Miss Fisher Season 3 Costume Exhibition

This year saw another round of the Miss Fisher Costume exhibition, and once more I attended and enjoyed the display very much. Since many exciting cultural events are in the centre of Sydney, which is quite a trek for me, I loved being able to just go as far as Parramatta for this one, and avoid the traffic and parking hassles that I have grown so used to not having in my life!

I still haven't seen the show but I have now read the first few of the books. I'm sure I'll catch up one day.

Old Government House is a great venue, conveniently located in a park so your toddler can run around afterwards and lie in the dirt and try to pat magpies.

Like the last one, cameras were allowed, so I took what photos I could, while Teacup was happy in my friend's arms instead of mine. Actually, although I think the dramatic staging was even better than before, the lighting was not particularly conducive to getting good detail photographs.

My friend was wearing a blouse that almost exactly matched this fabric! That's pretty special!

There there were fewer hats this time around, and I really missed the whole room of hats from last time.

Some of the mannequins were rotating, which did allow a really fabulous 360 degree view of the outfits.

Another fun feature were two dress up rooms. They had 20s-style dresses that were made so they could be thrown on over your clothes (with open fronts or sides), gigantic fluffy velvet coats, and aviator hats and goggles. I love the look of the 20s coats, and they feel rather decadent and fun to play in, but they aren't something I can imagine myself wearing.

The images I took last time are here if you want some more hat eye candy.

Are you a fan of Miss Fisher or 1920s style? I think that first brocade coat with the purple hat is the outfit I'd choose from here, how about you?

Historic buildings and Victorian gowns

Today we have more of my Wales adventure, although actually all of these holiday images were taken in England. Never mind.

On my trip, I made time to meet up with two friends, and we found fun interesting places partway between our locations. First, I met my friend Zoe, who I went to primary school with in England, some *mumble mumble* years ago. We met at the Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings, in Worcestershire. It was only a bit over an hour from my base in North Wales, and it is a delightful place.

Basically it is a large plot of land full of relocated historic buildings (and bits of them, like a collection of chimneys and a church spire) that could only be saved from demolition by moving them, mostly out of the path of motorways. Along with the windmill and toll house you see here, were an Elizabethan cottage, a dovecote, a counting house, and an Edwardian building that was now the tea rooms. It was St. George's Day, so we also got to encounter the knight himself, and a dragon on stilts. Teacup wasn't quite sure at first, but then all she wanted to do was find the dragon and stare at him. Oh and pick daisies, of course.

The museum also houses a collection of telephone kiosks. Some of them are connected by their own little exchange, so for 2p you could call your friends in the other phone boxes, which is pretty cute. And sadly this was the least stupid face I made in the Police box, but I had to include it anyway.

The second meet up was with an online friend who you may be familiar with. I got a bit brave for my shy self and contacted Kate-Em to ask if she wanted to hang out, and we spent the day at Dunham Massey, a lovely National Trust Estate in Cheshire. The current exhibition related to the scandal surrounding the marriage of the 7th Earl to a circus performer in the Victorian Era, so there were some pretty clothes. In fact, most of the photos I took were of the pretty clothes. I'm sure you won't object.

It was the details I was obsessed with, like these fabric roses along the shoulder here. Aren't they so charming? And lace. Lots of lace. The Victorian ladies knew what they were doing. Which was mostly shunning circus performers who had the audacity to marry wealthy single earls. The reception from the locals was so chilly that the Earl and his wife left Dunham Massey, and it was down to a later Earl to bring it back into order. Which the 10th (or 9th? I'm not sure) Earl did in the 1920s, including buying back at auction as much of the artwork, silverware and so on that had been sold off in the meantime. I wish I could buy back all the family treasures that have been gotten rid of by my ancestors! Where is that hat pin collection...?

I had a super time with Kate-Em, who is not only incredibly lovely but has some almost-eerily similar experiences in life, and career in particular, which led to us talking on and on until they started to pack up the cafe around us and Teacup fell asleep in my arms. We didn't even get to the gift shop! And you can tell we are neither of us fashion bloggers because even though we were both wearing things we had made ourselves, we didn't get any photos of either of us.

