And Lily Absinthe is once again on the road…at least for a brief moment. More to follow! 😉
A Brief Look At Fans…
During the late 19th Century and early 20th Centuries, fans were considered an essential fashion accessory and especially for any woman who wanted to present herself in the best possible light. Recently, we had an opportunity to take a look at some as part of the A Graceful Gift: Fans from the Mona Lee Nesseth Collection Exhibition at the FIDM Museum in Downtown Los Angeles. Introduced into Europe during the 17th Century from the Far East, the folding fan evolved from a functional item designed to keep the user cool to something that was more decorative than practical.
Folding fans came in a variety of materials ranging from the very simple and utilitarian to the ornate and materials ranged from wood to brass and ivory. The fan itself was usually made from a treated parchment (although other materials such as silk were used) which often featured painted or printed scenes. Below are two fans from 18th Century France and the variation in style is readily apparent, from the practical…
To the ornate…
Now, from the FIDM Museum exhibit:
Fan, Spanish, c. 1850 – 1865
Close-Up Of Fan.
The frame appears to be made of mother of pearl. All manner of scenes were painted on the fan leaves, many focusing on Oriental themes, a reflection of the then-current fascination for Chinoiserie. Painting scenes on the fan leaves were also popular as an at-home pastime and blank leaves were readily available.
Below is another example:
Fan, French
Close-Up Detail
Finally, here is a fan that is attributed to having once belonged to Phoebe Apperson Hearst:
Fan, Félix Alexandre, artist Dumoret, jeweler France, c. 1875–85; Constructed of Mother-of-pearl, point de gaze lace, gilded silver & diamonds; FIDM Museum (2013.975.2AB)
Overall, it was a small but interesting exhibit. Fans are an easily overlooked fashion accessory but were considered an essential element in any respectable woman’s wardrobe. As applied to recreating period fashions today, vintage fans are readily available at a variety of price points but it must be noted that many of these are fragile with age and are not able to withstand any sort of prolonged use. There are also reproductions and restored originals but it’s been our experience that the reproductions are for the most part, substandard and a faint echo of the originals.
We hope you all have enjoyed this brief overview of fans and in the future we’ll be posting more in regard fashion accessories. 🙂
Morning At The Atelier…
Breakfast with the Lotus… <3
Fresh From The Atelier
Fresh from the atelier, presenting one of our most latest creations:
Here we have a Summer gown in the Parisian styles of 1880 with a sewn straw chapeau and gloves that were dyed to match and sewn on our authentic machines of the period. Embroidered cotton batiste and cotton lace layered over turquoise taffeta with knife pleating, shirring, ruching, and ruffles, a scalloped neckline edged in turquoise silk chiffon and antique lace appliques, foundation skirt has an undercarriage bayleuse of canvas and netted ruffles to allow the skirt to float off the ground to preserve the fabric. Not shown: a sapphire blue embroidered silk hourglass corset of our own design and pattern, hand finished in gold silk dupioni.
And, here’s a view of the dress being worn by the client:
And here’s the dress at its debut at the Ft. Worth Stockyards:
From the looks of it, it appears that the debut was a success. 🙂
Lilly Absinthe & Movie Costumes, Part III
In today’s post, we wrap up our review of the 24th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising Museum in Downtown Los Angeles. First, because we just can’t let it go, we’ll show one more dress from Crimson Peak :-):
The above dress is worn by Edith in the picnic scene. This outfit is a mashup of various styles, combining a skirt from the mid-1890s with a pigeon-breast waist from the early 1900s. The hat reads early 1900s and while the belt style was correct for most of the period from c. 1890 through 1905, the buckle is somewhat larger than what was historically worn. No doubt the director was attempting to make a point with the oversized-hands buckle.
Below are some scenes from the picnic:
As with Edith’s other dresses, this reads light and airy, a contrast to Lucille Sharp’s dresses. Finally, before moving on, here are some shoes that were produced for the movie for the Edith character to wear:
On the left are the original shoes and on the right are the reproduction. Needless to say, we see the gold theme carried on even with the shoes which are concealed from view most of the time that they’re worn in the movie- talk about attention to detail! 🙂
Now, for a different type of horror, there is The Revenant:
While we are no expert on the Fur Trapper/Mountain Man Era in American History, we do can appreciate the effort that went into making these costume authentic and “lived in” to even include blood. These are brutal clothes for a brutal period, to be sure, and are definitely not the usual “Mountain Main” costumes of beads and roadkill that one normally associates with movies set in that era.
And for even more contrast, we switch from “man versus nature (and man sometimes)” to “women versus men” in the struggle for women’s right to vote with Suffragette:
The movie, from all accounts, is pretty gritty with the focus was on everyday women who took up the struggle and their clothing reflects that. This is not meant to be pretty or elegant:
Close-Up Of The Medal
What is striking about the costumes from this movie that were on display is the use of a muted color palette. While this is not a surprise, it does provide a contrast to what we usually associate with costuming from a period piece. This movie is definitely on our list of must-sees. 🙂
Thank you all for enduring three days worth of blog posts on movie costumes with a heavy dose of Crimson Peak. It looks like we’ll be acquiring some nee DVDs to watch while we sew. 🙂