All posts filed under: 20th Century

Inexplicable public sculptures: Auckland Style

I was up in Auckland last week, for almost the first-time ever. I’ve been in NZ for over a decade, but other than my first three days in NZ and one business trip, I’ve never spent any time in Auckland. So it was wonderful to spend a little time, explore the city, and get shown around the museums by someone who really knows the art scene (Oh, and we went to a Bruce Springsteen concert, which was amazing, and means I can cross that off my ‘if I ever remotely get the chance to do X’ list). In addition to the biggies, like the Auckland War Memorial Museum, and the Auckland Art Gallery, I spend a lovely hour just exploring Albert Park, which the AAG is set in. In doing so, I came across this statue: OK, late Victorian, early Edwarian in style, little girl on a pedestal, what’s it for? Hmmm…a memorial to G.M Reed, BA – a journalist. OK. Let’s take a closer look at the statue: OK, so we’ve …

Art Deco Weekend 2014

Published by The Dreamstress

Gosh, it’s been three weekends since Napier’s Art Deco Weekend 2014 and my life has been so hectic that I haven’t managed to post about it! Despite the weekend falling in the middle of The Project, I managed to take a few days off to enjoy the vintage life, and to try to recuperate. As usual, we drove up Thursday, so that we could get up nice and early on Friday for op-shop-a-thon, and a quick stop at the park to join in the wildest crowds of the weekend: Duck, duck, goose, pukeko! After thoroughly tiring ourselves out carrying bags of fabric and books and other vintage goodies around town, it was time to retire for a nap and a rest, before heading out for dancing at the SoundShell: My companion for the weekend was the gorgeous Elizabeth de la Ray of Ills Winter & Porcelaintoy, who you may recognise as the wearer of the Madge Bellamy White Zombie dress and the star of the Monsters music video. I got to dress her up again …

Rate the Dress: Madame Gres does bold stripes

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week you weren’t much impressed with Prince Henry’s early 17th century garments as clothes in an of themselves, especially not when it came to the breeches. But you were very impressed with Prince Henry himself, and his ability to pull off his ridiculous outfit, and look like a kid having fun in it. So Henry’s swashbuckling attitude bucked his outfit up to a 6.9 out of 10, which isn’t fabulous but is more than I thought it would get! Dress can be all about attitude, and I think this week’s selection might take a bit of attitude to pull off. It’s quite bold and crazy, and rather reminds me of the striped Elizabeth Hawes dress which we rated last year, and the Worth zig-zag dress that we rated two years ago. It’s interesting to compare it to those two, as it is so similar in cut and aesthetic, but yet Gres’ dress also manages to evoke the 1840s, and is a full 20 years later in date than the Hawes and Worth frocks, but …