Chimera was founded in 1998 by it's award winning designer & maker, Gini Newton.

Research at that time showed that there was a big need for high quality reproduction clothing rather than costume, which was often viewed as nothing more than fancy dress. In the early years, many hours were spent burning the midnight oil researching each and every project and then more midnight oil burnt reproducing the actual pieces. Many years on and we are proud to say that many of those garments made in the first years are still being worn and are by no means ready for replacement.

The amount of time invested in research pays dividends in the here and now and whilst we don't claim to know it all, we do know quite a lot! And still we research and will continue to do so. Gini swears that one day she'll write a book, but it won't be any time soon because she's too busy designing and making.

An Interview with Gini Newton

When did you first become interested in historical clothing?
Historical costuming is an all consuming passion that I have had since the tender age of 5, one day I was dressing my dolls as Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria the next. If my brother had let me loose on his Action Man he would have found him clothed as Louis XIV, complete with wig and sword rather than a modern military hero.

Clearly you are passionate about the subject but what is the attraction?
I have huge admiration for the skills and creative innovation of our ancestors and a long-lived deep seated curiosity to know 'how did they do that'? This partly explains my chosen career path, I love to learn, have a passion for Social history and I can't help but sew ……. it's addictive, you know!

There's something sensual about handling good textiles and my friends and family will give ample testimony to the fact that I am the proverbial kid in the sweetie shop when fabric hunting. Similarly, I can spend hours gazing at just one costume in the display cases in Museums and itch to get 'hands on' time with each piece - I could quite easily spend all day every day in the reserve collections if they would but let me!

So when did you learn to sew?
My Mother was, and still is, a professional Tailor; it was she who took me under her wing and trained me from the age of 7. I may not have considered myself fortunate at such a young age, but I certainly do thank her now, and have for many years. "That which goes around comes around," and occasionally we have that wonderful moment when the pupil becomes the teacher.

The first thing I ever made was a needlecase as a gift to my Grandmother - I was concentrating on appliquéing the house on the front and didn't notice that I was stitching it to my skirt! . I've now been tailoring for 30 years and designing for 15 years and that needle-case is now in my own workbox and used everyday.

But don't you need more skills than just sewing?
Yes, over the years I've learned Quilting, Embroidery, Pattern Making, Cutting, Illustrating, Designing, Tailoring, crochet and knitting.

Illustration and design are two separate art forms. The first offers a two dimensional idea of how a finished garment will appear, whereas the skill in the second is the ability to translate the two dimensional image into a three-dimensional form. Over the historical time-span that I cover men and women's bodies have changed considerably and this often places more demands on the designers' skills than modern fashion design.

So how did you learn those skills?
Throughout my career I've been involved with a number of different projects and high profile companies, these experiences have increased my skills and knowledge in all the textile areas.

Whilst working with Gabrielle designs, [The Paddington Bear Co.] I learnt three-dimensional textile design and illustration, aswell as experiencing working as a designer within a sizeable production team. When working for customers such as Burberrys and Harrods we had to translate their design brief into merchantable product - as you will know, quality is the keyword for those organisations.

I taught myself the many embroidery stitches from old books and by closely examining old embroidered pieces. Pattern Making and cutting were again self taught, largely on a trial and error basis and also by studying tailors patterns books.

The Victorians are notable for their attempts to rationalise pattern draughting into a scientific form and they published endless different methods, each one claiming to be the definitive answer to the age-old problem. The fact is that all historical tailors pattern books have something to teach. I particularly like Alcega's pattern layout books as these at least offer an insight into the number of pattern pieces and an idea of the shape of each one.

You mention bodies have changed - what do you mean?
Changes in lifestyle alone make for a different body shape. Historically, whilst most people would acknowledge that hunger was a daily feature of the 2nd World War with strict rationing, it is also recognised that our Grandparents were generally fitter, healthier and trimmer than we are today.

In the 1950's, the average dress size for a woman was size 10 and that allowed for a bust of 34", a waist of 26" and hips of 34". If you look at a shop mannequin from that time, the general body shape is shown and is markedly different from a modern one.

Records show that the average height of a Napoleonic soldier was 5ft 6" and the average chest size 33". To the modern eye, those measurements would suggest a slim young man of 14 years - but we also know that the average age was 20 - 25 years old.

During the 17th Century, studies show that men and women were generally shorter and more compact, as food was converted into muscle tone by the sheer physical nature of the lives that they lived.

The use of the corset from the early 16th Century onwards is significant in the changing shape of women right through to the 20th Century. Women were trained to wear the corset from infancy and this of course played its part in moulding the bone structure of the wearer during the growth years. The uncorsetted figure of a mid-Victorian Miss probably didn't look much different to when she was wearing it. And let's not forget those Victorian gents who also wanted to look fashionable - they too wore corsets, almost unthinkable today.

What are you proudest of?
I'm proud to say that my work is frequently seen on television, just as I was thrilled in the early days to see my designs gracing the shop windows of some of the worlds most famous stores.

It was wonderful to win the Best Historical Replica and the 1st UK Costume Convention.

There have been many high points along the way. It is fair to say that although a few outfits will always stick in my mind as personal favourites, I generally feel most excited by whatever I am currently working on and the icing on the cake is the customers face at the 'reveal'.

Perhaps we could finish with a personal comment from you!
I've travelled reasonably well, but my work has travelled better. Who would think that knowing how to sew could take you on such an interesting and personally satisfying life journey?