Festival Friday - Wedding of the Painted Doll

Yesterday I faced one of my biggest phobias at the 63rd Annual United Federation of Doll Clubs National Convention. I decided to push through the fear for two reasons. One, I'm considering starting up a line of paper dolls, and Two, vintage fashions!

Similar to Comic Con and other conventions, the event featured vendors from all over the country and around the world, selling dolls and all sorts of accessories and other paraphernalia. I had a marvelous time (despite my discomfort) and met some positively lovely people. The following photographs will do a much better job at describing the event than I could. If you're interested in any of the merchandise or vendors you see, click the images for contact information or websites.

The first booth we visited featured a variety of antique dolls, varying widely in origin, style, and period.

This stall featured delightful doll-oriented miniatures:

Here's a set of vintage Barbie Collection Dolls dressed for Mardi Gras!

Here's a delightful spice cabinet featuring all sorts of miniatures perfect for any doll's house.

Yes, that is an original first-run Barbie Doll on the far left. Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced this vendor's information. If any UFDC members recognize this stall, please let me know so I can properly credit the merchandise.

One booth featured a series of doll houses, including this French schoolhouse with an automaton teacher! Note the intricate detailing of the schoolbooks.

I actually considered buying these Art Deco cloth dolls. They are absolutely adorable!

A pair of Emma Clears. Very popular at the convention.

This is a very rare and unusual reclining doll. I meant to take a close-up picture of her body under her skirt, since she looks a bit odd without her dress on. The lounge chair is assumed to be from the 1920s or 30s.

I do love doll houses and miniatures, so this booth was right up my alley, featuring mini books (some fully printed), glass and table ware, and jewelry.

This booth was probably my favorite. After the vendor's mother passed, she and her family found these collections in her house. Along with a large variety of children's and doll's shoes, they also discovered an enormous collection of rare paper dolls. The one featured below is able to open and close its eyes thanks to an ingenious flap. The second paper doll is a reversible doll c. 1913.

    

Something I learned at the convention: A lot of antique dolls had removable wigs to be able to change their hair styles.

This doll has a story and an entire trousseau to go with it! This picture didn't come out that well, but you can see better photos on their website.

The last booth I visited had two of the most striking dolls I saw that day. This vendor asked to be credited as Jackie Allington of the Bahamas but didn't give any contact information. The doll on the left is an automaton and you can see her in motion below.

Sorry about the video quality on this. It's taken me close to an hour to get it uploading and I just don't have the patience to keep dealing with Google products today.

So I ultimately had a good time and was able to get past my anxieties. There is one doll that I omitted from this post for the simple reason that the photo I thought I took of her vanished from my phone. You can see The Merry Widow Allegra here. She's a rather funny, very unusual doll, so do check her out! If you're curious about the UFDC, you can visit their website here. Have a great weekend, readers!

Music Mondays - Beyoncé and Bettie Page

Some of you may remember my previous article on Beyoncé's "Why Don't You Love Me?". Well, further discoveries have warranted a revisit to this mid-century wonderland.

Just to refresh your memory:








On another of my many YouTube train-of-thought binges, I stumbled onto footage from a 1950 Burlesque film called "Teaserama":








Now doesn't that seem oddly familiar? How about this?








Turns out Beyoncé was heavily inspired by Bettie Page and the Pin-up Girl in this video - not just in her dances but also in her clothes.

 

 

The maid costume may also have been partially inspired by this outfit:







But mostly that last one is just fun, isn't it?


Short but sweet.

 

Ask A Gentleman II

"Dear Nostalgically yours:

You are, of course, the epitome of great taste and flair – so I resort to you to ease my mind when making plans to attend an upcoming wedding. My sister is getting married. The setting will be in the deep south on a river boat. As you may know, it often gets to be over 100 degrees during that time of year. So, here is my dilemma. My sis has impeccable taste and an endless budget – it will be a very small but very tasteful wedding and I want to represent. I, on the other hand, have a very limited budget – really, I don’t even have a budget for a new outfit, seeing how it will cost us about $1000 for my family to get there. BUT, I want this day to be special for her, free of drama, and perfect – that is what she deserves. So, have a couple of choices of things I already own. My sis, BTW, is wearing a 1950 nostalgic throwback dress with a full skirt and small sweet bodice – I don’t know what it will look like – but, in my head I imagine something like what Audrey Hepburn wore when she receive the Academy Award for “Roman Holiday.” Anyway, you should know that everything looks good on her – she is very elegant, very chic, very stylish! The theme is “nautical, creams, blues and above all … stylish”. In thinking of things that are already in my closet (that would be appropriate for a smoldering summer day), I have a lot of long, flowing summer skirts and maxi sun dresses, one pair of black palazzo pants, but nothing in red, or white, or blue. What do you suggest? Oh, I almost forget, her son, who is a designer, will be giving her away – so… no pressure! The good thing is, of course, that all eyes will be on her – so that is wonderful – but since there will only be about 20 guests total, I want to make sure that I look elegant, and not embarrass her!

