Another Black and white hat

Rev. Matthew William Peters is the artist, and this is just called "Portrait of a Lady." She has at neat hat (love the massive bow), but the thing I find more interesting is that this is another black hat with a white underside. This would never have occurred to me to do on my own, but this is not the first time I've seen it (you can't have forgotten Victoria). I guess I will have to make one, now. Very interesting indeed.

Lady Grey

Italian Vogue (March 2010) apparently had an interesting set of photos entitled "Lady Grey." Some of these were, in my opinion, hideous. Here I have collected the ones I though had at least one interesting feature. I feel like it is a pretty interesting combination of ugly over-designed madness (most of which I have already screened out for you) and pretty historical elements. On the other hand, I feel like I would prefer more historical elements. I guess I have no taste in real ashion...

So first of all, cool boat. It looks so precarious, barely attached to the hat. And I like the use of blue plumes... sort of watery...
Weird dress, but she has feathers in her hair, and that is neat.
I like the curtains. The people are ok. I really like the use of wigs. Giant wigs are a lot of fun.
This is very sparkly and white. I like her shoes.
Wigs! Yay!
Wigs, stockings, lovely shoes... some kind of wings? And a weird cloak thing?
More wigs! Wigs are so cool. And do I spy panniers?
I like giant fluffy skirts. Perhaps I should try hanging out on ladders. I would wear this. It would be inadvisable, but I would wear this.
Slightly less interesting, but she has a big skirt and is even more into hanging out on ladders.
A nice wig, and a nice hat. Like the stockings.

Philippe Jacques Linder and Crazy Dancing

All I can say is that this guy clearly knew where to party.

Waltz at the Bal Mabille. Look at them, dancing on their toes? It looks somehow super athletic to me. But not as cool as....Quadrille at the Bal Bullier! This is fantastic, no? Guy dancing on his hands... guy IN THE AIR... Girls with their legs and skirts in various comical disarray. I find quadrilles boring. I don't like them much. But this, this looks like too much fun...

Most Epic Parasol Ever

A couple days ago I found a picture of the most epic parasol I had ever seen (here). But now, I have found a parasol that is EVEN MORE EPIC. Don't mind the naked lady. She's only mostly naked anyway. This was painted by Aime-Nicolas Morot, if you care. Seriously, though... WHAT AN EPIC PARASOL! I guess it doesn't even count as a fashion accessory, because you could never carry that thing. I don't even know what it would be for. I guess that's why she's using it as a screen to dress behind. EPIC!

Can't Speak French - Girls Aloud

I love beautiful underwear. It is just too much fun. I recently made a black and white striped corset, and I have another several corset projects in various states waiting to be worked on. I also find the 18th century to be very inspiring. In honor of these things, I urge you to watch the music video for "Can't Speak French," by the British band Girls Aloud. Embedding has been disabled for it, but you can find it easily on youtube. Here are pictures, if you're too lazy to look up the song. The point is the hilarious modernized and impractical 18th century underwear. The music video also includes some men in relatively 18th century coats and wigs. I'm not sure if they count as props or fashion acccessories, but something like that.Isn't that entertaining? It makes me want to wear candy colored underwear all the time. Or something.

Clearly these are not good reproductions of 18th century corsets and underwear, but they are a lot of fun and draw inspiration from the very well-dressed Marie Antoinette. I think the weirdest thing is the cage hoop. I love it, but... why is it round? 18th century, and this is clearly meant to be, is all about the wide hips. I would understand some lovely cage panniers... some kind of oval shaped contraption... but round? I love it anyway, but it makes no sense to me.

Teacup Dresses

So, speaking of tea and dresses... check this out. The designer is Karisia Paponi. This show is "It's Four O'Clock" and it was her 4th year entry in the Antwerp Fashion Academy Show 2009. As is, I think, evident, the clothes are all inspired by teacup designs! Cool... My favorite by far is skirts with the scallop shaping and printing on the edges... can you tell how neat those are? But I also find the big saucer hat to be cool. The saucer jackets are a little much for me...

Gilbert and Sullivan Tea

Today I went to a spring tea held by Harvard's Gilbert and Sullivan Players. I've done the costumes for two of theirs shows - a production of Iolanthe and one of the Sorcerer. But as you can see, they are all very well dressed even without any help from me. This event is particularly hat-centric, and you know how much I like hats. Time for pictures!

First of all, here's what I wore. I am very into skirts with trains right now. Always good for tea, of course. And mopping up spilled tea (careful with trains... hahaha).Here I am with a friend (she helped me with the Iolanthe costumes, and also does costuming for other shows on campus).A friend with her fantastic hat, which she made from a far less fantastic hat. I believe that matching the lining of the hat with the coat was a total coincidence, but it looked great. The rest of her outfit was also lovely, especially her beautiful shoes!A particularly dashing gentleman, sporting a lovely pith helmet. He has excellent taste. The room we were in has these big murals on the wall, and I thought he looked particularly good standing in front of them. He even posed!
Another case of (I think) unintentional matching. Check out the bow tie and dress. It was a particularly lovely dress. And you can never go wrong with top hats, mini or otherwise.
The Board... a very classy bunch...
...you know, some of the time...And also some lovely pictures of pretty people enjoying tea.

Also, perhaps the coolest thing of the day was hearing that somebody actually reads this blog. Yay! Feel free to leave comments... I will read them.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the (many) pictures of lovely people, being elegant!

Giant Mechanical Spider

Oh. I want one. Oh please, may I have a giant mechanical spider vehicle? Please? I would ride it to classes, and take it on trips... PLEASE.

This reminds me a great deal of the second book in the Mortal Engines series. If you haven't read them, you certainly should. Anyway, there is a plot line with an underwater city of lost boys who steal from towns and cities (which are mobile and eat each other for resources... municiple darwinism!). These lost boys travel from town to town in limpets, large mechanical ship-type-things, which can move in the water, but extend spider-like legs to walk around on land or ice.

Anyway, the spider's name is La Princesse, and although she was walking around Liverpool, she was operated by FRENCH engineers. See? The French own steampunk.

Walter C. Stritch Hutton - Sisters

I really like the dresses, especially the one on the older girl. Too pretty. I am feeling mildly obsessed by white dresses... especially wifty white turn of the century style dresses. I want pretty white dresses and lots of picnics outside in good weather at which I could wear them. Unfortunately, I have little say in the weather, nobody nice to picnic with, and insufficient white dresses. I will have to do what I can to fix these things.

Also, the younger sister has a cute jump-rope. With my aversion to physical activity, it would be wasted on me, but it is lovely.

Lady with a Parasol - Hamilton Hamilton

Now that is a parasol. I want one! It's so huge... big enough to nap under. That is so cool. Unfortunate that it comes with bratty little kids...

I will try to post more interesting things (that is, not just a really beautiful piece of art, although I love really beautiful pieces of art), but I have had a dramatic week of problem sets and exams. Stay tuned for... not art... also more art.... yeah...