thoughts on vintage style
I suffer from depression quite chronically and also social anxiety disorder. They can really suck. And in some ways, at least when I'm feeling a bit better, dressing in vintage clothes can help pull me out of that a little. I like getting really obsessed with something and researching things, you'd be surprised how much it can help. And sometimes a nice compliment on an outfit is a great ice breaker when meeting someone. However, there are times, such as just recently, when the absolute last thing I want is to have strangers mentioning how I look or noticing me at all because I look a bit different. At these times, I tend not to wear lipstick, my hair is usually down and straight and my clothes are inconspicuous.
This has been my life for the last couple of months. The thought of getting dressed up has been so far away from my mind - I can't remember the last time I did. I know a lot of people say that when you're down, it's the ultimate time to get dressed up and try and project feeling good about yourself but sadly it doesn't work like that and I don't want to attract attention to myself! So I become drab and meh and blend in with the crowd for a while. I also tend to lose interest in things in general and just live in a bit of a haze of terrible television and, well, that's about it really. In other words, depression sucks and turns you into a shell of a human being who has to take thousands of pills to want to get out of bed in the morning.That's not to say that lately I haven't been doing anything. I'm trying to get into a college to study art in September because I want to go on to do a degree in either fashion history or costume design - or maybe textiles - so I'm putting together a portfolio to hopefully impress them into letting me attend. So my main piece for my portfolio is going to be a dress - because it's one form of art I don't completely stink at. To be precise, it's going to be a 1920s evening dress. I didn't have very much money so the main fabric is just black cotton but I have other scraps of fabric left around to make it a lot more sensational - and let's face it, there's not much from the 1920s that can't be made better with embroidery and beading. And lots of it. So I have my work cut out. I have so much inspiration it's coming out of my ears but here are a few beauties that really made my head turn of late.
Clicking the photograph leads to where I found it on the interwebs. If there's no click-through link, I've managed to lose trace of where I found it.
That last image is a pretty good representation of my colour scheme. I'll take some pictures of my work in progress when it starts coming together - at the moment it's just flat pieces! I spent far too long putting together my toile so now I have to speed work to get it all done. But hopefully it will be spectacular - and who knows, maybe some day soon I'll feel like dressing up and blogging about it again ;)
a taste of summer
There's been a lot on the news lately about how this has been the warmest March Britain has seen and how we're currently warmer than Bermuda and all sorts of things. Well, it's certainly been very sunny. I've not been well again lately so I've not really been out enjoying it but today I got in the post my brand new espadrilles and I had to wear them to the beach. And I had to put together an outfit befitting them!Of course I didn't quite realise just how cold it would be with that sea breeze!
Also, I have so many things I've sewn up lately that I need to get photographed and put up here so be on the lookout for that. Hopefully I'll get it done soon but I am up to my ears in university work and, well, I also want to enjoy the sunshine whilst it's here!
a date with judy - cute late 40s fashion
I've been meaning to post this for a while, actually! The film A Date With Judy has a plot that is neither here nor there - it serves almost entirely as a vehicle to show off the singing of Jane Powell and the looks of Elizabeth Taylor. There is also some random Carmen Miranda thrown in for no reason than that MGM didn't seem to know what to do with her. But it does have some cute outfits! Here are my highlights.
I love this suspender skirt that Jane wears at the very beginning of the film. My favourite aspect is that you'd expect it to be a typical suspender skirt but she turns around and whoosh, it's a halterneck. Such a cute detail.
Elizabeth's dance dress demonstrates the best of junior miss fashion at this time. The colour suits her so wonderfully and I love the lace apron/peplum. So beautiful.
I'm not crazy about this dress of Jane's overall but I love the slashed sleeves. Such a nice idea to add a bit of detail to a simple blouse or dress.
I think this is my favourite dress in the whole film. It demonstrates that 'not quite New Look'-look very well. It has a full skirt in a longer length than would have been seen a couple of years earlier but we still have the very strong shoulders of the 40s that hadn't quite been transformed into the softer, rounded shoulders of the 50s. However, this suits Elizabeth very well as it just serves to emphasise that teensy waist.
This outfit is another knockout, this time a sequinned ivy printed circle skirt (it's a very heavy weight, I think it might be quilted but I'm not sure) with a high, shaped waist and a black off the shoulder top with sequinned ivy detail on the back. So glamorous, she looks like a Greek goddess.