Thanks,
Perplexed by Panache"

Dear Perplexed,

Though I doubt you are truly as perplexed as you say, let me start off by saying that you already have the upper hand because you're aware of yourself. The first step toward an elegant countenance is to be aware of what one is working with - you have that down pat! Money has very little to do with elegance and sophistication. There are plenty of people dripping with money who can't hold an outfit together to save their lives.

See? Money can't buy class.

As Christian Dior once said: "Elegance is not dependent on money. Of the four things I have mentioned above [distinction, naturalness, care and simplicity], the most important of all is care. Care in choosing your clothes. Care in wearing them. Care in keeping them." And in the words of Diana Vreeland: "The only real elegance is in the mind; If you've got that, the rest really comes from it." You already have this Care, dear reader and I'm fairly certain the other three aren't far behind.

You know they ain't trippin'!

Unfortunately, because I don't know what is in your wardrobe and only what isn't, I cannot truly advise you on what, specifically, to wear. The good news is that no-one will be looking at you since you're not the bride, so a lot of the pressure is off. Think carefully about what is appropriate for the occasion, appropriate for the weather, and above all appropriate for you.

I hope this helped,

Music Mondays - Barbra Streisand "Sleepin' Bee"

Just a quick little post for this week's Music Monday. This is a little gem of a song I discovered while on one of my famous Wikipedia binges. More and more often I find myself on vicious cycles of clicking article after related article just to satiate my undying curiosity. On this occasion I happened to be reading about Barbra Streisand's career and I read that her first television appearance was on "The Tonight Show" in 1961, and she sang this beautiful song:




Anyway, I've fallen in love with Ms. Streisand over and over as I discover new and different parts of her career. She is probably the epitome of the musical diva we know today. Just for fun let's watch some other songs from some of her many television appearances and specials:











The last one is my favorite because of the fashion tie-in. Those hats she tries on drive me up the wall with envy... (Especially the one at 4:56). Anyway that's that for this week's Music Monday.


Hope your week starts out well,

On the Third Day of Christmas...

The more erudite among you will definitely enjoy today's "12 'isms' of Christmas". The less erudite will probably have to look up most of these , along with the meaning of the word "erudite". I'm just teasing - I actually had to look up a few of these myself:

(Just FYI this video does contain some strong language)


As your gift for today, I'll add an "ism" to that list: Symbolism. Hands-down, my favorite artist of this movement is Gustav Klimt. The following are photographs from "AE" magazine, via Kattaca (who I believe did the Art Direction for this shoot) on Behance Network. Click the image to see the rest of the photo shoot. They are absolutely stunning.

Klimt's original

The stunning photographic take (click for more)

Fuck you!
Nostalgically Yours

A Whole New Look

I'm sure you've noticed the complete over-haul to my blog. I'm still trying to make a few tweaks, but I think I'll be able to stick to this look for quite some time. I just hate stumbling upon blogs that look exactly like mine... So, I've customized my blog even more.

I must give credit where credit is due, though - the illustration I've used as my new header is by famed Illustrator Rene Gruau. He's one of my favorite Illustrators of the 20th century, and I didn't even know it until I realized how many of the fashion drawings of the 50s and 60s I've admired for years and years. He's even influenced my own illustration work. Here is a sample of his work, followed by some of my drawings following his lead:

Probably his most famous illustration

He even dappled in menswear... sort of.

Finally, here are some of my illustrations inspired by Gruau's work:

Velvet and Sequins

Leather and Suede

Lace

Now onto a bit of administrative stuff. I'm not going to post again until next week. I have final projects due Tuesday so I'll probably prepare some stuff for Monday so I don't have to skip it again. School ends on the 18th, but the family comes in four days later for Christmas, which means my house is going to be bedlam until the 31st. I'm really going to try my hardest to post lots of interesting stuff over the holidays, but I'm not making any promises. Besides, I'm sure most of you will be too busy with your own lives to read my little 'ol blog. In any case, we shall see each other multiple times before the end of the year.

Nostalgically Yours