The Little Black Spencer

The last project I finished, in 2013, was this little black spencer. I have finally had a chance to wear it and take pictures. I originally made it for a tea, back in January, which I didn't end up going to.

Yesterday, I walked in a Parade, with our local history group, for Independence day. The outfit had absolutely nothing to do with the fourth of July, but then again, we had Romans walking with us too, so who cares!? Just an excuse to wear something new!

I paired the jacket with my gown I made for the Halloween ball last year, a fichu to keep the sun off, kid gloves, American Duchess boots, and a black velour hat and scalloped, pink silk purse, which I had also made for the tea. I was pretty much going for this fashion plate. 

The parade stepped off at 8:30 and it was already sweltering! Though, I must admit, a velvet bonnet and a black wool jacket were probably not the most ideal choices... Ah well, the rest of me was cool. So, for the weather, I also carried a parasol and fan, which helped. Majorly. And since we were walking down the street, I pinned up my very white dress, so it wouldn't get a very black hem. 

One of these days, I'll have to get around to making a shorter dress from this era. But, I must say, the long, frivolous ones are just so much fun.

I hope everyone else had a lovely holiday. Cheers to a fun rest of the weekend, all!

Shopping like Jay Gatsby

Happy Monday all! A quick one today, but a fun one. 

I was with my husband this weekend, shopping at the Forum at Caesars, when we walked past Brooks Brothers. I've never been in before, but apparently it's America's oldest menswear brand. I always dig stuff like that. 

What caught our attention was the big Gatsby display in the windows.

As you can read below, the costumes in the movie were greatly influenced by the Brooks Brothers' archives. In the spirit of the film, the store created a collection based on the movie. Very fun. 

My husband ended up buying the green sweater on the left mannequin. He was super excited about it, saying how vintage 20's it looked. I think he's secretly a costumer, too, though he just hasn't realized it yet ;)

It really is a good looking sweater.
Brooksbrothers.com

I love vintage trophies!

Now, can the ladies please just get a Mr. Selfridge display so I can buy an amazingly huge Edwardian hat off the rack? Guys have all the luck :)

Working with wardrobe (or costuming as a job). I got a taste and it was fun!

I had a very interesting week. 

My friend, Jose, called me up and I ended up going on a job with him. He is a professional stylist/wardrober. He was styling for a music video and it was all very short notice, so the models/actors didn't bring enough looks. I raided my closet and headed over. 

I ended up working with him for two days, not only supplying clothes, but helping style the actors and musicians and work with the wardrobe (aka costuming!). It was a blast. A lot of waiting around and picking lint and threads off of people, but definitely a blast.  

The best was being able to get creative with the clothes and making them work for the characters. The look of the video was, "electro rock... post apocalyptic black futuristic... leather pants, jacket, rocker heels, anything with spikes," (not my words, by the way). Lots of layers, lots of metal and leather, lots of edgy. We filmed in dusty, dirty alleys and tunnels and a condemned warehouse. Way different than what I usually do with costumes. 

Filming down a dusty alley...
On a windy day. Messy!

The most fun part was taking a new leather jacket, well fake leather, and distressing it to make it look less, well, new (and fake). When I was at the V&A for their last costume exhibit, I read about how the costume designer distressed and destroyed Indiana Jones' famous leather jacket for the movie. Made it look like he'd worn it a million times. I think they even ran over it.

Distressing a jacket. Took the "new" right out of it!

I didn't go that far, but I did get down and dirty with it out in the parking lot. I stomped on it and rubbed the edges along the asphalt. It worked like dirty sandpaper. Perfect! I paid close attention to wear spots, like the elbows and wrists and pockets. The pictures here were midway through the process. Unfortunately I didn't get a good one when it was done (or before I started). I was busy :(

By the time the actor put it on, the jacket looked night and day from where we started. The distressing took away the shiny fake look. This made me think, how excellent a little wear on the hem etc might make a historical costume look. Perhaps just that much better, or more authentic. 

I always find, after a wear or two, a little dust on the skirt and wrinkles make my costumes feel a little more real. That being said, you don't want to go crazy with any artificial distressing. What I've seen on extant garments is a lot of patching and piecing (signs of wear and alterations) and maybe a little roughness or a few thread bare spots on the hem. Nothing crazy, since things like hem facing and hem braid were used to protect against such wear. Maybe the best option, for the historical side, is to just wear your costumes and see how they naturally age...

A New Year's Day Well Spent

Ooooo I had a fun day yesterday!

I left the hotel and had a nice long walk to the V&A. Living in Vegas, I'm kind of enamored by pedestrian cities. No one walks in Vegas. It's too hot and everything's too far.

Unfortunately I can't share the exhibit with you, since there were no photos and no sketching even. Which I think is pretty silly, considering you can just pop in a movie, you know... Maybe they want to keep people moving. It was packed in there!

It was a great exhibit. Sooooo many costumes. Period costumes, modern, even digital costume design. All my favorites were represented: Gone with the Wind, Marie Antoinette, Elizabeth, Titanic, Moulin Rouge, Atonement, My Fair Lady, Breakfast at Tiffany's... It went on. And most of the costumes you could get pretty close to, to see, which was nice. 

One of the most interesting costumes had to be Vanessa Redgrave's gown from Camelot (1967). The long, long, train was covered in stitched on pumpkin seeds! Another interesting tidbit: this blue moire dress from Marie Antoinette (2006), was embellished with Christmas tinsel - that's an idea...

After the exhibit - and I was in there for a good two hours! - I went to go visit the fashion rooms. Walking down the sculpture gallery, on the way, I passed the "India" rooms and did a double take.

Yay! Chintz!

So of course I detoured and took a million pictures of each dress. I even got up the skirt of the middle one. It has a different print inside! And the one on the right has a ton of darning and piecing. I love piecing :) 

I'll share more of these pics another day soon. 

Oooh, and this pretty thing, too. A muslin gown from 1795. I don't think I've ever seen this one before. So light and gauzy!

Who loves Gone with the Wind? Me!

So I'm sitting on the couch with an ice pack on my stiff neck (don't know what the heck I did to it...) and I'm watching Gone with the Wind. I love this movie. I love love love it. When I was a little kid I would put on every skirt I had (so it would puff out) and walk around the house pretending I had a dress like Scarlett.

Apparently not much has changed. 

But anyways, I found out something very cool today. You can buy reproduction green sprigged fabric for the famous BBQ dress. A company called Pegee of Williamsburg sells it and you can buy a bolt of 18 yards for about six hundred dollars. If you go to their website, click "order/contact" and scroll down.

OMG! This has 1176 button holes!?

The Costumer's Guide to Movie Costumes has great information on replicating the dress as it is in the movie. Apparently the bodice has 25 yards of ruffles and 1176 button holes that the velvet ribbons lace through! It also hooks closed at the front, which I never would have guessed. It's very hidden.

And some more of the fabulous costumes from the movie:
(Images via fanpop)

And a peek inside Scarlett's closet...

Happy Sunday all!