The Everyday Steampunk II

One of the absolute “essentials” (I’m in no way an authority at this field, so please don’t assume I’m trying to say that my opininon is somehow general. Just in case. Thank you.) of Steampunk as a fashion is the pocket watch. And I finally got myself one! Even two, to be more precisely.

The first one was from Xenos, originally meant to be on a key ring together with a lock and a lollipop emaille pendant, but I removed it and attached one of the chains I still had in my metal scraps box, together with a clip to fix it at my belt or the strap of my bag.

It may not seem very steampunky, but at least it’s a pocket watch, and a very unobstrusive one, too. I’m still thinking about modding it a little bit, maybe with some polymer clay, to have a more unique look about it.

The second watch is from Claires, meant to be a necklace, but since I changed the chain into a sturdier one and also added a clip I wear it in my pockets like the name implies.

I like the fact that it is filigree yet not too ladylike for a tomboy like me. Maybe I’ll find a brass-coloured clip one day, but until then the silver one will do. Plus, it somehow allows me to mix brass and silver jewelery alike.

And finally I finished my clock cushion project! Actually it was done some weeks ago but I had no time to take a decent picture.

Matching Monday – Baker Street

Yesterday I told you about the Disney masterpiece The Great Mouse Detective, where Sherlock Holmes is replaced by Basil of Baker Street, a mouse (Well, kind of. Actually, Basil lives beneath Sherlock’s flat). And here we go with this week’s polyvore!

When you look at the two Disney collectibles in the lower right corner, you’ll notice that I tried to use Basils colour scheme for this coordinate, plus the red of Olivia’s and Dawson’s details.

Now, where to begin? The pieces of this style are as follows:

• A cape. One of the essentials of 19th century detective style! Best-looking and warming when they are double-breasted, a great protection against London fog and rain, especially when made of wool. Without a button line and only a ribbon to tie I guess it’s more children-like and girly.
• An umbrella. Well, the film does start on a rainy evening! Think of Dawson when he first encounters Olivia. Plus, it’s great to hide in a crowd (therefore you’ll need an unsuspicious colour like black) and cover your face to prevent to be detected by vile villains!
• The violin bag is to capture Basil’s as well as Sherlock’s hobby, playing this particular instrument. Sadly I couldn’t find any violin-shaped pieces of jewelery, but one could easily take a doll-house violin or viola to make one. Speaking of it, I think I’ve still got something like that back at my mother’s house…
• A pocket watch. Every good detective needs to know the time, and I thought a fancy time-piece would remind the watcher of the – after all – playful feeling of the movie. This tea-pot-shaped watch even came from the Sherlock Holmes museum and also hints the British tea tradition.
• The ribbon hair clips are mostly Olivia’s thing – in the movie she wears a bright red, head-eating bow. I just wanted to take this in a little less demonstrative direction but without drawing this part of the inspiration from the outfit. After all, a detective shouldn’t catch one’s eye at first sight.
• The blouse. I wanted something Victorian-looking, something that looked a little more earnest but not too stern.
• The skirt is double-breasted again and adds a military touch or even British school uniform. The pleating is a hint in Olivia’s direction – I couldn’t find a blue one.
• The shoes are granny boots, once again. The red is an addition to the hair clips to keep this in continuity. Dawson even finds Olivia in an old shoe of this kind!
• The gloves are made of leather which is obviously more resistant to wind and weather than delicate crochet or satin ones. I also wanted the look to be somewhat sensible and even masculine, so classical gloves were the right choice.
• The scarf combines all the colours or the coordinate and again is a more masculine choice but not without the possibility of the wearer looking lady-like.
• A detective hat. To sum it up, the second essential. I think about sewing one myself as they are quite hard to find, but a flat cap will do, too (ear flaps would be nice, though).
• The pipe is optional, I don’t smoke and don’t want to encourage anyone (but I think you’re all old enough to know that). A  (modded) bubble pipe would be a great alternative if you really want the look!

Today there will be no second part to the feature, but I hereby promise to make a work in progress-post/ tutorial of the cape I’m planning to sew as soon as possible!

And here I leave you (it’s incredibly late again), but not without some music.

Porcelain Sunday – The Great Mouse Detective

 

 

The Great Mouse Detective, also known as Basil of Baker Street, is one of my favourite Disney movies ever.

I fist watched it while in elementary school on video (yes! video!) when we borrowed it from the library on a rainy Saturday afternoon. I don’t know why it made such an impression, I only know that I kept it in mind during the years and was delighted to watch it again.

For those of you who don’t know the film yet, I can pretty much sum it up as a Sherlock Holmes adventure in a mouse’s Victorian London, solving a case of toy-maker kidnapping.

