Duxford Girl

The suit also has a number of accessories. In her hair Rose wears an art-deco butterfly comb. Rose’s maid would have been responsible for setting her hair. Hair styles would often be changed to match outfits and times of the day. In the scenes that feature the suit, Rose’s hair is actually down which speaks of how young she still is. Once married, it is doubtful that she would be seen with her hair down in public. What we refer to as up-dos would have been a daily occurrence for women of all stations. Keep in mind, even Rose would not have washed her hair every day allowing a build-up of natural oils to make styling easier. If she didn’t have naturally curly hair, she would have slept in rag curlers. I would guess that women simply had healthy, stronger hair back in the day. They didn’t cut, dye, spray and generally torture their hair the way we do. Granted, I’m sort of a fan of showering every day.

Rose’s wardrobe for the movie was based on the up-to-the-minute fashion whims of 1912. Rose’s European tour would have, in part, been to collect her trousseau from the most “now” Parisian fashion houses. Deborah Scott’s designs for Rose’s costumes were based on various collections of the period. The style of the day was an empire waist (because the damn thing has to appear in fashion every few decades). Skirts were less full and cut closer to the body and a woman of Rose’s age would have been corseting to give a more straight-line silhouette rather than the more curvy style of the Victorian era.

You are The Quartermaster

You, me hearty, are a man or woman of action! And what action it is! Gruesome, awful, delightful action. You mete out punishment to friend and foe alike – well, mostly to foe, because your burning inner rage isn’t likely to draw you a whole lot of the former. Still, though you may be what today is called “high maintenance” and in the past was called “bat-shit crazy,” the crew likes to have you around because in a pinch your maniacal combat prowess may be the only thing that saves them from Jack Ketch. When not in a pinch, the rest of the crew will goad you into berserker mode because it’s just kind of fun to watch. So you provide a double service – doling out discipline AND entertainment.

What's Yer Inner Pirate?
brought to you by The Official Talk Like A Pirate Web Site. Arrrrr!

Avast ye scurvy dogs!

When I discovered a seamstress that specialized in making movie costumes, particularly Titanic costumes, I was beside myself. It took me a week to decide where to start with my collection because I realized that I eventually wanted the whole of Rose’s wardrobe.

It would be cool if socks and underwear grew on trees so that you could pick a new pair of each to wear every day.

I remember a day, a specific moment in time, really. I was in my third year of uni and on my way to my instructor’s home studio with a couple of other students for a lesson. One of the other students was planning for his grad recital and asked me how much longer I had in my degree. I replied that I had three years left and spent the rest of the day feeling heavily oppressed that my walk across the stage at convocation was so far away.

That moment was twelve years ago.

Kim and I were working adjoining subs last night and the guilt this caused finally prompted me to write about a magical Christmas her, I and Teresa spent together almost two years ago. Pictures were taken and I’ve been meaning to post them forever.

The costuming thing started with a doll, actually. Franklin Mint makes what they have branded Vinyl Portrait Dolls of famous movie characters, royalty, public figures etc. Their appeal is that you can dress them up in different costumes and outfits. Basically they’re grown-up Barbie dolls. For the record, Bust magazine did an article a few years ago highlighting the “return to the inner child” of women in stressful jobs who have used playing with dolls as a great tension reliever. It might be weird, but I’m not alone.

I didn’t hold much hope in having a good Folk Fest year, this time around. First off, I bought my tickets fully expecting to get stuck on afternoon shifts and not being able to use them so it was an uncharacteristic stroke of scheduling luck when I ended up with two days off and two night shifts meaning that I was able to attend at least all evening main stage events.