But I got a photo of this outfit, which is actually a 1920s fancy dress costume based on the painting shown. That's probably better.

I can only think of one important question to close on here. Those shoulder roses, right? Right? Who wants shoulder roses?

Wearing History's Costume Design Challenge - Part Two

Today I'm presenting part two of my illustrations for the Wearing History Costume Design Challenge. You can find part one here if you missed it. For the second half of the month, I put a more consistent effort into my sketches, although sometimes that meant getting behind and then catching up. Some costumes are (I feel) a more unusual take on the theme, with others they are more obvious and less creative. I had fun doing the sketches either way.

I found that for some eras I knew the fashions better and was able to play around with them more, while others I was in less familiar waters and my designs are more straightforward. I have decided I much prefer the sketches where I went to the effort of finding a photo with a more interesting pose to start from, rather than a straight-on view. And, as you can see, I took the time to colour most of them, and in general I like that much better too.

So here we go!

Romance on the Highlands

I was trying to think away from tartan on this one, but I also really wanted something I could imagine being worn out on the Scottish landscape. Once I could tear my brain away from older historical styles, I could see a hippie look with long flowing skirt and hair among the heather. I based my outfit on a long velvet skirt I have (and photographed with some floral headbands last year) but centred the design on Scottish flowers. Thistle was obvious, but I relied on the internet to give me some other suggestions. You can't really see them anyway, but there are Scottish bluebells and the hat features rowan leaves and berries.

On the Job

For some reason I thought of a young fashion designer in London in the 1960s, working with some friends in the little boutique they own and make the clothes for from their own designs. From there I naturally thought of my friend Nicole of Manic Pop (who I collaborated with last year and who made me a maternity dress). While she isn't pursuing fashion design currently, she has a distinctive style, and it was actually hard at first to try to work in her aesthetic without taking too much inspiration from her work. But she loves rainbows, and I love Yves-Saint-Laurent-style bubble hats and we both love the theme I chose for the dress. Bonus points if you can pick that!

Monaco Road Trip

I have tried to incorporate hats as much as possible in my sketches, and they have often driven the whole design. In this case, my first thought was of a scarf tied around the head, as is traditional for an open top car ride, I believe. From there I thought of where I could take that idea, and then (as I said on instagram) I was watching a Muppet Family Christmas, and then this happened. If you've seen it recently you may know, but maybe not. Anyway apparently Monaco doesn't get very cold, but there are cool winter days and it must get pretty breezy in those cars.

Music Hall Sweetheart

I've done some interesting research for this challenge. Music Hall was one I didn't know much about, and my internet wanderings led me to some male impersonators and so I went with that. This was a bit of a quick late night sketch!

Wild West Show

I thought of Jane Russell in The French Line. At the beginning of the movie she is in a practical western outfit of checked shirt and jeans, and later in the movie she does a dance number in a ridiculous sequinned number. I decided to go somewhere in between, with a shorter, sexier, dancier version of the first outfit, without getting all blinged up.

Venice Carnevale

 

My entire motivation here was to sketch one of the wonderfully outrageous medieval horned headdresses. Then my gold pen leaked over it. That's all there is to say really.

Vintage Reminisces of the Past

The 1920s loved their Egyptian revival, and that went from high fashion all the way to the elegant nude/semi-nude costumes. They are really so classy, in their own way. And a good excuse to really go all out on the head wear.

Her Dressing Gown

I wanted to go for something wintery, with a lush faux fur collar and a ridiculous turban, so that's what I did. I could handle lounging around in this during the cooler months.

A Transatlantic Voyage

This outfit was inspired by this image of a stunning coat from the 1920s, with an entire cruise ship pictured on the back. To change it up, I translated the ship image to the cloche hat, and kept just the waves on the lush velvet wrap coat.

At the Garden Party

Again my first thoughts were probably floaty chiffon 1930s dresses or all-white Edwardian numbers, so I kept on moving, and settled on some big bold sixties florals again. And the all-over floral hat options that go with it.

