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Rate the Dress: Shakin’ the Blues Away in bright yellow

The ratings for last weeks pink and black 1890s Worth gown were very different, but everyone agreed on one thing: you DON’T like swag!  Yes, that unfortunate swath of beading dragged the rating down to a 5.7 out of 10, pretty dismal for a Worth.

When I asked for Rate the Dress suggestions someone mentioned film costumes.  It’s been a while since I’ve featured a film costume, and only once before have I shown one with a clip, so you could Rate the Dress in motion.

So here is Anne Miller Shakin’ the Blues Away in 1948’s Easter Parade (starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire)

I’m going to confess right out that I love this clip.  I’m having post-awesomeness blues at the moment, and what better way to shake them off than with a bright yellow and black dress and some fabulous dancing?

I won’t be drawn on whether the dress itself is fabulous.  That’s for you to decide.  I know you haven’t been the biggest fans of yellow and black in the past.  And you don’t always love mid-20th century historicism (Easter Parade is set in 1912).  And you don’t like things you can compare to curtains.

But maybe you’ll love the flair and theatricality of the outfit.  The saucy lace trimmed stockings.  The perfectly fitted bodice.  And the way the skirt goes from sophisticated drape to showgirl short with just a tug.

So what do you think?  Is the dress as good as the dancing?

Rate the Dress on a scale of 1 to 10

 

Finished project: The mistletoe panniers

Almost a month ago I mentioned that I was making a pair of panniers.  The panniers are long since done, I wore them, but I haven’t had a chance to photograph them properly and blog about them.

The panniers under my Lady Anne Darcy dress at the Style Session event at Te Papa

I’m calling these the Mistletoe Panniers, because the fabric reminds me of mistletoe.

Sweet little mistletoe branches all over the fabric

Occasionally as I was making them up Nanny Ogg would come and sit in my brain and smirk and drop suggestions that making undergarments for one’s nether regions out of mistletoe patterned fabric is rather indiscrete.  Then Granny glared at her and Magrat looks confused.  My brain is complicated.

The mistletoe panniers

I’ve used Norah Waugh’s pannier pattern from Corsets & Crinolines – basic, easy, and oh-so-quick to make up.

The back of the panniers - or the front, depending on where you tie the bow

For my waist tie and the channels for the pannier hooping I used this fabulous twill tape that I picked up in Napier on a road trip with the Naiad a year ago.  I bought 10 huge rolls of it for $1 a roll – score!  It’s lovely and strong and just the right width for the hoop channels.

The hoop channels

For my hooping I used the very last of my stock of cloth-covered steel hoopskirt boning from Lacis.  Sigh.  Now I need to wait for my next US trip, or suck it up and pay for shipping if I want any more.  And either way, I need to plan ahead for new panniers or bustles or hoopskirts.  I simply haven’t been able to find anything here that really does the trick properly.  I love New Zealand, but sometimes being at the end of the world sucks!

Lovely lightweight hooping, smooth pannier baskets

The best thing about these panniers?  I took detailed notes and pictures as I made them up, so that I can publish a tutorial on how to make your own pair.  They are really so simple that you don’t need a pattern (there is, or was, a pattern online via Tidens Toj, but they have just updated their website and none of my links work, and I can’t find anything!), but a tutorial should help.

So easy and fantastic

So keep a watch out in a week or two, when I have a bit more time!

Qantas 37 – Melbourne to Wellington and the spaces between

I’m on the flight between Melbourne and Wellington (unfortunately I don’t think they call it Melly, so I can’t say Melly to Welly), catching up on the Big Bang Theory, reviewing my week just past, planning the week ahead, and considering the Melbourne experience.

Travel writers love to compare Wellington to San Francisco. And Wellingtonian’s love to tell me that “I’d love Melbourne — it’s the Wellington of Australia.”

So somehow I pictured Melbourne looking like Wellington and San Francisco. It doesn’t. It’s flat.

In fact, it’s not like Wellington or San Francisco at all. Welly and SF are both unmistakably themselves — they may remind you of other places, but you could never be in either and not know where it was. Melbourne is a chameleon, reminding you of everywhere you have been, hiding itself. It takes a while to see Melbourne, rather than bits of New York, Toronto, Chicago, Wellington, Oakland, San Francisco, St Louis, and all the other cities people said it reminded them of.

But Melbourne is fantastic — not Wellington, but interesting in its own right.

The first thing I noticed is how far the airport is from the city. Wellington is amazing and unusual in that the airport is so near the city centre. Honolulu is the same way. I always forget that most cities aren’t like that.  So it takes a lot of driving on a really boring motorway (Australia seems to specialise in boring motorways) before you see the city.

Old buildings and new buildings side by side in the city centre

The next thing I noticed is how wealthy Melbourne is today and must have been in the 19th century. The buildings are amazing. Every corner brings a new theatre with oriental domes, a church or cathedral, or just another row of gorgeous houses. Melbourne was built off the wealth of the Australian gold rush, and it shows.

The 1920s Forum theatre - we saw a comedy festival show here

Details of the Forum theatre

Apparently this is the largest cathedral in the Southern Hemisphere. Or Australia. My guide had a hard time deciding.

There is still more money in Melboure than Wellington today — both individually, and (due to the larger population), collectively. There are no Louis Vuitton and Chanel shops in New Zealand — we simply don’t have the economy and population to support them. I enjoyed the window shopping, but I’m glad we don’t have the big international designer stores locally.

The fabulous Flinders St Station

Another difference in architecture that massively changes the feel of the city is the materials used. Wellington was leveled by an earthquake in 1840, and much of the rebuild was done in wood. Melbourne is built of stone and brick.

That's Victorian as in 'the state of Victoria', not the era!

On the steps of the Victorian Parliament after a show

I’m biased and love my city best, but I have to admit that Melbourne does do one thing way better than Wellington. I love chai tea, and in Melbourne the chai is real loose-leaf tea (not a nasty sugary syrup) served with steamed milk in darling little teapots, with a tiny pot of honey on the side, and a quirky cup and saucer to pour it in to. So much yummier, so much classier. Cafes of Wellington — take note!

Mmmmm....best chai ever!