So, where’s the inspiration?, you may ask now.

Well, as for me Lolita is – at least a part of it, that is – a return to childhood and a view at eras gone by, especially that of Queen Victoria. And this is where this movie comes in very, very handy. Mainly, I have to admit, I’m inspired by the whole “classic” detective look of Basil, but I do love Dawson’s and Olivia’s clothes, too! The whole atmosphere of the film is whimsical and inspiring at the same time, mostly for some Classic Lolita (maybe some Gothic to resemble the villain, Ratigan, too).

I guess I don’t have too much to say for Porcelain Sunday when it’s about a movie as I think one needs to watch it to understand the “whole thing”, and I’m quite tired, too. So good-bye for today, sleep well, all of you!

10 Things I love in March

1. Amplifiers or amps, to sit on them. Since I brought them here from my mothers house together with my new armoire I’ve seldom used other seatings as they exactly have the right height and are quite comfortable, too. Only, I’ll have to sew some chair cushions for them for upholstered they are not.
2. Fennel. During my month without sugar I re-discovered my love for this bulbs. It’s a great snack (sometimes difficult to eat, though) and it’s incredibly healthy, too.
3. Pizza baps. We use to order them during roleplay sessions, they are as large as my fist and very soft and warm and they come with herb butter. ♥
4. Changeling. Yet another White Wolf RPG… Generally, I’m not a big fan of White Wolf, but Changeling is really fun. I think I’ll devote a post or two on the matter of the game which is in our case beautifully mastered by the Elfin.
5. Stickers. I brought some with me when I returned from Frankfurt last month as they had such wonderful ones at Accesorize. Tea pots and envelopes and Union Jack hearts, isn’t that great?!
6. Ravelry. Teli was the one who showed me first this wonderful world made of wool and yarn. There are so many cute and beautiful projects I instantly wanted to knit and crochet! I definitely have to work on my skills, though…
7. My new armoire. Finally some storing place, even though it’s actually smaller in size than the old one!
8. Scuttlebuggery. A game featuring the music of Johnny Hollow where you play the role of a bug trying to collect drops of various liquids. It’s somewhat steampunky, too!
9. Journeys. This year will be full of them if it goes by the plan: first a visit at Lilibeth’s in late April together with Jules, after that RP Con in Cologne, then maybe the German Savate championship, M’era Luna festival and at last even London in autumn. I guess I’ve never been around so much in one year before!
10. Mori Girl @ Promod. I don’t know if they know about Mori, but some of the pieces from the current collection are just perfect! I could have bought half of the shop some days ago (if I had the money, of course)! It was a great inspiration, though, and I’ve got me a new blouse, too (just look at the tulle embroidery!).
    

A Victorian Visit, plus Accident

First: Thank you for your honest opinions on my thought of moving my blog from wordpress to blogger. I’m still considering, and the plan is to set up the whole design for the blog – completely selfmade! – and let you have a look. And then to ask again if you think it fits me, and if you think I should stay or go.

Second, I had a visit of nearly Victorian dimensions (when a visit at your cousin’s house could last for week to months) from Jules, and as always, here’s a little report.

Jules arrived on Wednesday afternoon as his Hungary lesson was canceled that day and Thursday school was closed, and after I’d picked him up at the station, we sat down in my room with a cup of tea and brainstoremd what I’d wear on a 20s party (there’s – maybe – coming one up, so the concerns are justified). The evening we spent at a bistro together with another friend of mine.

Thursday was a quiet day, mainly spent on getting sequins and beads for one of Jules’ school projects, namely an embellished scarf. But on Friday, we went on a shopping trip in Frankfurt after Jules came back from school. It was nice, sure, but very exhausting. Shopping trips are always exhausting to me, and I simply can’t understand how people in tv series are able to endure this so often! Personally, I wanted to go to Accessorize for a certain headband I’d wanted since I first saw it, and then got lost in the art and DIY supply store.
After some pasta and cake and a visit at the sweets shop we were just too tired to look for fabric – I’m participating in two swaps at the moment, and the material for one of them isn’t giving me the easy way. I guess I’ve got to go there again as I didn’t find anything here in Marburg, maybe during the weekend.

Then, on Saturday, when we were strolling down from the upper town, I happened to sprain my foot and twist my ankle. Well, it goes on like “I tripped and fell and rolled down the steep cobblestone street for one or two yards and then I bumped into the tires of a parking car”.

Ahem. Yes.

