Main-st(r)eam Punk - Lipservice Gets Steamy

Lipservice is a mostly-goth alternative clothing brand that makes highly mass-produced clothing, yet I am often impressed by their things. A while ago they had a line that I am sure was intended to be steampunk called "Steam Machine." Let us analyze - they do not understand the importance of brown for mass-appeal steampunk. They do get the importance of metal, but I think the metal is too coppery and would be prettier if it were more like brass. Thumbs up on the aviator hat, although it is not particularly attractive. The shapes for the clothes were uninteresting, but ok. Basically, this is not high-class steampunk by any stretch of the imagination, but I could tell they were trying.
What I really want to do is give them a gold star for improvement, though. Lipservice is showing signs of improvement with the Step in Time line. They still don't get the color scheme (they are missing a serious opportunity here on brown with brass, insisting on black with copper), but this time they have brown fake-leather straps, rivets shaped like gears, and lace. Somebody is learning. In fact, they even made a skirt I would wear (the cute one with the fake-garter straps and buckles on lovely newsprint fabric). I can make better things, but not everyone can, so I will give Lipservice some credit for being easy to find and relatively in-expensive.

A Modern Formal

I went to a formal. This is my "modern person" disguise. I'm not sure it worked... but at least you can rest assured that even in day-to-day life I look a bit old fashioned.

Admiring the Newborn by Vittorio Reggianini

Unfortunately, I do not think it is good practice to use art as a costume resource if the painter was not alive when they style of dress was popular. This is a shame, because I want this stripey dress! It sounds like Vittorio Reggianini lived 1858-1938, and this is an earlier style of dress. But I do love it anyway. Seriously, I want it.

Yellow Regency Dresses

Recently I was wearing my mother's yellow silk regency dress. A gentleman started telling me about the history of dyes, and was postulating that in the regency period dresses were black, white, or grey, with the occasional red dress for someone extravagant. Now, I understand that the aniline dyes opened a whole world of exciting possibilities (I do love doing 1860s clothes!), but this struck me as excessive. I got a little paranoid. But now I've done some research and I feel much better. I present to you three original dresses in yellow silk (various dates in the 1800-1818 range), plus a portrait of Amelie Augustes von Bayerne done by Joseph Karl Stieler in 1823. Actually, I really adore all of these (check out that fringe!), so take a look.

The Parasol Fan

Parafan? Fanisol? I don't know, but I want one. It belongs, like most things I want, to the Metropolitan Costume Institute. They have dated it to "the third quarter of the 19th century." Good enough for me. There is no written description, but it looks pretty brilliantly straightforward to me. You carry around this thing that looks like a fan, but it swings open 360 degrees (must fasten open somehow). Then at the pivot point there is a stick on a hinge, which you straighten out (and again this must somehow get fixed in place). Voila, a traveling parasol. It is just too clever. I need to make one of these!

Black Cat Speakeasy

More old photos... I did in fact go to the Black Cat Speakeasy, but I never wrote about it. Oops. Basically, it was very nice. Although I have noticed a perplexing tendency for people to make a giant circle when doing the charleston. I guess it is not a terrible thing, but it does scream "middle school dance" to me. Weird. Pictures!

Dia Del Los Muertos at the Peabody Museum

First of all, congradulate me on 150 posts. It is a nice number.

Second of all, I know day of the dead was forever ago. But I didn't want you to think I wasn't doing anything all that time I was neglecting to post... oops. These are old pictures, but still... The Peabody museum does this big event every year, and it is really impressive. Harvard's Spanish-speaking theater troupe, Teatro, was asked to participate. A good friend asked me to help out, so I dressed everyone - the theme for this year was "La Calavera Catrina," an illustration of a skeleton in a big 1900s hat. So this is what we looked like, with skeleton makeup and everything.

Event Announcement - Fezziwig's Ball (and Les Plaisirs de la Paix)

Go here to buy tickets, and go soon! Last year was really crowded, and you don't want to miss it!

You are Cordially Invited to

Fezziwig’s Ball

Saturday, December 11^th 2010
Salem’s Old Town Hall
32 Derby Square, Salem, MA
Sponsored by
The Commonwealth Vintage Dancers and
The Institute for Public History at Gordon College


ADMISSION
Adult $30
Students (with id) $15


And if you are interested in early music and early dance, I am going to be in the Harvard Early Music Society's opera for the semester. Come see it this weekend!

Les Plaisirs de la Paix
An entertainment of opera and ballet,
featuring music of Charpentier and Lully

December 9-11; 8 PM. New College Theater, 10-12 Holyoke St., Cambridge, MA

The Harvard Early Music Society brings Versailles to life with an evening of entertainment featuring Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Les Arts Florissants (1685) and scenes from Jean-Baptiste Lully's Armide (1686) and Phaëton (1683). This production explores the dilemma of peace -- the line between peace of mind and complacency. As a troupe prepares to present its noble patrons with an evening of entertainment, the reality of life outside the theatre cannot be forgotten. With period instruments and dance, in the New College Theater.

Regency Performance at Gore Place

Wednesday evening, several friends and I went to Gore Place to do a performance of Regency dancing at a lovely Christmas party (final projects have made me very slow at updating - I am sorry). I don't even know what to say, except Gore Place is really fantastic, and I absolutely love my wonderful Wellesley friends, who did a great job learning the dances and looked great in the performance. They even made their own dresses.If you have not gone to Gore Place, you should. It is a gorgeous federal house in Waltham, MA, and everyone who works there is really nice. I cannot imagine a more perfect setting for regency dancing, and I hope to have many opportunities to go back. Here we are with their beautiful Jane Austen tree.
If you find this interesting, you should stay tuned and keep February 12 free for a regency ball (Dancing with the Dashwoods)!

Event Announcement - Black Cat Speakeasy

It's not too late! You can still register for the Black Cat Speakeasy, the coolest dry Speakeasy ever! This Saturday, October 30 in Melrose MA at Corinthian Hall (which is really pretty, by the way), the Commonwealth Vintage dancers will be hosting the Black Cat Speakeasy from 8 to 10 PM. And if you go to the website right now and register, you can avoid the $5 at the door surcharge. So hurry! More information (and a chance to register) here. I hope to see you there!