1890s Ball at Belcourt Castle

Phew! Finally home from Newport, and feeling rested/conscious/competent enough to go through the photos. I meant to do this during the week, but it ended up being far too packed with events for there to be blogging time. Lucky for you, that means more stuff now! I'm going to do one event a day so as not to overwhelm you with pictures.

The first fancy costumed event (although there were tons of other events and classes, which I will not talk about in detail, and there was a Seaside tea dance, pictures from which I have unfortunately lost) was an 1890s ball at Belcourt Castle. For this ball, I finished (or got into a wearable state) my brand new pink 1890s dress. It is super exciting, and made from fabric that would have made Worth himself drool. The full extent of the lavish sparkliness can't really be captured, I'm afraid. I also did ridiculous Gibson Girl-ish hair, which was interesting. Also, while looking at the pictures showcasing my dress, also note the amazing setting. It is a very strange and beautiful place.





Julia wore a new medium blue (a dark blue embroidered overlay, but it is on white) 1890s dress. It will probably get trimmed with dusty pink velvet or something cool, but we weren't quite at that point yet. Two new dresses, even unfinished, are pretty exciting.

What, Another Peacock Dress?

I am not actually planning on making a peacock dress, I promise. I just keep finding interesting ones, and this is too cool not to share.

These are pictures of Mary Victoria Curzon, Baroness Curzon of Kedelston. Her husband was the viceroy of India, so she had a reason for the indian influence in this dress. This dress was from the house of Worth (so you already know it is going to be good), embroidered all over in gold peacock feather designs, and in the eye of each feather was a beetle wing. The blue-green beetle wings were so pretty and sparkly that people though her dress was covered in emeralds and sapphires. Isn't that a great story?


And this one I just thought was cool. Here she is in India, with her husband, and a tiger. Cool.