become her most beloved passion. With the inception of CHCS Sara seeks to promote a philosophy of creativity, sustainability, and innovation for the costume community at large. When she isn't furiously sewing a new garment, Sara enjoys writing, thrifting and going dancing.

    Find her under @monaxmaire on Instagram & Historically Adequate on Youtube

  • Iridessence

    Iridessence is a model, self-portraitist and performance artist based in Chicago, with sought-after experience in creative direction and set design. Her work often features vintage, theatrical and historical themes and marries them to radical self-love in a socio-political scape that marginalizes people of size and color.

    Find her at @iridessence on Instagram

  • Marissa Croft

    Marissa is a Ph.D. candidate and teacher who studies the rhetoric of clothing during the French Revolution. After seeing Pride & Prejudice (2005) at an impressionable age, she taught herself how to sew and currently has over 15 years of garment construction experience. She is passionate about making educational fashion history content, promoting the sustainable use of textiles, and creating engaging events for CHCS members. When she’s not sewing outfits for outings with CHCS, she enjoys thrifting, gardening, and hanging out with her pet pigeon.

    You can find her work on Instagram and TikTok under the handle @sinistra.marissa

  • Emily Drazenovic

    Emily is a relative newcomer to the world of historical costuming, having stumbled upon the community via a Bernadette Banner video that found its way on her YouTube feed mid-pandemic in 2020. Before then, she had always been interested in history, especially “everyday history,” learning how everyday people did everyday things. She started her first historical garment with newfound free time late 2020 and helped found the CHCS in summer 2021. Emily hopes to continue to foster an inclusive Chicago/Midwest community.

    You can find Emily on Instagram as @emily_makes93

  • Alaura Playko

    Alaura is a Chicago-based wedding and portrait photographer with a love of opulence and a flair for the dramatic. Her first historical costume was Marie Antoinette for a 5th-grade project, and she began wearing vintage as a teen. Whether at work, through costuming, or through the antiques she collects, Alaura is a storyteller at heart and is inspired by historical aesthetics. In her free time, you may find Alaura gardening, tending to her chickens, or relaxing with her partner, daughter, dog, and cats.

    Find her at @ladyplayko or see her photography work at @alauracreative on Instagram.

  • CHCS Logo

    Our Logo

    Our logo was beautifully designed for us by Grace Koehler. You can find her on Instagram @mistresspennywhistle.

Land Acknowledgement

We respectfully acknowledge our Chicago-based events and activities take place on the ancestral lands of the Council of the Three Fires (comprised of the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations), as well as the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac, Fox, Kickapoo, and Illinois Nations. Before it was stolen from them through colonization and forced removal, this land was a site of trade, travel, gathering, and healing for more than a dozen other native tribes. The state of Illinois is still home to over 100,000 tribal members.