All posts tagged: Edwardian

Rate the Dress: Velvet & Fur in 1900

Despite a few readers loving last week’s avant garde green and gold Lanvin jumpsuit, most of you didn’t. It rated a rather dismal 4.9 out of 10, with opinions ranging from Stella’s “Who knew!?!? Harem pants can look cool” to comparisons to a trashbag. Ouch. This week’s rate the dress is brought to you courtesy of the exceptional weather we have been having in Wellington. It’s been snowing. Now, this wouldn’t be exciting if I lived in the South Island, but snow in Wellington happens once or twice a century. And my suburb? Never! We live at sea level! But we have been having hours long snow-storms, and the whole neighborhood has been outside with cameras. It’s such big news it made the New York Times. If that wasn’t a hyperlink it would be in bold, italics and underline, all at the same time. The only one who doesn’t love the weather is Felicity. Poor kitty is freaked out. She doesn’t understand this white cold stuff that falls from the sky. Obviously, I need to …

Wow madam…those are some shoes

Published by The Dreamstress

Some vintage items really challenge our cultural perceptions of an era. Take these boots. We think of the Edwardian women as status and propriety bound carryovers of the Victorian era, clad in layers of white and pastel frills, and encouraged to be eminently retiring and delicate and feminine. These boots turn all of that on its head. They are feminine, that’s for sure, but there is nothing retiring, pastel, or frilly about them! They are so loud, and high, but the lack of ornamentation is also very elegantly restrained. And the curves! They are basically the shoe version of Camille Clifford’s figure! Can you imagine the sensation that Camille would have cause if she had worn these? My legs certainly don’t have the right curves to pull them off! I wonder who did wear them, or what market they were intended for? Perhaps they were the sort of shoes that ‘nice’ women would never consider. Hehe, turn-of-the-century slapper boots!

Princess Alice rocks

Published by The Dreamstress

Earlier this week I posted about Princess Alice, later Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark. If you haven’t gone to rate Alice’s dress, please do so now! (or at least after reading this post). Whether or not you agree with Alice’s fashion taste, it’s hard not to be amazed and impressed by her life. Alice, the great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and the mother of Prince Phillip, was born 25 Feb 1885. Early in her childhood it became apparent that Alice wasn’t learning to speak, and her grandmother finally realised that Alice was deaf. This didn’t stop the determined princess from learning to speak and lip read in English, German, French, and later, after she fell in love with Prince Andrew of Greece, Greek In 1903, Princess Alice married Prince Andrew, and devoted the rest of her life to charity work. Really. And not just your usual ‘pretty princess visits cutest children in hospital ward charity’. Serious charity. During the Balkan Wars, Alice worked as a nurse, earning international commendation. Following the wars, Greece went through …