Category: shopping

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Quick Update – Bling & CoCo

Just a quick update to say thanks for your feedback on my bling issue and Costume College teaching ideas!  You all sold me on the white Indian choker set… but then some BASTARD stole the auction away from me!  I then spent the past week stalking ebay, where I found various sellers selling the same set but in different colors, until this morning when another white set popped up and I grabbed it.  Now I just have to wait for it to ship from India.

And, in CoCo news, I proposed the following three classes:  social history of hair (1770s-1820s), 18th c. dress variations, and 17th-18th c. patches.  Yet again, 18th c. court dress gets no love — I’ve thrown that out before online and only get crickets back — someday I’m going to foist it on you guys anyway, and I can teach it to the two people who show up!

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Help Bling Me!

As previously noted, the GBACG is having what should be an amazing Titanic event.  While I’d love to make something new, money is tight enough that I really shouldn’t be spending money on yards of silk.  And, shockingly, I tried on my 1910 Lady Maud evening dress and it still fits, and since I’ve only worn this ONCE, I really should wear it again!

But now I’m trying to figure out the bling issue!  I’ve been vacillating between a few concepts:

Concept 1:  Super bling in a period style, like that worn here by Queen Sophia of Greece in 1915:

The problem is I’m having a hard time finding a good, wide choker that’s NOT pearls.  Pearls are nice, and they’re period, but they’re not exciting me right now.

Concept 2: Indian jewelry.  Did you know that of all modern cultures, Indian women have the best clothes?  Seriously!  And their jewelry is pretty kick ass too.  Given that my dress is made from a sari, and the Delhi Durbar of 1911 inspired lots of Indian influences in the fashions of 1911-12, and given that modern Indian is faaabulous and quite affordable on ebay, I thought of going full on Indian — hey, I could be returning to America from India and the Durbar!

Combination #1: white Indian jewelry. Then I came across this white Indian jewelry set, and I thought it might be a great merger of the two ideas — choker, bling, Indian:

But what about headgear? I was initially thinking of trying to make some kind of bandeau, like this one from Vogue:

However, the Indian sets come with a piece of hair jewelry that’s really gorgeous, but a different look — the maang tika, which hangs over the part and onto the forehead (ok this lady doesn’t have a center part, but you get the idea):

But then I found this tiara on ebay and it’s really calling to me — but it’s silvertone, not gold, and the Indian jewelry sets are almost all goldtone!

First world problems, solve them for me.  Go full Indian?  Combine goldtone Indian with silvertone tiara?  Ditch the Indian idea and keep trying to find some kind of non-cheesy rhinestone choker (which could be impossible)?  What’s working for you?

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Another sale! Costume books, fabric, patterns, accessories, trim, jewelry…

Not only did I massively clean out my costume-related things stash for the GBACG Costumers Bazaar, and not only do I need the money, and not only have I recently made an attempt to focus on making costumes for things I actually do regularly, but my husband has been watching “Hoarders” every few weeks.  So, MUST GET RID OF ALL THE THINGS!

With that, I give you yet another online costume garage sale!

Things that could excite you:

  • My red 1780s stays
  • Various cool patterns for cheap, including all 3 Margo Anderson Elizabethan women’s and JP Ryan’s late 18th c. stays
  • Costume books for far cheaper than you can get anywhere else (I checked!), including Dress at the Court of King Henry VIII, two vintage hairstyling books (one OOP and rare!), 2 of the Sally Queen swatch books (1850-80 and 1880-1920)
  • Jewelry, including a vintage 1910s ladies pocket watch and a Lenox cameo
  • Lots of fabric, including a reproduction Colonial Williamsburg 18th c. print and some antique purple brocade
  • And much much more!
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GBACG Costumers’ Bazaar – this Sunday 8/28 in Albany!

This Sunday is the GBACG Costumers’ Bazaar.  I have been doing a massive clean out of my costume-related paraphernalia… money is tight, and if I’m going to keep affording this costuming habit, it’s out with the old so I can be in with the new!  Lots of people have been posting on the GBACG list about the fabulous stuff they’ll be selling; my list includes:

  • 1860s day dress
  • handsewn silk lampas 1740s jacket
  • stripey Regency evening gown
  • 1830s day dress
  • Regency spencer
  • vintage patterns
  • costume patterns, including various Simplicity mid-Victorian and some Truly Victorian
  • vintage clothes (men’s & women’s)
  • books, including:  Fashions of a Decade: The 1940s; Ackermann’s Costume Plates: Women’s Fashions in England, 1818-1828; Eighteenth-Century French Fashion Plates in Full Color: 64 Engravings from the “Galerie des Modes,” 1778-1787; Fashions and Costumes from Godey’s Lady’s Book; Paris Fashions of the 1890s; Women Who Ruled: Queens, Goddesses, Amazons in Renaissance and Baroque Art; Fashion Plates in the Collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum; Fashion in Colors; Victorian Fashion in America: 264 Vintage Photographs; French Fashion Plates of the Romantic Era in Full Color: 120 Plates from the “Petit Courrier des Dames,” 1830-34; Masterpiece Theatre: A Celebration of 25 Years of Outstanding Television; 80 Godey’s Full-Color Fashion Plates, 1838-1880; The Gallery of Fashion; My Likeness Taken: Daguerreian Portraits in America; Dress & Cloak Cutter: Women’s Costume 1877-1882; 1940s Hairstyles; X, a Decade of Collecting, 1965-1975, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, April 8-June 29, 1975; Textiles for Early Victorian / Late Victorian Clothing (Sally Queen swatch books); and more!
  • Fabric – lots of wools, some silk and cotton
  • Trims
  • costume DVDs/Blu-Ray
  • and more!

So, if you’re interested in poking around and getting some great deals, come on by and check us out!

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Wig/Hair Color Advice Needed!

So I long ago decided to screw the 18th c. aesthetic of disliking red hair and wearing my super bright, very dyed hair color.  But lately I’ve been wanting to experiment with a more period look — specifically, powdering up the wazoo.

I did try a grey wig once, and it was TERRIBLE on me.  I’m a warm color person, and I just looked washed out.

So I thought I’d order a wig in a strawberry blond (my natural hair color when I was a kid) and try powdering over that, hoping that the warm color underneath might help.  I was particulary inspired by the nice results Jen Thompson of Festive Attyre got, and she has chestnut hair.  Also, I loved the super frizzy-ness of her wig, so I bought the same one!

However, the place I ordered from didn’t have strawberry blond in stock, so I got “auburn” instead, hoping it would just be a shade or two darker.  Well, it’s definitely more of a warm medium brown!

So what I’m wondering is, keep this wig and powder over it?  Or will the resulting color be too blah?  Should I instead order a warm blond wig?  I can’t picture myself as a blond… but at least it would be warmer than grey.  I’m worried the powder + medium brown will end up a grey-ish light brown.  I don’t know!  Counsel me!