Christmas at the Commandant's House

The weekend before Fezziwig's Ball, we were busy doing a fun dance performance at the Charlestown Navy Yard. It was a blast to be in the Commandant's house once again, and I rather wish the event had been longer. We had a lot of audience at the beginning, but near the end it was mostly just us so we had a grand time taking pictures. SADLY, I completely failed to get pictures of the food! We made cookies for the audience (Raven repeated her fabulous sugar cookies, and Julia R made the most adorable gingerbread men ever), and I made a special treat for us - wine jellies in orange peels. I can't believe I didn't take a picture - I will have to make them again. I hollowed out oranges, filled them with gelatine dissolved in wine, and then sliced them into wedges. Oh well, settle for great pictures of pretty people instead!

Some of the nice girls who work there danced with us

Blind Man's Buff - Nick, that may be a bonnet, but it is way too short to be a girl

... and that is a wall!

ART! There was too much laughing to be in focus.

Quinn will serve you tea

Pretty mantlepiece, pretty girls

Check out those cool people. I think we were missing a couple of people, but that happens

Mmm, floral arrangements. The back of Quinn's dress is so pretty!

My new favorite regency hairstyle. It was quite experimental, but don't you think it looks nice?

Alex sure knows how to pose. Doesn't he look amazing? Great outfit. Nick looks a bit too rake-ish, but you must take into account that he only looks so disheveled because he gave up his jacket to some young ladies in need. So he can be forgiven.

It's the awesome hair club! Nice ponytail.

I actually sewed something! This is my new fur-trimmed wool spencer. It is such nice wool, and obviously I love fur. Of course, now I want a new dress that isn't too long in the back...

It will get more fur in front in the future. But obviously I wasn't that together yet.

BIG ASS MUFF. I made this more than a year ago, but have never used it. Isn't that a tragedy?

Big ass muffs get dragged along the ground, because obviously they are just for show.

Beautiful new spencer, big ass muff, AND a dumb bonnet. Now we're talking.

Lah de dah!

My Busam is Yawning for Jools!

I was just reading a fun article (for a somewhat less fun assignment) called "Embodying imperial spectacle: dressing Lady Curzon, Vicereine of India 1899-1905." Although most of the article has fabulous and interesting details about her clothing, there is a small section that discusses jewelry. Here is the important chunk:

Among the jewellery that Mary brought with her to India were her tiara, strings of
pearls, and a large sapphire necklace that was in fact a piece of costume jewellery,
with stones painted on the back to give the appearance of a sapphire. Mary wrote to
her mother in 1900, indicating she needed ‘a brooch or some stomach adornment’,
telling her ‘my “busam” is yawning for “jools” – paste not scorned!!’

Isn't that the most wonderful thing? I have claimed it for my new catch phrase - my bosom is yawning for jewels! Every time I get a sparkly brooch or necklace, that is what I think. And indeed, I've been just as inspired as Lady Curzon for some brooches or stomach adornments - which I'm calling corsage ornaments. I saw that one at the MFA, and Olga Paley's, and now here are some more! I am especially drawn to and impressed by the really large or long drippy ones, but they are all quite pretty. I'm often surprised by the dates on these - they are something I would associate with the late 19th century, with the South African diamond mines and the silver rushes and all. But that doesn't mean I haven't found several 18th or mid-19th century whoppers!

1900 Vever Cherry Blossoms (29 cm long)

1850 Diamond Spray (V&A)

1900-10 Tiffany (14 cm long)

1905 Chaumet

1906 Cartier (29 cm long)

1915 Tiffany (9.5 cm)

1920 Tiffany

1923 (Met)

1925 French

19th century - what a monster of a bird brooch! He is nesting in your cleavage!

Or maybe I spoke too soon... this one is pretty impressive too.

19th century Garrard

2nd half of the 19th century

A bodice ornament action shot!

1760 France, with unusual use of colors

1850 France

1800 France

Early 18th century, Germany

1860 Spray

Tiffany Rosebud

Another action shot, for a very long bodice ornament. That looks like Queen Maud to me.

A Romanov Russian imperial eagle brooch - this one is totally for Julia.

1850s Spanish Opals

1880-1900 Tiffany (Met)

1889, and I think the birds are just hilariously cute

1890-1910 American, I particularly like these swags!

1890, bodice ornaments as two articulated foli

18th century Italian

1680-1700 Dutch (V&A)

1760 (V&A)

1770 Portuguese

1790 Portuguese, in a later brooch fitting

Olga Paley's Corsage Ornament... or Hat Ornament!

Because of that MFA exhibit, I've been very interested in the idea of corsage ornaments, which as far as I'm concerned basically boil down to monster brooches, sometimes articulated or sometimes shaped to match the neckline of a dress. It seems to me you can call them any number of things, but they are just a category of sparkly ornament that you usually wear somewhere on your bodice. But something I've been learning (and which delights me, I must say) is that once you have a purpose-build piece of sparkle, nobody seems to care if you wear it somewhere else on your person. Got a cool necklace? Let's wear it as a tiara! Nice tiara... I'm going to drape it down the front of my dress. What a pretty brooch. I'm going to pin it to my hair. Oh yeah! Case in point, here is a picture of Olga Paley's Cartier Corsage Ornament/ Stomacher/ Massive Sparkly Brooch Thingy. And then there it is in her hat (in about 1912-1913)! Why not?

 Of course, now we're going to speculate on things I am not sure about. I know that the hat ornament is the Cartier stomacher. But what about her necklace? Doesn't it look a lot like a convertible fringe necklace? I don't know if she had access to one, so I cannot guess at the likelihood, but since everyone else likes to wear fringes as necklaces, why not? Another thing, I am pretty sure she owned one of those tiaras that are large diamond-encrusted circles, and you can hang drop gems in the windows (big honking diamonds? emeralds? pear shaped pearls? oh yes!). Is it just me, or does it look like she has one of those tacked to the front of her bodice?

There you have it! A serious lesson in alternative jewelry uses. Also, extra credit for the delicious fur, fringe, and bow ornament on the cape. I'm working on a bow-brooch post, too.