Asymmetric

Asymmetry. In my hem, in my bob, in my brain?

I've just been feeling a little off, and I'm sure it will pass. I haven't really taken much of a real break over this holiday, even though that was what I was preaching to everybody else. Instead I set myself a big video challenge to work extra hard over the mix of days between the end of 2018 and the start of 2019...and now I'm sorta exhausted. Oops!

And my bob could use a trim (and a freaking color job eh? Look at that unintentional ombré). I've been playing with make-up a lot more than usual lately, and I think I'd like to be less strict with myself moving forward when it comes to wearing fun colorful make-up with vintage style. I always figure people want to see more accurate looks, but I should be focusing more on what I'd like to wear and less on what anyone else may or may not want to see of course. So I have fallen into the world of eye shadow headfirst. It's just more fun that way, not that I could ever leave my plain cat-eye liner alone forever!

I'm going to be taking it a bit easier (on myself that is) for the next few days, and hopefully hitting the salon too. What self care rituals get you through the new year blues? Asking for a friend ;)


Outfit details: Dress & faux wrap made by me, Shoes from American Duchess (but no longer available), Jewelry is vintage, Clutch from Charming Charlie, Fishnets from Amazon

Morning in Montmartre

Perhaps the party had indeed run a bit long they thought, finally wandering back out onto the streets bathed in clear crisp morning light. The early risers already loitering looked upon their eveningwear with warranted suspicion, no doubt picturing a night of absinthe fueled debauchery that couldn't have been farther from the truth. Discussion was the activity, fervent debates over the merits of art, of abstraction, or the modern validity of operetta. The bakers and parishioners of the morning light couldn't understand. Sacre-Coeur loomed, seeming to pass the largest judgement of all. Velvet in the morning, metallic shoes teetering on cobblestones, and a headache only a long nap would resolve. 

Vague nostalgic musing on Montmartre in the twenties, but who now could say what it was really like then?  Here are the very last photos from my trip to Paris in the spring. I had been saving them for a more velvet appropriate season, and as fall is approaching it finally seemed I may be in the clear to share them. I made this dress especially to wear in Paris, one simply must have fun with 1920s looks in Paris after all.

The dress is another 1 hour, of course, as is my custom! I really need to branch out, but this most simple of deco shapes is just so easy to create. The subtle Celtic patterned rings were embossed into the velvet using a hot iron, a spray bottle of water, and a carved wooden stamp I found at Michaels crafts store. Hemming velvet like this is super irritating, so I cheated and used a length of metallic ribbon at the hem since the dress was pretty medieval inspired already. I used the left over bits of velvet to try and make a wrap/jacket over blouse thing, the geometric pattern of which was very inspired by Japanese haori, but I wasn't perfectly happy with how that came out as I didn't have enough fabric to make the sleeves wide enough for a true haori look. As for accessorizing, I couldn't bring too many pairs of shoes with me to Paris so I just have my old beaten-up t-straps in gold and black, and then I wore a long gold and black beaded necklace to match. I purchased the tiny golden handbag (more akin to a piece of jewelry than a purse really) just  to go with this dress, and it's too small for anything besides a lipstick and an ID/credit card for perhaps a cell phone free night out. 

I'm sure I looked a bit out of place amongst the other tourists, but I didn't mind. It was a chilly morning so we stopped for a warm crepe with nuttella before heading back down from Montmartre back into the heart of Paris for a museum visit and then yet another trip to Laduree for tea. It was our last full day in Paris, and we hopped all over the city before ending the night with a touristy river cruise to see Paris lit up at night. So dreamy right? Anyone want to pay for me to fly back to Europe again is welcome to get in touch ;)

Dress & cardigan(?), Necklace & Earrings: Made by me
Shoes: Urban Outfitters (over a decade ago...)
Handbag: Vintage

100 Years of Bobbed Hair

Whew! This video took a century to put together (ha get it?), but seriously, between filming all the segments and editing each era to look similar to the film/tv from that era as well, this was quite the project!

The 1915-1950's segments were the easiest for me to style of course, since that half of the century is much more in my usual wheelhouse, but the 1970s gave me trouble as without layers in my hair I couldn't quite get the Farrah Fawcette flip I was going for! I probably could have used more teasing for my 1960s hairstyle too, but as my hair is lightened right now I didn't want to risk the breakage of over teasing. The 80's make-up was super fun to do, and the 2000s was the opposite! I feel like that was indeed how I did my make-up as a young'un in 2005, and it wasn't a good look on me then either. Also I had forgotten how gross lip-gloss feels! No gloss for me thanks.

