Back to WOOORK!!! - 1/24/11

            So it's another Monday and that means... you guessed it WOOORK!!  Now check this mug out.  Imagine if this was where you worked.  Bitch please!  I would never leave!  I would probably set up a bed under my desk a la George Costanza.  Alphonse Mucha can crack the whip over me any day!  PS - How hot would that runner on the bottom be as an embroidered silk wrap!?.... ooooh WOOORK!!

Philip - In Brooklyn

Corsets - Just Cuz

Kathleen is the corset expert.. trust me.  

She's got an encyclopedia's worth up in her noggin.  

Me?  I just think they's pretty.

Christina Hendricks looking like a romance novel cover.

A Victorian Corset

Corset Pattern from 1906

Detail of a corset from 1780 from the book 18th Century Fashion In Detail

The book Underwear: Fashion In Detail

The interior of a corset from 1878

Philip - In Brooklyn 

Back to WOOORK!! 11-8-10

          Welcome back to work friends of Patterned History!  I know Monday's are no fun but at least you can ogle Ms. Pfeiffer in her starring role as Countess Olenska from Martin Scorsese's "Age of Innocence" (1993).  The costumes in this movie are just plain beautiful and Gabriella Pescucci did an amazing job.  Below is just one example of the many gowns in this movie.  Check out this review of the movie on Period Movie Review.

Philip - In Brooklyn

Clink-Clank, Bitches!

Greetings from Sunny California!

Last Sunday, my friend Tracey and I attended The Great Handcar Regatta in historical downtown Santa Rosa,  about an hour north of San Francisco.

http://handcar-regatta.com/

“The Handcar Regatta represents a public celebration of Mechanical Railcar Races, Visual, Culinary, and Costumed Performing Arts combined with an inclusive concept of Community Participation and Human Ingenuity embracing sustainability, alternative transportation, and good old fashioned fun…….

………The railcar races at the center of the Regatta highlights Innovation and Human-Powered Ingenuity to devise cheaper, viable, and hitherto undreamed of methods for bizarre transport beyond the standard notions of to-day. Together with an emphasis on biking, the Regatta provides a platform for playfulness and sustainable concerns within the realm of human-powered alternative transportation.”

In other words, a Steampunk, hippie-hipster nerdfest with lots of local-yocals mixed in.  Stir in tons of sunshine and alcohol for good times J

As a creepy "Steampunk" band plays on, a sweeper cleans the track and watches the madness.

One of the many regattas ready and waiting to race, complete with clink-clanky wings!



A shiny gold airship ready for take-off!

One of the teams prepare their contraption on the track.  Love the matching outfits...so professional!

And awayyyyy we go!!!

AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!

Most of the booths were whimsical looking tents like this.

Random performance art:  "IM MOVING LIKE A ROBOT...IM TALKING LIKE A ROBOT...TIC-TOC...!"



More Clink-Clankery:  A Victorian Camel-Bak?  A portable latte machine?? ...not sure yet.



What bay area event is complete without some trippy, hippy art?!



The kids loved this, btw.

It was fun, but hot as hell.  Most folks were not dressed up at all, but that didn’t stop us from attempting to look our best:

Me, in front of a big-ass bike...trying not to go blind from the sun.

Tracey and Me, feeling refreshed in the shade, after a couple of Margaritas. 

-Kathleen in Oakland

Les Vintages

So I was scouring Ebay this week to see what kinds of vintage patterns people currently have listed; when I came across a treasure trove of unparalleled magnitude!  The seller Ryphat has a multitude of French fashion magazines with sewing patterns in them.  Coutless issues of "Mode Universalle" and "Mode Illustree".  The kicker?  They date from the 1870s to the early teens!… You read right!  Some are original and some are reprints.  Either way, WHO CARES?!  If I had “Fuck You Money” I would buy every last one of them and stock pile my apartment like some loser from that show “Hoarders” on A&E, check your local listings.

The only reason I’m putting this link on here is so that you, my loyal readers, will purchase these and give them to me periodically as gifts; tokens of affection for how much you love me.   No buying them for yourself!  You can buy them for Kathleen.... BUT NO ONE ELSE!

Click here to buy me presents!

Philip - Brooklyn

Taking a Moment, Barbra Streisand

            It’s an lazy overcast Sunday here in the BK, so I think now is a perfect time for me to share with you a special little someone.  Her name is Melinda Winifred Wayne Tentrees, and was portrayed by Barbra Streisand in the Movie-musical “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever”.   The film was made in 1970 and was directed by Vincente Minelli, yeah that’s right, Judy Garland’s husband and father to Liza Minelli... Can it get ANY better?!  It can, and does! 

            One of the most important things to remember about this movie is the period costumes were designed by two-time Academy Award Winner Cecil “My Fair Lady” Beaton!  Barbra dons these 19^th Century duds AND she sings too! SAY WHAAT?!

            My partner in crime Kathleen introduced me to this movie back in 2000 and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head.  It’s so lush and amazing!  I would highly recommend that everyone watches this and pay attention to EVERY frame.  It may seem trite and corny at parts, but believe me… it’s perfection.

Philip - in Brooklyn