Save the SSUS! Support the SS United States Conservancy!
Everyone who knows me well knows that I’m a huge midcentury transatlantic liner fan. The SS United States – America’s merchant marine flagship and star of Disney’s Bon Voyage – is my favorite. Sleek, fast, modern, and as space age as sea travel will ever get, this 1950s wondership needs your help! Be like me and sponsor a piece of the “Big U” via the SS United States Conservancy’s Save the SS United States campaign! I chose part of the “U” in the “UNITED STATES” on the starboard bow. 😀 Save the SS United States!
The Grace dress from Laura Byrnes Black Label looks amazing with late 1950s/early 1960s paste jewelry.
Hey guys! The lovely Vanessa just posted my piece on accessorizing vintage-inspired fashions with real vintage items to the Pinup Girl Clothing official blog. In the article, I’ve included items from my period jewelry and accessories collection that look great with my Pinup Girl Clothing fashions! Hope you enjoy it.
It’s come to my attention that Mr. George Knightley of Jane Austen’s Emma fame is now authoring his own advice blog, titled Letters to Mr. Knightley! With help from colleagues and friends, he’ll be dispensing his wit and wisdom on life and love to the denizens of Highbury, the Internet, and beyond. Here’s a man I’d trust with any problem!
There’s been a ton of local Emma productions hitting the stage this spring, from Folsom, CA to Salt Lake City to Fort Wayne, IN, to Windsor, Ontario! Some of them involve the Michael Bloom adaptation.
I’m posting the latest news on my Twitter feed, but here’s a roundup from the last month or so…
Hey everybody! I just added an email subscription feature to this blog; you can subscribe to individual posts and discussion threads via the comments section, or subscribe to the whole blog via the little form in the sidebar and footer. It’s the standard WordPress.com subscription feature, if you’re already familiar with that. 🙂 Every time a new comment or post happens, you’ll be notified.
If you want notifications about more general website-related stuff, join my Strangegirl.com announcement list, which is a completely different animal.
Fellow Pinup Girl Clothing fan Jessica M. has launched a really useful blog dedicated to informing midcentury-retro shoppers about their options – Pinup Persuasion! She reviews pinup products and retailers of all stripes, everything from shapewear to kitchenware!
Her latest review features Pinup Girl Clothing, and includes a great video testimonial that she prepared last summer for PUG (as it’s affectionately called) to use at an upcoming trade show. I did a testimonial, too, but I’m way too shy to share it here!
Excellent work, Jess! I’m looking forward to your posts.
Me! In Ionic chiton, performing one of Lady Emma Hamilton’s Attitudes (I forgot to take off my glasses!). In some printings of Friedrich Rehberg’s sketches engraved, this is called “Cleopatra Seduttrice.” It is probably based on artistic rendrings of Agrippina offering libations at the tomb of Germanicus (suggested by John Wilton-Ely and confirmed by me). There is a priestess statue from the macellum (marketplace) shrine in Pompeii that strongly informs this pose and in its restored state includes a libation bowl in one hand. It is sometimes referred to as Agrippina.
Because I love Greco-Roman antiquity, I needed to make myself a chiton. Because I’ve performed Lady Emma Hamilton’s famous, classically-inspired tableaux vivants twice in the last twelve years, I needed to make myself a chiton. Because chitons are awesome and I like them, I needed a chiton.
By this point in the blog post, you might be asking yourself, “What the heck is a chiton? Who is Lady Hamilton? And those “tableaux” thingies?” I know it sounds like a strange combination of ideas, but it’s honestly not as complicated as it seems. In fact, the chiton – a very simple women’s (and men’s!) garment originating in ancient Greece and widely used as a basic dress or underdress for women in Roman eras – is extremely easy to make and wear. But I’ll get to that in a second.
Emma, My Inspiration
Rehberg’s drawing of Lady Emma’s “Cleopatra Seduttrice” attitude, likely influenced by both Roman and modern (as in, Renaissance onward) renderings of Agrippina (or others) offering libations to the gods.
First, the Lady Emma part of the explanation. Our English Regency society puts on various events dealing with events and culture from the late Georgian period of British history. In the course of preparations for a ball honoring the great naval hero Lord Horatio Nelson, I somehow got roped into playing a role. And not just any role; I would be recreating Lady Emma Hamilton’s famous “attitudes.” Lady Emma performed these silent tableaux from 1787 through the 1790s and into the early 19th century, sparking several high-profile imitations and influencing modern dance and other forms of performance art over a hundred years later. Now, this was 1999 and I was crazy busy trying to finish my last year of law school. The last thing I probably needed on my plate was a performance of some sort, but for Emma Hamilton I made an exception.
Restored priestess sculpture from the macellum (marketplace) shrine in Pompeii. Sometimes referred to as Agrippina, her pose is similar to Rehberg’s drawing of Emma.