This is my favourite of Jane's dresses - a simple pink and black stripe with black ribbon detail on the neckline, sleeves and waist. So cute!
I would like to show off this dress to say a) oh my goodness that waist and b) giraffes! I couldn't get any really clear shots but look, she is wearing a giraffe dress. I love it.
And here we have bonus adorable pearl grey silk mandarin-collared pyjamas as worn by Jane. Although I'm not crazy about the addition of the gingham (I'm guessing that's so she's not seen as sexy and Very Definitely Sixteen? I don't know), they're still adorable.
You can see a lot more of my screenshots in this album at my Flickr where there are quite a few and you can see Carmen Miranda wearing an outfit that I swear is the inspiration for Cathy Freeman's running outfit for the 400m at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
oscar time!
Actually, to be completely honest, there's only one award I've ever shown any real interest in (although I still stay up for the Oscars, despite the fact that they generally finish at about 5am GMT). I love love love costume design so that award is always the one I'm fascinated by and spend time researching. And I usually have a favourite but this year it's a bit more wide open than usual. Anyway.The things that make for really great costume design for film are historically accurate silhouette (obvious!), a certain theatricality, great use of colour and character (for instance Scarlett O'Hara wouldn't wear the same dresses as Melanie Wilkes) and also suitability to the actor or actress wearing them. I think one of the greatest winners of this award of late that captured all these elements so wonderfully was Marie Antoinette.
Milena Canonero captured the era perfectly but at the same time she was not a slave to 100% period accuracy which I think can sometimes hold back designers for the screen. Like I said, the important thing is silhouette - also choosing the right fabrics can make difference between seeming like something a real person would wear and seeming a bit, well, costumey.
This year's nominations are varied although interestingly 3 of the nominees are films set in the 20th century. There are also a few Oscar newcomers nominated this year which is really exciting to see as someone who loves costumes and new talent. So here are my thoughts on this year's picks.
Anonymous - Lisy Christl
Prior to researching for this post, I'd not really seen much of the costumes in this film but I have to say that I love them. I think one of the most interesting things about them is that, as you can see from the images I've chosen of Vanessa Redgrave & Joelly Richardson, the film follows the character of Elizabeth I in both youth and old age and we can see how her character progresses through her costume, from the much simpler earlier looks to the ostentatious and dramatic costumes worn by the elder Elizabeth. However, both of them share a love of finery and awesome wigs. I think I might have to watch this film just for the costumes (I am actually an Oxfordian aka someone who believes that the plays of Shakespeare were written by the Earl of Oxford but I think this film looks like they're trying hard to make people not believe in that theory!).
The Artist - Mark Bridges
I, like probably everyone else in the world who didn't walk out of the cinema upon learning this was a silent film (seriously, people did that), loved this film. However, I am here to talk primarily about costumes! Peppy wears some fabulous hats and some adorable dresses whilst George looks incredibly handsome in his evening suit. The costumes, I think, let the film do the talking (so to speak!) and aren't particularly in your face or theatrical - they just are there, in my opinion, not detracting at all from what is happening on the screen. My one major issue I have with this is that the film is set between 1927 and 1932 and anyone who knows anything about fashion history at this time knows that the silhouette of these periods is very different (the skirt moving from knee-length to ankle-length for daytime and floor-length for evening, the waist moving back up to its natural position from the upper hip) and the costumes for The Artist just do not demonstrate that at all. I appreciate that this probably doesn't mean much to most viewers of the film but I think it would have been a great way to show the passing of time and the change of the way of things that the film is all about! It's such a shame, really, that they didn't do that (and that they used a few modern details that they really didn't need to, such as invisible zips). But I still covet so many of the hats, oh my word.
Hugo - Sandy Powell
I've not seen this film and I found it really really hard to find pictures from it so I feel rather unqualified to speak on the costumes. Sandy Powell is the biggest hitter of the nominees this year, having been nominated ten times and won thrice, and the costumes certainly fit in with the overall look of the piece and work wonderfully with the set design - something that Powell is an expert at. But I wish I could have seen more of them. As it is, I feel a little as though they're only nominated because of who designed them.
