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About Candice
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Do you post different material on different social media platforms?
Yes, I post different things on each social media platform, so if you follow me on all of them you will see something new from the Regency era almost every day!
On Instagram, approximately 4 times a week I post short articles about something from my Regency collections. As my largest collection is Regency fashion prints, they make up the bulk of the posts, but I do post other items, such as a fan, a vinaigrette, a silhouette, a mourning brooch, a perfume étui, etc.
On Facebook, several times a week I post links to various online articles on Regency history, general history, and fashion history. On Wednesdays I post a link to an extant item of Georgian or Regency fashion from various museums and other collections. On Fridays I post a link to a new fashion print on my website.
On Pinterest, I have several fashion-related boards, including Regency clothing for women, Regency clothing for men, Regency purses, Regency fans, Regency jewelry, Georgian and Regency shoes, and Georgian and Regency stays and corsets. All images are extant examples from various museums and other collections.
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Are you still writing books?
Not at this time. I never want to say never, but I think that part of my life is over. I did enjoy writing and engaging with readers. But now I am concentrating on speaking engagements, which I love doing.
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Why did you switch from writing to speaking?
As I got older, I simply no longer had the energy to come up with new story ideas and produce more long manuscripts. I must confess that my favorite part of creating a book set during the Regency period was the research. So I combined my love of collecting and my love of research into giving talks that focused on both. When I was still writing, I often gave talks, based on my collections, to Regency writers’ groups. I always enjoyed that, and have now decided to put my energies in that direction. Besides, I love talking about my collections. Sometimes it’s hard to shut me up!
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What drew you to write about the Regency period?
The first fashion print I ever bought, from the Lady’s Monthly Museum, July 1799.
I’m a history buff and have certain specific periods that fascinate me: Ancient Egypt, Tudor England, 18th century France, and Regency England. I have shelves of books on each of those periods, but more on Regency England than anything else.
I also have been collecting Georgian and Regency antiques for years, and any serious collector learns what she can about the historical context of the collected items. One of my earliest, and biggest, collections is of Regency fashion prints. Through those prints, I truly fell in love with the period, and especially its fashion. I love how the elegant, slender Regency silhouettes are squashed between eras of giant hooped skirts. But I am also fascinated with the Napoleonic Wars and how they impacted Regency life, and how the beginnings of the industrial revolution began to change society. It’s simply a fascinating time, with a small core of glittering, affluent Society set against the new Romanticism, new republican ideals, and constant war.
So I already knew a lot about the Regency period long before I discovered Georgette Heyer and all her modern step-children — the wonderful Regency romances being written back in the 1980s and 1990s. One day a friend saw me reading yet another Regency romance and said, “You know that period so well, why don’t you write one of those books?” And suddenly several story ideas just popped into my head. That’s how it all began.