A very kind passerby and Jules asked me if I were okay, and as I could move my foot and was able to walk in a way that didn’t hurt so much we went on. The really unpleasant part was when I  removed my hiking boots – after that I wasn’t able to do anything with my right foot.

It could have been worst, though. My ankle wasn’t swollen at all (due to the boots, I think. But with the violence that I fell up there I don’t want to know what had happenend if I had worn lower or softer shoes) and thanks to my boxing bandages and enough rest didn’t swell at home, either. One good point about this accident was that I hadn’t go a long to the dancehall where Jules had wanted to drag me for this evening, as the music isn’t really what I enjoy to dance to.

The bad points are obvious, I couldn’t possibly go to savate or canne holiday training with crutches. But yesterday I was able to abandon them again, and I think if I’m careful enough I might be able to train again next week, at least boxing.

On Sunday we had our traditional smoked salmon breakfast after Jules had come home after the party at 5 AM. We also use to watch a film during this meal, this time it was Eloise at the Plaza. Later that day Jules went to a date with a nice young man he’d met the night before and in the evening he took the train back home.

And finally, I had my room to myself again.

Matching Monday – Unspeakable

I consider Ero Lolita one of the most interesting styles in Lolita as it’s not really meant to be worn in public most of the time. With the following coordinate I tried to arrange an outfit that I personally would wear in public.

The “every day friendly” coordinate for this week has some points that draws it from the boudoir to the street:

• The colours. Sadly I wasn’t able to find pieces in exactly the green from the absinthe ad above, but if I had, I’d loved it to be a bodice or shoes. Green isn’t a colour generally associated with dessous, especially erotic ones, just as well as the old yellow from ad, parasol and bloomers. Black in contrary is a common colour for Ero Lolita and, of course, for lingerie.
• The stockings used for this outfit are woolen, opaque ones. While I’m a big fan of those, many people will rather think of a tomboyish little girl or a hippie, but that’s exactly what makes them everyday proof!
• The blouse is made of sheer fabric but with a high collar and pintucks that make it more present.
• The tops. I chose three of them, just for fun. We’ve got a short one on the top that would be great for a night out – actually, I’ve got one that’s pretty similar in my closet. For every day, one would need a tank top underneath the blouse here, at least I’d be more comfortable with one. The bodice in the middle is my favourite, I definitely need one like that. It’s very feminine but without any lace or too much cleavage and the look is almost baroque- or rococo-like. The last one is the most common choice for Ero, a corset. I took the plainest I found, but I’d prefer one made of matte linen. This is a case of “tank top or party” as well, but I’m not too much a friend of corsets for every day, anyway.
• The boots. While higher heels are pretty obvious for this style and rocking horse shoes at least have lacing ribbons that make them a very lady-like and even in the right outfit appealing choice, platform-only (whithout heels) combat boost are rather unusual. I love that chunky look!
• Accessoires. I don’t know why, but for me, Ero Lolita is always connected to parasols. Here it’s a asian-style one from Clockwork Couture and not only had it a colour similar to the light stripes of the bloomers but also was it not to delicate and lacy but added a fragile air to the look I wanted to achieve. The necklace was chosen randomly, I just like bird skulls, and if you just think of how lightweight and brittle they are, it’s a turn in the same direction as the parasol. Plus, I love the Victorian look of the pendant!

I won’t write about the bloomers, for me they are such essentials of Ero that they don’t need an explanation. The ginger beer and bonbons were only added for fun, by the way.

The second coordinate today – yes, there are two this time – is a more refined version:

The several elements are pretty much the same (the bloomers are even just another colour way!) but the outfit is significantly different.

• The colours. Again, we’ve got black as one of the three basic lingerie colours (the others being white and red), but this time together with a rose colour, something between a fresh baby pink and old rose with an apricot hint. Those colours are common for dessous, too, but rather for the innocent look, and they kind of remind one of bare skin, too, or of rose petals opening, if you like metaphors.
• The stockings. Here they are sheer, way more charged with certain associations. Silk stockings with a seam are best, if you ask me, but maybe the seam’s too much…
• The blouse. This is the opaque piece here. The ruffles make it more delicate and add a lavish feel without revealing any skin.
• The corset. Yes, the top piece needed no further thinking here. It’s not the typical corset as it lacks a front plate and has buttons instead which add a cute and very young feeling, and the seams are piped in a darker colour which makes it an even better combination piece with black.
• The shoes. I’ve been drooling over these since I first saw them some years ago on MakoChan’s blog. They are so delicate, so velvety, so innocent yet appealing… Ahem. You know what I mean. They are perfect. The small heel makes them very, very feminine but more in a pastoral way (think of shepherdesses in rococo paintings) than in a way that makes you think of a fetish model.
• Accessoires. Again, there’s an umbrella, this time the Lisbeth Dahl model I’ve got, too. I don’t have to explain the difference to the other parasol, right? For jewelery I chose cameos and a very simply painted porcelain ring for a classical look and a heart pendant as a choker over a blouse like the chosen would have been ridiculous. Plus, a tight necklace would have been more cliché. :) The last thing to mention is the rose Alice band to take on the innocent and pink again.

