Tuesday, 26 January 2010

I want to be frivolous too!

I’m rather busy stitching the boning channels on my stays, but though time-consuming it isn’t especially hard, so it leaves me time to dream and plan. I totally blame Fru Aleydis and Lithia Black and the burlesque costumes they’ve made, that I find myself wanting one myself. I’m not altogether sure if I have the guts to actually wear one, but I think it would be tons of fun to make it. And I do need to practice my skills in making other kinds of corsets than 18th century stays.

I recently watched The River of No Return with Marilyn Monroe and thought it could be fun to make something similar to what she is wearing. Fru Aleydis mentioned being inspired by the salon girls in Lucky Luke, and I think Monroe’s costume has that feeling as well. They’re not historically accurate, but they give an air of it, and they are certainly frivolous!

I did a google on Marilyn Monroe to try to find pictures, which I did. I also found this one, and I was suddenly five years old again.
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It’s Marilyn posing as Lillian Russell. My parents had a book about Marilyn and I loved to look at the pictures. And this was my favourite of them all! I thought she was so pretty and her clothes as well. I wanted it then, and now I realize I can make it. Well, perhaps not exactly, but something that makes me feel that way. I have tons of violet cotton-sateen that I think would work very well. I want a skirt; even if it’s a short one, and I’m thinking it could be fun to make it as a mini-bustle. I also need something to contrast the violet colour with. Black seems the obvious (and easy) choice, but it would be fun with a colour. Any suggestion? And I want a large hat to go with it.!
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And here are the other pictures I found.

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I was a bit surprised that the Lillian Russell-portrait was part of a series where Marilyn poses as Clara Bow, Theda Bara, Marilyn Dietrich and Jean Harlow.
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7 comments:

The Dreamstress said...

Fun!

Lilac and navy blue? Lilac and rose pink (very Victorian!)? Lilac and periwinkle?

Anonymous said...

Oh wow - too many gorgeous pictures!!!!!!!! How swoon-some! Thank you so much for sharing these.

That first one - THE HAT!!!! Argh - the outfit is all kinds of cuteness. And the one with the roses makes me want to get in on the burlesque action.

Hmm ... To contrast with the violet ... Depends on what how deep the violet is, really. Green can look great with purple if you get the right two shades together, and the same with yellow and purple ... I could imagine a soft/pale gold working really nicely in taffeta or satin or something quite lustrous like that. Maybe also with black piping or boning channels in places as an accent? (I don't think I've explained it very well - this is the kind of thing I mean: http://www.sparklewren.co.uk/gallery/corsets/181/ )

Can't wait to see more of this project :)

Lauren R said...

WHOA! The first couple images are to DIE for! I've never seen most of these before (despite doing a lot of research and work with the Marilyn Monroe license). Thanks for the frivolous post!

Abby said...

http://www.lafnmoon.com/saloon_2.htm

I'm thinking of making myself an outfit from this pattern for halloween...it seems to fit right into what you were looking for and it comes with tons of ensemble options...but i have no idea how good the pattern actually is...but it looks like FUN! :) :)

Lithia Black said...

Ha,ha it's good that I can influence you sometimes ;)
And sorry for forgetting to reply to your MMS I was in in the middle of something. Anyway I think the purple cotton sateen will look stunning.
I think purple works nice with pink, silver,gold,black,grey,some shades of blue and yellow ;)

Madame Berg said...

How about some patterned accents? Stripes, dots? What fun :)But wait to ride a bike through the neighbourhood an the outfit in the first picture until your son has left for college :P :D

Isis said...

The Dreamstress: Yeah, fun is exactly what I think too!

Gentlewomanthief: You explained very well. :-) And the hat is THE awesome (And probably impossible to actually use...)

Lauren Reser: Yeah, aren't they? But I should have added that only the first of the 3 first one is Marilyn. The next two is the actual Lillian Russell.

Abby: It does seem to. :-) I'll probably aeemble my patterns some other way so I can get it exactly as I want it.

Lithia: Well, of course you can! :-D

Madame Berg: Spoilsport! ;.)

And thank all for excellent colour combinations. I have something to mull over now.

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