Chatting with the Histocrats: 7 Questions With "Katherine Sewing"

Katherine runs the Youtube channel, blog, and instagram "Katherine Sewing", where fllowers learn about historical hair care and hand made fashion. She loves learning about history in a deep sense, not just what happened and why, but what other perspectives there are on that, and what it felt like to live and dress in historical times. She enjoys examining how their perspectives differed from ours, and how we can apply that to understanding our cultural blind spots today. Her website is https://www.katherinesewing.com/

1. How and when did you get hooked on history?

I have a love of history in my blood. My Dad built the home I grew up in with a Victorian design and used historical stone masonry techniques. The earliest drawings I remember making as young child were of women wearing historical dresses, or women from ancient Egypt. I got hooked on vintage style as a teenager, and later full blown historical fashion as well as hair care in my early twenties. I felt disenchanted with not only modern fashion and hair care, but also many modern ways of "doing life".

2. What role does history play or has it played in your personal life?

I love delving into historical solutions to my modern problems, such as historical clothing and hair care techniques. Myself and most of the members of my immediate family all have a love of history and historical aesthetics, that show up for us differently.

3. How does history play a part of your professional life/career?

History is the inspiration for everything I create and the subjects I research. As a late teenage I got into professional oil portraiture, inspired by the historical masters. Now I create online content around interpreting historical sewing, dressing, and hair care into modern day life.

4. Why is studying/knowing history important?

Studying history is important because it is the only way to gain a more complete perspective of the way our world and life is today. This allows us to critically evaluate practices and ways of thinking which would otherwise be taken for granted. Thus, studying history gives us more freedom to craft our life and worldview in the way that serves us best, rather than mindlessly accepting current norms which may have already been proven unsuccessful (or otherwise unsuitable for us) by history.

5. What is your favorite period or aspect of history to learn about and why?

I love learning about historical fashion, hair care, and art. I also have a love for classical literature. I am attracted to all of these topics because I feel that more effort, time and thought were put into these (and other) areas throughout most of history, due to their different primary aims in the past. I believe they were led primarily by the pursuit of beauty and excellence, rather than utilitarian, mass production, or commercial aims. Especially when it comes to literature, I feel that I can relate and find more substance in historical literature. As a Christian, I am also of late enjoying studying early Church history to better understand my faith.

6. What is "Katherine Sewing" and how did it come about?

"Katherine Sewing" is the online enterprise I have created, that first began as an excuse to prioritize and film my historical fashion projects. It has now evolved into the primary income source for my family, and allows me to share my expertise and inspire others in the areas of historical hair care, aesthetics, and creativity.