Jane Eyre - Michael O'Connor
O'Connor is the king of period accuracy. His costumes always look a little like fashion plates from the era they are representing and I tip my hat to him. However, for me, I just do not see the spark of theatricality that I loved in the Anonymous costumes, for instance, and in Marie Antoinette. They are beautiful, undoubtedly, but I do not always feel like his costumes represent his characters as well as they might (for instance, I'm not sure there's a large enough contrast between Jane & Blanche in these images - they both look like something a fashionable lady of the day might wear, although I grant that Jane's gown is both more modest - but then it is a travelling gown - and more dour). But technically they are marvellous and his attention to detail is something I cannot fault. If I was looking at 100% period accuracy, these would win.
W.E. - Arianne Phillips
What can I say? I love these costumes. Again, I've not seen this film, but I felt as though every time I looked at a picture from the film, I was able to understand something about the characters. Of course these characters are well known and their sartorial tastes are fully documented so I did know a little already but I think the ability to breathe new life into a real person who is quite well known and also to design clothes for someone many years after they died that look as though they would have worn them very readily - well, I think that is quite a remarkable skill. The costumes and the accessories go wonderfully together and Wallis & Edward's costumes complement one another so well. And if there was an award for best dressed male character of the year, I cannot doubt that Edward would win this. So dapper. Ms Phillips won the award for Best Costume in a Period film at the Costume Designers' Guild Awards so they are obviously well regarded in the industry. I will be interested in seeing how well they do tonight.
So how about you? What are your favourite costume designs - both of this year and of years past? Do you agree with my choices? Let me know!
Jane Eyre - Michael O'Connor
O'Connor is the king of period accuracy. His costumes always look a little like fashion plates from the era they are representing and I tip my hat to him. However, for me, I just do not see the spark of theatricality that I loved in the Anonymous costumes, for instance, and in Marie Antoinette. They are beautiful, undoubtedly, but I do not always feel like his costumes represent his characters as well as they might (for instance, I'm not sure there's a large enough contrast between Jane & Blanche in these images - they both look like something a fashionable lady of the day might wear, although I grant that Jane's gown is both more modest - but then it is a travelling gown - and more dour). But technically they are marvellous and his attention to detail is something I cannot fault. If I was looking at 100% period accuracy, these would win.
W.E. - Arianne Phillips
What can I say? I love these costumes. Again, I've not seen this film, but I felt as though every time I looked at a picture from the film, I was able to understand something about the characters. Of course these characters are well known and their sartorial tastes are fully documented so I did know a little already but I think the ability to breathe new life into a real person who is quite well known and also to design clothes for someone many years after they died that look as though they would have worn them very readily - well, I think that is quite a remarkable skill. The costumes and the accessories go wonderfully together and Wallis & Edward's costumes complement one another so well. And if there was an award for best dressed male character of the year, I cannot doubt that Edward would win this. So dapper. Ms Phillips won the award for Best Costume in a Period film at the Costume Designers' Guild Awards so they are obviously well regarded in the industry. I will be interested in seeing how well they do tonight.
So how about you? What are your favourite costume designs - both of this year and of years past? Do you agree with my choices? Let me know!
pretty little things
I just found these on my Facebook and I can vaguely remember making them, I just have no idea why! But I thought they looked like they'd fit in here so I am sharing them with you :)
Left to right: Day dress with contrast turn back cap sleeves and belt, 1946; Sun dress with high neckline & bolero with sailor collar, 1941; Back of previous sun dress (from same pattern envelope), 1941; Evening blouse with extended sleeves and button up back, 1948; Gathered blouse with square yoke and full sleeves, 1941; Evening gown with sweetheart neckline (enhanced by dress clips) and gathering at bust, belted waist and peplum, 1945.
Left to right: Sun dress with button-on capelet and full skirt, 1948; Off the shoulder gypsy dress, 1947; Gypsy peasant top and full skirt; Bikini top and wrap around full skirt, both 1946; Sun dress with square neck, large pockets and embroidery detail, 1947; Off the shoulder peasant blouse, 1947; Long sleeveless dress with butterfly ruffle collar, 1935; Long dress with tie collar and blouson sleeves, 1935; Button down sundress with bodice gathered to round yoke and full skirt, 1954.
I love this way of putting together inspirational images and I'd forgotten I ever made these. I'll definitely have to do some more of these sort of inspiration collages in future.
Name: Faith
Teach myself French at some kind of level 
Swim in the sea