Notes on the DA exhibit
May. 18th, 2014 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mandie_rwI did take a lot of pictures, but 95% of them are rubbish, so I'll wait to do a real recap til others have posted theirs and I can steal them! Also, the only pictures I got of me were a very few taken across the reflecting pool, and I'm making a truly idiotic face in all of them. So I'm thinking you may not in fact get any good pictures of my outfit this time! If none turn up I'll have to get trussed up and do a photoshoot in a park, grumble grumble, since I don't know when I'll have another chance to wear it.
The exhibit was really enjoyable, and well put-together I thought. I may as well post a couple of exhibit photos now, since I do have those! Although they're not very good either...
As always with film costumes, I was struck with the level of texture and detail that never shows up onscreen! Especially with the servants' costumes. Also, everyone looks bigger onscreen! Joanna Froggatt's (Anna) costumes were, like, pocket-sized. It was very interesting how the costume designers used bits and pieces of vintage fabric or embroidery or beading, and then built an outfit around them. And Downton Abbey needs to stop trying to lure me into the 1917-21 era...I DON'T LIKE IT, but every time I see those costumes I am somehow bamboozled into wanting one. It's so rude. I know if I made a dress from that era I'd hate it. STOP IT, DOWNTON.
One of Mrs Hughes' dresses that just looks black onscreen - and that chatelaine! It was a glorious chatelaine.
Tiny Anna dress.
I love this dress of Lady Mary's - and its closure! I have a special place in my heart for front closures.
Another surprisingly detailed servant's dress, one of O'Brien's.
This sign amused me. I couldn't resist pointing at it with my parasol and saying that it's a good thing I didn't know that this morning when I was getting dressed! My lady's maid was so fired. (Our missing and thus-shortly-to-be-fired servants were a running joke all day!)
I just love those summer whites!
The train of Poor Edith's wedding dress...stunning embroidery!
This is one of Mary's dresses that I don't want to like, because it's that awful shapeless sack - but somehow I want it anyway.
Loved how they did this dress - the bodice was original, and they made the skirt piece and did the embroidery to match. It's obvious when you see it in person and they've pointed it out, but not something you'd ever notice onscreen.
Evening dresses!
Out of all the DA dresses, Mary's "engagement dress" is the one I'm most likely to actually make, notwithstanding my aversion to that era. (It's still got a waist so it doesn't count!) It was hard for my camera to get decent pics because of the "falling snow" lights they had (that scene was Christmas 1919, if I recall correctly), but it's not a terribly complicated design. I even know which fabric I'd use...
And evening dresses of Isobel's and the Dowager Countess'. I love that they put her in purples so often...besides the fact it's a great color, it's a bit of a visual pun I've just realized (...cause her name's Violet, geddit...?)!
The exhibit was really enjoyable, and well put-together I thought. I may as well post a couple of exhibit photos now, since I do have those! Although they're not very good either...
As always with film costumes, I was struck with the level of texture and detail that never shows up onscreen! Especially with the servants' costumes. Also, everyone looks bigger onscreen! Joanna Froggatt's (Anna) costumes were, like, pocket-sized. It was very interesting how the costume designers used bits and pieces of vintage fabric or embroidery or beading, and then built an outfit around them. And Downton Abbey needs to stop trying to lure me into the 1917-21 era...I DON'T LIKE IT, but every time I see those costumes I am somehow bamboozled into wanting one. It's so rude. I know if I made a dress from that era I'd hate it. STOP IT, DOWNTON.
One of Mrs Hughes' dresses that just looks black onscreen - and that chatelaine! It was a glorious chatelaine.
Tiny Anna dress.
I love this dress of Lady Mary's - and its closure! I have a special place in my heart for front closures.
Another surprisingly detailed servant's dress, one of O'Brien's.
This sign amused me. I couldn't resist pointing at it with my parasol and saying that it's a good thing I didn't know that this morning when I was getting dressed! My lady's maid was so fired. (Our missing and thus-shortly-to-be-fired servants were a running joke all day!)
I just love those summer whites!
The train of Poor Edith's wedding dress...stunning embroidery!
This is one of Mary's dresses that I don't want to like, because it's that awful shapeless sack - but somehow I want it anyway.
Loved how they did this dress - the bodice was original, and they made the skirt piece and did the embroidery to match. It's obvious when you see it in person and they've pointed it out, but not something you'd ever notice onscreen.
Evening dresses!
Out of all the DA dresses, Mary's "engagement dress" is the one I'm most likely to actually make, notwithstanding my aversion to that era. (It's still got a waist so it doesn't count!) It was hard for my camera to get decent pics because of the "falling snow" lights they had (that scene was Christmas 1919, if I recall correctly), but it's not a terribly complicated design. I even know which fabric I'd use...
And evening dresses of Isobel's and the Dowager Countess'. I love that they put her in purples so often...besides the fact it's a great color, it's a bit of a visual pun I've just realized (...cause her name's Violet, geddit...?)!
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Date: 2014-05-18 06:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-21 04:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-19 12:53 pm (UTC)My folks, MIL, and I are going to go in August.
I had thought that Edith's wedding dress was so much prettier than Mary's--I guess it was the consolation prize for being stood up at the altar.
As for the late 1910s/early 20s--you're not the only one fighting! In fact, I just gave up. Those fashions to me are much like the 1830s--totally ridonkulous in prints, but kind of lovely on real people. Late 1910s prints make everyone look like sacky barrels. And the colors! The colors and materials are so pretteeeee! And let's not forget the fabulous hats!
I just bought a couple 1917-18 patterns, one of them a "waist" I can adapt to modern wear. It seems there's a wee explosion of teens stuff, but that might just be because I am looking for it. Like, Wearing History has a "Suit-A-Long" (http://wearinghistoryblog.com/). There's also a skirt-style that I'm interested in that only seemed to appear in 1920. I used to think it was ugly (it kinda still is), but now that I'm skinnier and more confident and want to try it out (it is here: http://www.pastpatterns.com/9412.html and the 4th image down: http://dressmakingresearch.com/1920.htm).
....where's your outfit?! I wanna see!
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Date: 2014-05-21 04:25 am (UTC)Stupid late 10s/early 20s fashion, trying to get inside our heads! I guess Pretty People make everything look more wearable, haha. I want to still hate these styles but I can't...
Posted tonight! whew.