And now it’s my turn again, today with a fashion design:

I drew this back in school when we got the assignment the design either jewelry or lingerie and I chose the latter. The (very) small collection consists of a brassiere (what a great word, so much better that the abbreviation!) with lace that is meant to look like an old iron fence, french knickers with embroidery and a corset. Fabrics are linen, velvet and raw silk, which is really, really unlikely, but I’d have been satisfied with other high-class matter, too. You can see that I even planned other colour ways, but I missed to scan the second page with the exact brassiere and knickers design (the other colours were light steam blue, pastel park lake reed green and old mansion ochre with darkened stripes for the straps and pocket).

As for music, I’d reccommend Emilie Autumn today as her outfits remind me very much of Ero, most of the time.

 

Come to think of it, I could use an outfit like the first one for M’era Luna festival in August… Hm…

Porcelain Sunday – The History of Dessous

Lately, there was a documentary on the french-german tv channel arte about said history of dessous that I found utterly interesting. And without further ado I’ll give you the video.

And there will be more to read tomorrow, but first I’ve got to recover from Jules’ recent visit. :)

A Change? I really need your help.

I’ve had this post as a draft in my folders for quite some time now, and I think it’s finally the right moment to publish it.

Some time ago my friend Lilibeth moved. She transferred her blog from wordpress to blogger to see who follows her on her adventures and for the wider range of wallpaper she could decorate her room in the world-wide web with.
I’ve got to admit that I played around with the thought to switch, too, just for the sake of a personal background, then. But when time flew I thought about how little I knew about how many people are actually reading my blog, that I didn’t know where they came from and so on.

Plus, I had some spam problems here at wordpress. And now, not knowing what to do, I turn to you, my readers:

Should I take this step?

Should I stay or should I go?

Should I give in to my desire and vanity for a prettier background?

Should I hold on to the dashboard I know so well?

Should I transfer my older posts to a new blog or keep this one as my archive?

This time I really, really beg you for your comments as I’m still hesitating, pending, waiting for a choice to come to me. What do you think? Any opinions? Remarks? Ideas? I’d love to read your words concerning this.

Matching Monday – Princess Sara

This time we don’t have a how-to-achieve-the-look monday, but rather outfits inspired by the book.

It was a little hard to decide what to do for this Matching Monday, and I came up with an interpretation of Sara’s beautiful “rose fairy” dancing outfit, mashed up with her travelling attire:

• Long Sleeved Dress. When it comes to Sara I always think of OPs. There is no way I can imagine Miss Crewe in a jumperskirt! The dress above is from Fan+Friend, if you wonder. In my copy of the book, Sara is most of the time depicted wearing blue, but as I tried to capture the air of the dancing outfit it’s rose-coloured.
• Granny Boots. An essential for a refined, Victorian inspired look. In the book, Sara’s shoes are described as making her feet look very, very small. Granny boots with lacing will do, but with buttons they are perfect!
• Crown Motives. To embrace the princess feeling, a crown is one of the symbols to use (but that is common knowledge, I think). In the coordinate above they are very understated in the mounting of the studs, but I think that a pin or an emblem on a headdress would be lovely, too. Just limit the number, less is more in this case.
• Books. Sara is an avid reader, you might even say a bookworm. I tried to include this part of her personality with the book locket ring and the book hand bag. I myself own a book-shaped locket that belonged to my mother, and you can find many of this style on dawanda and etsy.
• The Doll. Emily is Sara’s best friend when she first arrives at Miss Minchin’s Select Seminary. I love the idea of having a perfect doll with specially tailored frocks and lots of equipment! I even consider making one my own, but I’m still planning here.
• Roses. They come from the dancing outfit, too, and as roses are my favourite flowers I had to include them. Plus, they give an air of royalty without being to serious or overdone. When Princess Portal was still online there was a tutorial on how to make a wonderful wreath out of artificial roses, but I think one can figure out how to get them in shape without it, too. The biggest problem with artificial flowers is to find some that look convincing if you want them to look natural. But if you want some black or blue ones, just go ahead and paint them yourself! There are plenty of other hair pieces with roses too, just keep your eyes open at Claire’s or Accessorize and the like.
• Jewelery. In this case I chose a really pretty locket with a rose motif, to catch on to the hair decor again. Lockets in general are very good to achieve a victorianesque look, and if I recall this right there is also a story line about a locket in the 1995 A Little Princess movie.