The Circus

 

I'm quite a Marx Brothers fan, but I had never seen "At The Circus" (although I have it on DVD, courtesy of my father-in-law). So I started to watch for inspiration, and it didn't need more than 5 minutes to find an inspirational and lust-worthy outfit, from which starting point I created this.

The Jane Austen Adaptation

Totally motivated by my fascination with this lamp-shade of a hat style. I picture it being worn by Caroline Bingley.

In Palm Springs

Another one that led me to the internet to find out more about Palm Springs. Their tourism website made it clear that Palm Springs is full of young people in bright bold prints. And I love bees. So there you have it.

The Poet

 

I felt I needed a character for this one. A real story. The first poet I thought of (perhaps oddly) was Augustus Fawnhope, a character from Georgette Heyer's "The Grand Sophy." He's a beautiful young man completely absorbed in his art and dreamily unaware of most that goes on around him. Since I hadn't done any male costumes, I thought that would be fun.

Fairy Tale Ending

I had a few ideas for this, but I couldn't get away from drawing a version of my own fairytale ending. There are of course many facets to that, this was an obvious choice. One day!

This was an epic challenge, that exhausted but also inspired me. It was the first daily Instagram challenge I've participated in, and I enjoyed it, but I would think very carefully before embarking on another one! Maybe a one-week challenge would be better. It would be fun to see some more happening in the vintage community.

Over to you! Any of these outfits take your fancy? And is there any kind of Instagram community challenge you wish existed for you to take part in?

Wearing History's Costume Design Challenge - Part One

This month I'm participating in Wearing History's Costume Design Challenge. Each day in November has a theme set by Lauren, and everyone sketches their interpretation in costume form and posts it to instagram. I'll admit I haven't been keeping every deadline, and that's even taking into account that I'm working on the US time zone, but I have mostly caught up now. The challenge is just over halfway through so I wanted to share my designs with you here on the blog too.

I apologise for the picture quality. Most were taken on my phone, and although you might think I could scan them in now for better images, that would imply that they don't have shopping lists and to-do lists all around them by now.

Femme Fatale 

I tried to move beyond the first ideas that came into my head and come up with something more unusual and hopefully interesting for each theme. My femme fatale became literally deadly as a skilled fencer. I love some of the crazy fencing outfits women wear in some vintage photos, so I took some inspiration from those and a bit of musketeer flair and went from there.

Gothic Thriller

 

I had a few ideas here, including a crazy headdress designed to look like a Gothic castle (perhaps someday...) and then I thought about the Landmark Trust's Gothic Temple and how I considered staying there on my last UK trip (again, perhaps someday - despite the steep stairs to the bathroom). So my Gothic nightgown and cap incorporates some of the architectural features of that gorgeous building.

She Travels By Train

 

I was recently reading some of my grandmother-in-laws record of her memories from Hungary during the war. Amongst these were some train trips using borrowed identity documents. I've pictured my girl as younger, and with a borrowed overcoat as well as borrowed papers.

On the Farm

One of my quicker sketches, and not the most inspired. I struggled to think out of the box for this one, so I just focused on the hat. I have some artificial wheat sheaves in my millinery stash, so I imagined a straw hat using those, with sunflowers, sweet peas and lavender, and gingham brim binding.

At the Ascot Races

 

Given this challenge fell around Melbourne Cup time, I went modern. I don't really do racing millinery, but I love the amazing creativity and artistry of those who do. As a starting point, I took my inspiration from a vintage Australian racing fashion image.

The Opera Singer

 

Since the opera followed the races, my thoughts turned to the Marx Brothers. Naturally. So I thought about the wonderful farewell song between the boat and the shore, and spun that story out. My opera singer is farewelling her love as she leaves for her new and brilliant career. Her dress and hat are decorated with forget-me-knots.

