All posts tagged: Theresa

18th century Orientalism and Theresa

It was interesting dressing Theresa in the pet-en-l’aire. I always visualize pet-en-l’aires on rounded, full-busted figures, with dimpled arms and round faces: the sort of figures shown in French fashion plates  of the era.  Theresa is tall and slim.  The pet fit her perfectly, but the change in proportions completely changed my perception of the pet-en-l’aire aesthetic.  The pet suddenly looked elegant and exotic, rather than sweet and coquettish.  Theresa in the pet looks like a Gainsborough rather than a fashion plate. To play up the exotic aspect of the pet-en-l’aire, made as it is out of an Indienne chintz, and to worked with Theresa’s features, we focused on the orientalism so fashionable in the 18th century for the styling.  Theresa’s hair is not hedgehog-friendly, so we did a  turbaned headdress, and skipped the full ‘poof’ of petticoats and bumroll. I wish I’d been able to find my proper ostrich feathers, not the skimpy ones I did find, and I still need to trim the pet and find proper silk (or at least rayon) ribbons …

Pretty princesses in yellow

Last week Theresa came to town from Melbourne, and of course we made time to do what we do best together: get dressed to the nines and take pictures. Last time our theme was late Victorian, this time we went yellow: Ninon on me (yay, finally!) and the pet (Oooooh) on Theresa. It was a cold, windy, drizzly, overcast day , so an outdoor photoshoot was out.  Ninon can NOT get wet, and I’m not too sure about the water-fastness of the chintz the pet is made from.  Where to go in Wellington that is indoors, attractive, has good lighting, and where they will let you take pictures? The old Dominion Museum building, now the arts building at Massey University. We got soooooooooooooo many beautiful pictures. I managed to edit an hour and a half of photos down to 250 keepers.  Then I had to edit those down to 90 that I really wanted to show you.  More grueling editing, and I’m at 75 that I really, really want to show you.  By the time …

What I did in Melbourne: the wrap up

I’ve told you lots about the Melbourne trip already, but I wanted to give you an overview of the week, with lots of pictures. So what did I do? Got lots of exercise: Went to three shows in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival: Ate lots of delicious food: And, of course, went to concerts!  I’ve already told you about Great Big Sea, but we also went to see Brian Setzer’s Rockabilly Riot.  The show was great, but the audience was unenthused.  They didn’t dress up, they didn’t dance, they barely bobbed their head.  They applauded.  They seemed to like it, but they just did’t get involved! We dressed up of course.  Catch me going to a rockabilly show and not dressing up!  I managed to get Theresa’s hair into perfect Victory rolls, and wore my Love at First Flight dress. And we danced!  We bobbed up and down and tried to lead each other (man, I suck as a lead) until someone finally asked us to dance.  And then another couple saw us and was …