As for lockets, here is how I include a bit of Sara’s story and philosophy into my everyday life. Not only do I still try to follow the Princess Code by the Lost Princess Skye (Princess Portal sadly is offline, but you can still read the code here), I also try to remind myself, just like Sara, of the fact that if I want to I can pretend and behave like one. It even went easier when I found my locket:

It dangles over my bed on the knob of my made-from-a-drawer bookshelf together with a small bundle of thyme Teli gave me. Inside it, there’s a small folded piece of paper, reminding me…

I hope my inspiration was at least nice for you to read this time, best inspiring for you, too. I’ll say good bye today with a piece of wonderful music made from sound from the movie mentioned above.

 

Porcelain Sunday – A Little Princess

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett is – at least I guess so – along with Kamikaze Girls and Alice in Wonderland one of THE Lolita books, after all, so it was quite obvious for me to dedicate a Porcelain Sunday to this piece of work. Especially when I think about that it’s been one of my favourite books for over ten years and I’ve read it more that once a year since, I’d say.

I got my first copy when I was seven or eight years old, a wonderful book with an elaborate cover and even more beautiful illustrations by Mr. Graham Rust. I read it everywhere, on the couch beneath the skylight with the bright stars shining above me while winter painted the window with his flowers, out in the garden in warm sunlight where the cold of the book’s London could still reach me and even in the bath tub where it got a little damp, I fear.

My second copy, this time in English, encountered my life in Coventry, United Kingdom, on my way to Ireland, together with a copy of The Secret Garden at a rummage sale in a community centre. Both were Parragon Children’s Classics and cost no more that a pound together. I don’t remember exactly if I knew about it already, but I was on the best way to become a Lolita.

But now for the inspirational part!

As I said before, the illustrations stunned me. There were all these Victorian dresses for little girls in pretty colours, the stripes of Ermengarde’s dress when we first encounter her, the looks of the Large Family!

This is not the first time we meet Ermengarde, but this picture illustrates very well what you could use a "princess friendship". Somehow.

One of the outfits I love most in the book is Sara’s rose-coloured dancing frock. I guess there will be references to it tomorrow…

Another favourite of mine is Ermengarde’s striped dress, it’s quite simple in a good way, without being just plain.

Here we first get to see Sara as a servant. Even in her misery she has the bearing of a princess, a countenance I surely try to have, too, but I definitely do not hope to meet with such circumstances as she had to.

And finally, there’s the Large Family. Not only do I adore the romantic, whimsical names Sara gives them – Ethelbertha Beauchamp and Violet Cholmondeley and Claude Harold Montmorency, to name only three of the children -, they also live in a wonderful house and a loving, cheerful family not only Sara dreamt of. And according to the illustrations they dress well, too!

Another point that can be seen as loliable is the way how Sara sees her dolls, especially Emily: Not as mere toys but beings with their own personality, just a little bit like Lottie, the eponymous doll from last week’s Porcelain Sunday. And I guess the way Sara’s dolls, especially the “Last Doll”, are dressed and decked out is exactly the way some Lolitas would like to see their BJDs or other favourite dolls treated like.

 

The Last Doll

Of this wonderful book there also is a movie (to be precisely there more than one, but I only talk about the 1995 version which is also the more popular one). While it is very pretty to look at, some of the alterations in comparison to the book aren’t too felicitous at all. After all, it even screws the original climax of the story. So, maybe you’ll mark my words and first read the book (if you haven’t yet, that is) and then watch the movie if you want to, but not as an adaption (a mistake I made when I first saw it) but as a loosely based-on story. They even made Sara blue-eyed and fair-haired instead of green-eyed and raven black! What a pity!

This is my favourite picture from the book I think, or at least from the end. Sara’s outfit is so pretty and her boots are simply a dream made of leather. Indeed, she is a little princess.

Today I’ll leave you with some really inspiring quotes, one from the book and two from the movie, that managed – despite all things they in my opinion did wrong with this film – to emphasize the message from the book which every Lolita should live up to, or, in my opinion, at least try to:

Sometimes I do pretend I am a princess. I pretend I am a princess, so that I can try and behave like one.
(Frances Hodgson Burnett: A Little Princess, first published 1888 – 1905)

I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren’t pretty, or smart, or young. They’re still princesses.

You can be anything you want to be, my love, as long as you believe.
(Warner Bros.: A Little Princess, 1995)