Category: 18th century

Posted on

Speaking of Costume Movies…

Have you seen the trailers for three exciting costume movies that are coming soon?

The Invisible Woman trailer — Charles Dickens’s (Ralph Fiennes) relationship with his mistress (Felicity Jones).  Altho I find mid-Victorian a total snooze, the costumes look very accurate.  Costumes designed by Michael O’Connor.  Coming to the UK in February 2014, US will probably be sometime after that.

Maleficent teaser trailer (only a teaser, but it looks great!) — the story of Sleeping Beauty told from the evil fairy’s perspective, starring Angelina Jolie. Costumes by Anna B. Sheppard.  Will be released in May 2014.

Belle trailer — the one I’m most excited about!  Based on a true story, about a mixed race girl who grows up with an aristocratic English family in the 18th c.  Costumes by Anushia Nieradzik.  Also coming in May 2014.

Wondering what other costume movies are in production/coming soon?  Check out my Upcoming Movies page.

 

Posted on

Bella Donna fall season

So I mentioned it’d been a typically busy fall for Bella Donna, my mostly-Renaissance Italian singing/performing group.  What did we get up to?

First, we performed at Much Ado About Sebastopol, a small, historically accurate (I know!) Renaissance faire in Northern California.

We did two different shows each day | (C) Howard Gold
Took over the Queen's Court while the Queen was away, which got us in the local paper | (C) Connor Jay, Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Challenged the court gentlemen to perform the Ham Pants Dance, which scandalized poor Sarah beyond recognition...
Got lectured by the Queen the next day, during which we cried and blamed the gents | (C) Philip Pavliger

For the annual San Francisco Italian Heritage Parade in October:

We dressed in an 18th c. Venetian carnivale theme | (C) Beppe Sabatini

P1013533b34

Made Liam carry our Really Huge Venetian Flag… | (C) Froguy

And won second place for “Best Novelty Act”!

Then we went to the Folsom Renaissance Faire, where we again did multiple shows…

Hung out at court | (C) Jon Wilhelmson
And I wore my relatively recently revamped green dress, which now has a better constructed/lacing front but is more widely open, and has had new trim added! | (C) John Wilhemson

And then there was the Vampire Ball — 4 gigs over 2 months — phew!

Posted on

Your Hot 18th c. Boy of the Day

I claimed I’d be posting these here regularly, clearly I lied (or maybe just got distracted).  But I’ve got a hot folder labeled “boys” burning a hole in my hard drive, so let’s get back to it!

Josef de Jaudenes y Nebot by Gilbert Stuart, 1794 | http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/12670
Posted on

18th c. Court Gowns – a different version?

Hi there!  Let’s have a blog, shall we?  Now that the busy time of fall is over, I really really want to update this here thing!  How the hell are you?

One quickie for those interested in the court gown project.  A number of us are using these illustrations of 1780s French court gowns from the Arts Decoratifs/Musee de la Mode et du Textile in Paris:

http://opac.lesartsdecoratifs.fr/

I was interested to note that these must be preparatory drawings for the Gallerie des Modes, as you can find redrawn images of many of the same styles in that publication.  I thought this could be interesting as another take on these dresses, and also — we were talking about panier shapes, and it’s interesting to see that some of the curvier shapes from the drawings are replaced by boxier shapes in the published fashion plates.  Here’s the ones I’ve identified that match chosen gowns:

Claimed by A Fractured Fairytale | www.afracturedfairytale.com
As published in GdM | http://www.banqueimages.crcv.fr
In dark colors, claimed by Bauhausfrau | costumerscloset.blogspot.com/
As published in GdM | http://www.mfa.org
In another colorway, from GdM | http://www.banqueimages.crcv.fr
Claimed by Demode | www.demodecouture.com
From GdM | http://www.banqueimages.crcv.fr
Claimed by Gilded Garb | gildedgarb.blogspot.com/
From GdM | http://www.banqueimages.crcv.fr
Claimed by Mode Historique | www.modehistorique.com
From GdM | http://www.banqueimages.crcv.fr
Claimed by Rose_Bertin | www.thefashionhistorian.com/
From GdM | http://www.banqueimages.crcv.fr
Goth version of this claimed by Trystbat | www.trystancraft.com
From GdM | http://www.banqueimages.crcv.fr
Claimed by Donna | http://helenwinfield.livejournal.com
From GdM | http://www.banqueimages.crcv.fr

There might be others I’ve missed!