Year: 2011

Carolyn’s dress: almost there

Published by The Dreamstress

Reading my blog for the last few weeks, you might have been mistaken for thinking that I was purely a historian, and never sewed at all.  That couldn’t be further from the truth.  In reality, I have done little else but sew for the last few weeks, and have been too busy with it to blog about it! One of the main things I have been working on is Carolyn’s dress, the art-deco inspired extravaganza.  It’s looking amazing, if I do say so myself (also, Mr D and the bride and a few other people who have seen me sewing it have said so, so I know it is true) 😉 I’m so excited that it is finally all together and looks like a real dress.  There are so many different pieces to it that it took a long time to come together and feel like a garment. It still needs lots of finishing touches: beads and sequins and corset backs and linings and a dozen tiny finishing bits. Sadly for you though, I won’t …

A historical costumer’s Haft-Sin

Published by The Dreamstress

Haft-Sin is a traditional  Naw-Rúz table setting in Persia (Iran), more linked to the Persian roots of  Naw-Rúz, than to the way Baha’is celebrate it, but still a lovely, picturesque idea.  A Haft-Sin is an arrangement of 7 items that begin with S, each symbolising a wish for the new year.  Here is my Haft-Sin for you: Sabzeh –  wheat, barley or  lentil sprouts growing in a dish symbolize  rebirth Samanu – a sweet pudding made from  wheat germ symbolizes affluence Senjed – the dried fruit of the  oleaster tree, look like cherries and symbolizes love SÄ«r –  garlic, symbolizes medicine and good health. Poor Dulcinea (below) was criticised for being so robust and healthy that she more resembled a ‘garlic eating peasant’ than the lady of Don Quixote’s fantasies. SÄ«b –  apples for beauty and health Somaq –  sumac berries – symbolizing sunrise (through their colour) and new beginnings Serkeh – vinegar symbolizes age and patience.

Rate the Dress: Norma Shearer as Juliet in Botticelli

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week’s Rate the Dress discussion was everything I could hope for from a blog post: lively debate, outside research, and a little mischief. Opinions on Charles James’ anatomical dress differed greatly, even among individual people, mostly because of the colour.  Was the dress palest peach and marigold orange, as in the image I posted?  Or was it pale peach and dark peach, as in the Met’s current image?  Most of you liked it better as the second, but Cecil Beaton’s photograph of James’ frocks for Vogue suggests that pale and orange was the designers intention (thanks Steph for finding it!).   With ratings ranging from 1 to 10, the frock evened out with a rating of 7.2.  Not bad for a dress that was described as ‘labial folds’ and ‘baby poo’! This week I move away from young girls dressed as women, and very womanly dresses, to a womanly woman dressed as a young girl.  Norma Shearer was 34 when she played the teenage heroine of Romeo and Juliet.  As much as I adore …