Even though putting all the extra effects together was killing my poor laptop, which just isn't designed for video editing, I had a great time editing this video and actually quite like editing in general! I am excited to keep making videos, and growing my fledgling YouTube channel is a fun new challenge. If any of you guys like the video and think you know others who would enjoy it too, please do share it as it would really help me out. Gosh that sounds so spammy, but I worked really hard on this one and I want to show it to the world now! Thanks so much for your constant support over the years by the way, I really appreciate every visitor and comment <3

Paris When it Drizzles

I love Paris in the springtime, and though winter may be done with, it still drizzles. We had a rather full schedule on our last full day in Paris (don't worry, there's a few more posts left still, but I'm jumping around!) which included a walk around Montmartre in the morning, metroing over to Parc Monceau and visiting the Musée Nissim de Camondo, tea at Laduree over on Rue Royale, and then taking a nighttime river cruise along the seine. We had plenty of time for all of this in the one day, I love to plan out an itinerary!

Still, planning a few days in Paris can be an interesting puzzle due to museum opening days and times. The Orsay is closed on Mondays, the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays, and various other museums follow the same patterns ensuring that one must arrange days with care. The Musée Nissim de Camondo pictured above, is closed on both Mondays and Tuesdays, so I planned to visit on our last full day, a Thursday. It pays to work all these things out before you arrive you know ;)

Situated near the stunning Parc Monceau, which you simply must walk through even if you have limited time, the Musée Nissim de Camondo is a house museum full of gorgeous 18th century furnishings and decorative arts. Built in 1911 by the Comte Moïse de Camondo to house his collection of 18th century furniture and artworks, parts of the house were fittingly inspired by the Petit Trianon. Sadly the decades following the creation of this beautiful home were filled with tragedy for the Camondo family, their son Nissim (for which the museum is named) died in WWI, the Comte died in 1935, and his daughter and her husband and children were taken to and murdered at Auschwitz in 1943. Such a sad story to hold in your mind while exploring the beautiful house they left behind. Moïse had left the house and its contents to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs upon his death in honor of his son, and had withdrawn from much of public life after Nissim died in 1917, so perhaps it was better he himself did not live to see the terror of WWII having already experienced so much loss.

Moïse's collection of furnishings is beautiful, and includes some very special objects like the Sevres porcelain set just above, carpets woven for the grand gallery of the Louvre palace in 1678, and other objects with royal provenance like the petrified wood lidded vases with chased gilt bronze mounts pictured above (the urns with the golden snakes labeled 118) which belonged to Marie Antoinette at Versailles. Also in the collection was a sewing table from Queen Marie Antoinette’s private apartments at the Château de Saint-Cloud. Strange to imagine Marie Antoinette sitting at a sewing table isn't it? Sewing and embroidery link us modern needle-crafters to so many women, fascinating or forgotten, throughout history and I find a kind of magic in that fact. So much has changed since that sewing table was delivered in 1788, but we all thread our needles for hand sewing in much the same way the Queen did then.

I wore one of my 1920's one hour dresses for the afternoon of museums and tea treats. It was raining off and on all afternoon, and was quite chilly, but we still managed to walk around the Parc Monceau a little bit despite the weather making itself a nuisance. The parc itself also has a fascinating history, having been originally built in 1779 by cousin of the then king Louis XVI, Phillippe d'Orléans as a folly filled fantasy garden inspired by English and Chinese gardens and complete with a miniature Egyptian pyramid amongst other unique ornaments. While all of the original (fun but perhaps disparate) elements and changes throughout the centuries have shaped a different garden than the one first finished in 1779, it is a bit mad to realize the Camondo house, with furnishings belonging to Marie Antoinette, overlooks a garden once created by her husband's cousin. A cousin that later voted in the revolutions national assembly for Louis XVI's execution, though it wasn't enough to save him from the purging of royalty and he lost his own head not long after. Ah history, such an endlessly fascinating subject!

Dress, Handbag, Necklace & Earrings: Made by me
Shoes: Urban Outfitters (painted gold by me)
Bracelets: Vintage