All posts tagged: 1912

Oakland, 1912

I love old photographs: the details of clothes and faces in them, imagining what happened just before and after the photograph, and the stories of the people in them. This is one of my favourite old photographs: Click through to the large version and look at all the details in it.  The girl in the tartan dress, regarding the camera so seriously.  The suntanned woman in the bottom right corner, crossing her arms and grinning in delight.  The man peeping out from behind the ivy at upper centre left (and the one that is even more hidden amidst the ivy, can you find him?).  The man with the truly impressive mustache holding the placard in the centre.  The adorable little boy at centre front, trying to sit still for the picture, while his even more adorable little sister slides off his fathers lap. That’s what I notice first.  That, and the focus of the picture: the turbaned man in white at the centre of the group. That man is ‘Abdu’l-Baha, and he is the reason …

Rate the Dress: Colour + drape + embellishment = ? in 1912

I’m supposed to be on the beach on the Sunshine Coast in Australia not worrying about blogs and students and sewing (and hopefully not spiders or snakes or sociopaths either), but I have wireless internet, so I’ve been naughty and added up the ratings for last weeks  daring  1830s ‘sexy sailor’ costume. Unfortunately it seems that most of you were too confused too comment, and those of you who did just rated it on aesthetics, since you couldn’t figure out the costume. What was the outfit supposed to be? Aesthetically it divided you, with most of you either loving or hating it, bringing it in at a middle-of-the-road 6.4 out of 10 Hopefully this week’s rate the dress, a striking 1912 frock from the Italian costume collection Abiti Antichi, will leave you neither confused nor uninterested. The display and presentation of this evening dress may not be ideal, but you can still clearly see the daring combination of gold silk satin with tone-on-tone embroidery, black velvet and net trim, iridescent beading, and a flash of …

Bridal headpieces of 1911

I’m currently working on a wedding dress, so I’m a little wedding mad this week (not that this is particularly unusual for me!). To inspire you, and me, here are some gorgeous images of bridal headdresses from 1912. The veils themselves might not have aged that well, but the models sure are timeless beauties. Sigh.  Aren’t they gorgeous.  The models.  Still not sure about the headdresses.