All posts filed under: Textiles & Costume

French Queens and patriotic attire

When I posted this weeks rate the dress, I was aware that numerous French queens had been painted in dark blue dresses with fleur de lys patterns, and intended to do a whole post about the trend. Then the Lady of Portland House pointed out that the dresses in some of the paintings are very similar. Too similar. In fact, I think they are the same dress. Fascinatingly, it looks like Marie de Medici, the Mother in Law of Anne, may have been painted in the dress first: And then Anne immediately seized on the idea, and had her own portrait done in the dress, only she got Rubens to do it, so it looked better than Maria’s version (what a way to up your mother in law!). Maria got her revenge in two ways. First, she commissioning Rubens to do an entire series celebrating her life, struggles and triumphs, including a coronation scene with her wearing the dress, painted at the same time as Anne’s portrait. And second, she commissioned a (very flattering and …

Flourish, polls and other bits and bobs

Published by The Dreamstress

First off, if you check out the Events page, you will notice a new event (in addition to my Pompeii to Paris talk): Flourish. “To flourish is to grow, thrive and blossom. To flourish is to develop succeed and prosper. To flourish is to attract attention, make bold gestures, standout from the crowd.” The textile design students at Massey University have been creating gorgeous one-off silk scarves as a fundraiser for Downstage Theatre. If you are lucky enough to be in Wellington you can visit an exhibition of the scarves at Thistle Hall, and attend a fantastic evening at Downstage to bid on one of the fabulous scarves. And the scarves are fabulous – I’ve been watching the students create them and drooling over the designs! They have put hours and hours of work into the designs, and they can only get one true printing off of them. Second, you may have noticed my new poll function on the sidebar. I’ll be running weekly lighthearted polls about textiles and fashion and pretty much anything and …

Textiles: where technology meets “you’ve got to be kidding me”

Published by The Dreamstress

Due to the courses I teach, I’ve been doing a lot of reading up on technologically innovative textiles. A lot of it is really neat, but also somewhat expected: making textiles lighter, stronger, or better at keeping you warm or cool. Some of it is just neat, like invisibility cloaks, and knitted heart valves. And then there is the stuff that is just…weird. Like the Ebbra – an ’emergency bra’ that doubles as a face mask in the event that you get caught in a sandstorm, develop an infectious cough in a matter of minutes, find yourself surrounded by people with infectious coughs, or forget to leave your building when the exterminator tents it. And the best part is, you have a second half to give to a friend. Then there is the Hug Shirt – a wired shirt that uses electronic impulses to give the sensation of a ‘hug’ whenever a friend with a bluetooth or an iphone uses their ‘Hug Shirt’ app to send you one. The best/worst part? It was voted one …