Friday 31 July 2015

Tea in the Apple tree garden

Some time ago I attended the teaparty Sanni hosted at her home. Her Garden is so whimsical and lovely. The party was wonderful. She had put so much thought to making everything perfect. I had so much fun. 


I wore: 
Hat: Redecorated vintage
Blouse: Modified fanplusfriend
Capelet: Twin flowers
Dress: Handmade by me
Gloves and stockings: Random.
Shoes: Second hand
Necklace: From my grandmother


The dark colours group. Everybody looked so amazing. 

Thank you again for Sanni for organizing this. It was amazing.

Madame Parapluie

Wednesday 29 July 2015

Celebrating her royal bunniness



On Saturday I went to Mari's place to celebrate her bunny's birthday. Mari had done a lot to make everything very bunny friendly and the theme for outfits was bunnies. 


I wore:

Bonnet: Handmade
Blouse: Fan plus friend modified
Dress: Innocent world
Shoes: Offbrand
Bunny Bear: Baby the stars shine bright


Our queen and her minions plotting world domination.


All the bunny bears. 

Madame Parapluie

Friday 24 July 2015

Lolita reads: Queen of fashion.

Last time I reviewed fiction. This time it's time for a little bit of fact as we educate ourselves on the wardrobe of Marie Antoinette, with Caroline Weber's Queen of Fashion, what Marie Antoinette wore to the revolution. We follow her journey from the modest Austrian Arch duchess to the Queen of France and finally on the steps of the Guillotine. 


The book isn't written like traditional biography though the timeline does follow Marie Antoinette's life chronologically.  The writer puts the fashion choices of the queen in to historical context but is more concerned with the actual dresses and the evolution of her style than telling the story of the French revolution. 

Sometimes the text jumps back and forth which is a bit of bother but not big enough to ruin the book for me. 

Personally I like the way the book is written. It's easily understandable and nice to read and not too scientific making it a fun read for everybody.  I especially enjoy the descriptions of The Grand Mogol and the queen's gowns during the first phase of the revolution. 

"Exotically named  the Grand Mogol, in reference to putatively luxury-loving Asiatic grandee, her boutique boasted large windows filled wit displays that were designed to divert foot traffic from Palais Royal. With their artistic  arrangements of bonnets, shawls, fans, spangles, furbelows, silk flowers, gemstones, laces and other accessories, the displays set up a bewitching siren's song. Once lured inside, ushered through a door by liveried  footman, potential customers found themselves in a setting as luxurious as an aristocrat's salon." 


Doesn't it sound so much like depiction of  a lolita boutique's window displays and space? This is why I find this book so inspiring for lolitas. Our fashion was inspired by these times and the book paints them beautifully for us to gaze, with the help of numerous well picked illustrations that help one to imagine how everything would have looked. 

I do feel that this bookl isw most inspiring to lolita like me who enjoys the historical inspirations of lolita fashion more than the kawaii culture side of things. I find the fashion history in the book to be endlessly inspiring with the morbid details of the fashions of Guillotine survivors, the royal mourning customs and the idea of bringing a little bit of meaning to your outfits with well picked accessories. I even learned somethings I had not known previously. 

I could go on forever with how much I love this book but I shall just leave  you, gentle reader with another beautiful, if melacholy quote. 

"And so, shedding the ragged black dress in which she had faced her accusers, Marie Antoinette slipped in to her plum-black shoes, a fresh white underskirt and her pristine white chemise. To complete the ensemble  she put on  the white deshabille dress Madame Elisabeth had sent her from the Temple and the prettiest of her muslin fichus around her neck. She even removed the dangling black ribbons from her makeshift widow's coif, the result was a pared down ruffled linen bonnet as colourless as her hair. Paler then ever from her severe recent blood loss, the queen became a figure of pure, radiant white. " 

Madame Parapluie

P.S. If you have any books you'd wish me to review leave your suggestions in the comments. I am always happy to receive book recommendations. 

Friday 10 July 2015

Lolita blog carnival: What would I like in future prints?

To be completely honest I am super tired of prints and wish there were more interesting cuts, lace, ruffles, embroidery, appliques and epicly nice fabrics but let's still play along.

Less
Less


Less crazy Angelic pretty prints with crazy buying wars. I mean How many chocolate prints is going to be enough? Or cutesy carousel pony prints? These things have been around for years and years and years... Could we move on? Or at least get some new ideas? I did like Milky cross after all. 

Less random clip art prints. Juliette & Justine I am looking at you. I love Juliette & Justine but am so done with randomly placed images over randomly placed images. Even Atelier Pierrot is doing it now. Could we have some sense of design again? Please?

Less of the same old themes unless there is an interesting twist included. No more carousel ponies or endless hordes of teddy bears or crowns upon crowns or piles and piles of chocolate dresses. It seems like some themes just come up again and again and again. 

More


More interesting printing techniques like velvet flocking or metal embossing. As Juliette & Justine so aptly proves these techniques are just as interesting and intricate as colourful drawn prints. 

More prints combined to an interesting cut. I'd love to see more dresses that have something more tha print making them special. Maybe the dress has edwardianesque cut combined to a print of Mucha's art.  

More interesting goth prints. I do love crosses, tomb stones and cathedrals as much as the next girl but could we have something else as well. I'd love a realistic bat print, or print with realistically drawn skulls of different animals, or macabre or somber art prints. There are so many options that have yet to been tried out.

More prints in other items that dresses and skirts. As in the example set the blouse with the printed shoulders is interesting and new. More of this please. 

More abstract prints covering the entire dress. Stripes? Yes please. Geometric patters? Why not? 

To summarize I'd like to see new things tried and less of the same old same old things that  have dominated the lolita print dress for a long long time. New themes, techniques and even garments to make this lovely fashion more interesting than ever.


Lolita blog carnival group: Here

Participants


What would you, my dear reader see in the future of lolita prints? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Madame Parapluie

PS. I just realized that an absinthe themed print would be totally epic as well. The antique glasses and fountains and spoons would make a perfect gothic print and would add a new theme to lolita. 

Thursday 2 July 2015

What's in my purse?


This is my bag. 

Click for larger view
And here are the things I keep in it. The bag itself is Longchamp and can magically carry my groceries if it needs to. In it I have my glasses and sunglasses, a notebook I got from Carmilla, my almanac and a pen, my wallet which is from Baby the stars shine bright and my mobile phone in pochette I embroidered myself and of course my keys but they aren't very pretty so I'm not showing them. During summer I usually add a fan, to keep cool and during winter I carry a thermos of tea to keep warm.

Madame Parapluie