Revolution

 

It almost isn't worth showing you this one but in the interest of completion, here it is. Plus I quite like these hats. My sister suggested the "ethical fashion revolution" when pressed for an idea, but I didn't know what to sketch for that. Then I thought about the materials I wish were available to me as a milliner - ethical options for faux fur, silk and feathers, and ethical wool felt that still blocks as smoothly as fur. A girl can dream.

The Factory Worker

 

Rhiannon also suggested Steampunk, which I used for the Factory Worker challenge. I combined the excessive patterns and trims of the Victorian era with a big draped apron full of pockets and tools, and a jaunty wind-powered light hat with dragon wings.

A Royal Wedding

 

This isn't really a new design, but a sketch of my great-grandmother's bridesmaids dress from the 1920s. The bride's dress was a similar style, and I find it one of the more interesting and unusual dress designs so I wanted to highlight it. I added some oak and roses and fleur-de-lys as things I (and the helpful internet) defined as feeling rather "royal".

The Chorus Girl

 

The day before this challenge I went to the zoo, and wanted to use that as inspiration. I love the golden pheasants, so I combined their colours and patterns with some design elements from this family photo of Mabel (some kind of great aunt?) performing at Drury Lane.

Adventure!

 

So the story here is that when I was pregnant, we spent a lot of time discussing names. Sometimes a name would suggest a particular personality or future occupation that we would joke about. Most significant of these was "Kit Kovari: Girl Detective." And here she is.

Tea Dance at the Palm Court

 

I didn't know what that meant at first, but Lauren explained that the grand old hotels would have afternoon tea dances. Now I don't know much about dancing but I do know my afternoon tea. I'm a bit of a high tea connoisseur, in fact. So my design is a modern vintage-style novelty dress with a three-tiered dessert skirt, and a tea-themed whimsy on top. If you can't see the detail, that's sandwiches on the bottom, scones in the middle, and miscellaneous desserts (mostly small fruit tarts) on the top. Yum!

The Collector

 

My collector is a bird watcher, collecting the names of birds in her book, ticking each one off a great long list of birds. With giant bird buttons and bird fabric on the cuffs of her trousers.

Understructure

 

I struggled to think what design elements I could really add to underwear. I could sketch it, but I didn't feel I could really design it. So I wanted to come up with an actual costume, something arty from a ballet or opera or who-knows-what (you certainly can't dance in this, or even walk really) with underwear as its basis. Then during an early-morning feed I was thinking about moths, and this came to me. So there it is.

Before this challenge, I'd actually been sketching a little each day, over a toddler-paced breakfast, to work on my drawing skills, particularly at drawing people and faces. So the challenge fit right in with my goals, and although it is taking more time than those quick morning sessions, I feel like it is a great exercise in creativity and in developing my artistic style and skills again. I've experimented with faces, no faces, drawing on croquis or freehand, pencil sketches and coloured images, different papers and all sorts of things! I'm really enjoying it.

I'll be back after November ends with Part Two!

Shop Update: Another 7 Hats

My hat-a-day rate has slowed, but I have added 7 more hats to my online shop, so I thought I'd show them off again.

First up, two more hats from my exploration of 1960s faux fur hats. I love the look of the fun cheetah spots, and this grey faux fur is so soft and such a rich colour.

My first exploration into sinamay is finally in the shop now too. This one makes me think of eucalyptus leaves, despite the flower, because of the rich dark green and a pale silvery green together.

Nothing subtle about this one mini top hat. I was obsessed with carousel animals at the time, and this is my "Carousel Rooster". I love it, but it is quite a bold statement!

After mini top hats, one of the other fabric-covered hat shapes I had fun exploring was miniature tricornes. I only finished these two off late last year. This one in red, black and silver, is called "Lady Maria."

And this one is "Countess Charlotte." Mostly black and cream, with highlights of gold and dark green. She has a gathered facing, which is one of my favourite finishes for underneath brims.

To finish, we have a simple and understated 1920s cloche. No trims, just hand-shaped folds in the felt. I do love this one!

Shop updates will be thin for a while as I work on a custom project and getting some hats ready to put into a local shop in just a couple of weeks. It's going to be a busy time!