Saturday, July 28, 2012

La Vie Antoinette

There is most certainly something endearing about the frivolity of rococo France and in general of the pre 1800's courts of Europe. Personally I've loved it for a good long while but strong interest has emerged again recently, and who am I to complain? I love it, and maybe you will to? Here's some ways to get in the rococo spirit~

  • Give a square necklines a try, one that shows your collar bones. It was *the* style when you look back at historical paintings...that is the ones where they weren't nude.
  • Shade your collarbones. One of the fascinating things about Rococo France is how freaking sexy it is without being nothing but, well, tits and ass. NOPE, it was ankles and petticoats. Your collar bones are a really lovely thing, they're elegant and accentuate your neck and make you feel fancy. Take a brown shade and dust it in the hollow of the bone and a highlighting color on the top of it.

  • Nothing says fancy like sticking feathers in a fancy updo. Find some nice ostrich feathers or peacock feather (any craft store ought to have them) and when you do your big teased updo just stick a few in one of your tighter curls or teasing areas.
  • Ribbon chokers do a wonderful job of highlighting your neck right along there with shading your neck bones. If you look at old portraits of Antoinette herself you'll notice chokers being very common. All you have to do is tie a matching nice ribbon around your neck, or if you want to get fancy you could try this tutorial. I did it, it really is lovely.

  • Stock up on some rose flavoured gum, rose flavoured chocolate, rose flavoured facial wash. Roses. Roses. Roses. The pink rose was the symbol of Marie Antoinette.
  • Yo dawg, I heard you liked ruffles, so I put ruffles on your ruffles so you can wear ruffles while you wear ruffles. But seriously, main trope in french 1700's fashion? 3/4 sleeves with laaaaayers of ruffles. Give something with 2-3 layers of ruffles a chance.
 This chick has it right.
  • Find a fancy bakery in your city and pick up a nice sweet. I love L'opera but you should find something to suit yourself. Now go do something simple and fun and eat that dessert like it's going out of style.
  • Shoes made with satin fabric were popular. Usually as heeled slippers. It's a bit hard to find that now but hey, plenty of shoes are made with satin or something of the sort.

  • Big jewels in your jewelry. It was go hard or go home with court jewelry. Pop on a big crystal ring or a nice chuck of swarovski crystal on a choker. Blind them and knock 'em dead.
  • Details on details on details on details. So many details. There was a LOT going on in Rococo dresses. There were bows on ruffles on lace on more frills. Give some heavy detailing a shot.
  • Pastels are obviously a thing now in lolita. But Antoinette had pastels before it was cool. And she did some interesting mixes. Give powder blue a try with some different alternatives. Blue and lavender or powder blue and a mild yellow or mint and a soft yellow. Or you could try Pink and yellow. OR, if you wanted to get crazy you could try a non pastel with a pastel like some deep red with a soft yellow.

  • You remember the frills from before? Take out frills and put in bows. BOWS EVERYWHERE.
  And then she flies into the sun after kicking him in the face.

Monday, July 16, 2012

A Bastille Day Weekend

This past Saturday was Bastille Day, the day during the french revolution when the revolutionaries stormed the Bastille, a military fort/prison. And, without even knowing it, I ended up having a very french weekend! On Saturday there was a farmers market downtown which happens every Saturday but this one was different. The French Society (I didn't even know that was a thing!) was overseeing it. All the french based shops from around came to sell their stuff and it was wonderful! One shop was there Called Au Peche Mignon which was a really real french bakery. They had everything and it was amazing. They even sold almond macarons! I have been looking for ages for a place that sold good macarons and this was most assuredly the place. They were PERFECT.

Then, on Sunday, one of the local high schools in collaboration with the rest of the county put on Le Miserables which was playing this past weekend and then also next weekend. It's been advertised in the paper and everywhere so it's a really big deal and since it was my high school putting it on I HAD to go see it. I had never seen it before so it was very new to me, though I do love musicals and plays, and OH MY DEAR SWEET BABY JESUS, Le Miserable is one of the most beautiful and heart wrenching plays I have ever watched. I cried watching it so many times I lost count! (It was definitely over 5) If any of you ever get a chance to see it, you have to go.
To celebrate the weekend (once I realized it) I put together a casual rococo inspired coordinate!

It was a lovely weekend.
With Love,
Delano