What I Actually Wore #0074

Serial #: 0074
Date: 24/07/2012
Weather: 16°C, fine
Time Allowed: 8 minutes

Although I was only off to work as usual, I had a birthday dinner with a friend in the evening, so I felt it behooved me to wear something festive. As it was also winter and I would be gallivanting about the city in the evening, I needed to dress warmly. A new vintage beaded wool jumper fit the bill. It is beaded all over in red and white sequins, and little red pompoms dangle along the waist and cuffs. Red, white, pompoms, shiny! It was a case of love at first sight when I saw it on Etsy.

Now some people might feel this top would be a little much for their office – luckily I work at a theatre. I did dress it down with a camel suede skirt and cable knit tights, but everyone felt compelled to remark on how glittery I was. There were also two counts of Dorothy shoe comments and the magical powers thereof – I wish, especially when shivering late at night waiting for a tram home. A vintage velvet hat kept my head warm – but apparently that old chestnut that one loses most of one’s body heat through the top of the head is sheer bunkum. Not that I need an excuse to wear a hat!

Items:

Hat: A Pyreneés Model
Top: vintage 50s
Skirt: Chine Collection
Earrings: vintage
Ring: Roun
Watch: Kenneth Cole
Shoes: Zoe Wittner

Two-For-One

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I don’t like sparkly jewellery unless it’s really enormous. Since really enormous sparkly jewellery is also really expensive, I take mine fake. Take this mammoth cocktail ring for instance. It’s huge. One jumbo-sized brilliant is surrounded by lots and lots of little diamonds around the band. If it was real, I’d have to be some maharajah’s favourite concubine or something.

But what fun! It is also an excellent weapon of self-defence. Not only does it give my punch an extra edge, but should I be mugged in bright sunlight, the blinding flash of this colossal rock would first incapacitate my would-be assailant. So really I get two-for-one: it’s not only a ring, but it’s a weapon … but it’s a ring … Great, huh? What a bargain. 

Klimt and Pattern

I have always liked Vienna Secession artist Gustav Klimt’s work. His paintings are so rich in detail, ornamented with a riot of pattern and lavished with gilt. I have always loved Byzantine art too for this same reason; Klimt’s two-dimensional pictures recall the mosaic patterns and arabesque colours and designs of Byzantium. Of course Klimt’s subjects are sensual rather than religious, but they are equally glorious.

A Klimt-like pose – click for larger versionFor a long time I had thought about creating my own picture in homage to the Secessionst, but could not decide how; to simply decorate a photograph with Klimtesque swirls and floral motifs seemed obvious and not true to my own style besides. But it is the patterns, and colours (apart from the women obviously) that are so striking about his paintings, and earlier this week I suddenly hit on it. I would use printed and embroidered fabric to emulate Klimt’s ornamentation. I even had the perfect vintage dress. Years ago I had done a story on lingerie, and I recalled a particular pose (right) that had reminded me of Klimt’s painting Danae (below). Then a quick hit on Google for additional visuals of Klimt’s paintings lead me to The Virgin (below). 

Danae, 1907–08The Virgin, Gustav Klimt, 1913

I pulled out of storage an Indian bed sheet I had purchased from an exotic homewares store in Penrith, NSW when I was about 16 (I fell in love with it, and bought it even though it was very expensive for me at the time); another enormous length of spangled and tie-dyed silk (part of a sari perhaps) purchased in vintage store The Jazz Garter in Sydney, also many years ago; and some embroidered gold fabric the origin of which I do not recall. The cotton maxi dress is also vintage, possibly 1970s, purchased from Fat Helen’s in Chapel St a few years ago. Although I love the dress, it is so hot to wear, there are so many metres of fabric in it. The pattern is a perfect rendition of Klimt’s florals however.

The young girl(s) in The Virgin look rather like they are lolling on an enormous bed (the painting depicts the transition of a girl into a woman), and accordingly I cast the fabrics on my bed, set up the camera on its tripod and threw myself on top, arranging the folds of my dress artistically. It’s not so easy to compose this kind of image when one can’t look through the viewfinder, and I probably shot the equivalent of ten rolls of film before I ended up with a few pictures I was happy with. (Some I have included in the Out-takes & Extras gallery, including the full image of the details below.) I call it The Sleeper. 

Read about Gustav Klimt here.

Detail (from one of the out-takes), original photo (left) and the picture utilising the typical SNAP filter effects (right). Click for a closer look.The Photoshop painting filter I used in these images creates an interesting effect. Detail (from one of the out-takes), final image with additional painting texture at 70% opacity (left) and image showing painting filter at 100% (right). Click for a closer look.

Tally-ho, To Hounds! … Or To Herrings?

Helloooo autumn, tally-ho! Let’s really welcome in the time of the falling leaves with some seasonal suiting.

Tweed is the generic term for woven wool fabric that has either a plain or twill weave. The original name for the fabric was ‘tweel’, Scots for twill, and it seems the name changed by chance. A London merchant misreading the word, marketed the cloth as tweed, assuming it took its name from the river Tweed that wended its way through the textile manufacturing region of Scotland.

It is easy seemingly, for the uninitiated, to confuse some of these patterns: a recent search on Etsy showed some sellers were mixing up houndstooth with Glen plaid (also sometimes called Prince of Wales check, owing to the Duke of Windsor’s predilection for it).

The original name for the fabric was ‘tweel’, Scots for twill …

Houndstooth, or dogstoothHoundstooth, or dogstooth, is a broken check pattern made from tessellated abstract four-pointed shapes. Amusingly a smaller scale version can be referred to as a puppytooth. The classic version is woven in black and white.




 

Glen plaid, or Prince of Wales checkGlen plaid is, as the name suggests, a tartan woven with stripes made up of small and large checks – somewhat similar to the houndstooth albeit on a tiny scale, but the stripe/check pattern is the dominating feature. Glen plaid is usually woven in muted colours of dark and light stripes.



 

HerringboneThere is no mistaking the zigzag or chevron pattern of herringbone however. This very descriptive name is taken from the skeleton of a herring fish. Such a wonderful, classic pattern – no wonder it is one of the most popular cloths used for suits and outerwear.



 

It’s quite fun to mix one’s weaves: my jacket is made up from a tan and cream herringbone wool, while my green and cream hat features a jumbo-size houndstooth. So cosy for autumn.

When the Livin’ is Easy

Celebrating the Roaring Twenties in a Special Series

Ohhh, say it isn’t so, summer isn’t over already? Although it is a relief that my apartment has finally cooled down after the heatwave, I am still a little sad to farewell summertime. Summer will forever be associated with holidays, that wonderful feeling of freedom that one has upon waking in the mornings. But long hot days must give way, so let it be to mellow, golden autumn and the crisp air, and the beauty of falling leaves.

I’ll bid the season adieu with this flapper inspired summer outfit and a parasol. Cheerio summer, until a long year passes …

Summertime and the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high …

Vogue 1919, illustrated by Helen DrydenVogue 1917, illustrated by Helen Dryden