Guo Pei
God I love her work, and how she uses elements of historical Chinese fashion and art to create these amazing, sculptural pieces
These designs are AMAZING. I’m surprised I had never come across her before!
(Source: circumlocutionist, via beyondvictoriana)
Love the combination of velvet and open linen. What an amazing dress.
This tan open-weave linen dress, c. 1884, has a corseted bodice trimmed with maroon velvet and metallic beading; the brown faille skirt is draped with matching linen forming a bustle in back and apron drapery in front. It was worn by Susan Wright (c. 1859-1937) of Georgia who married DeForest Allgood in 1884. The dressmaker’s label inside is from Mrs. E. Donigan / 109 W. 12th St., N.Y. It was given to the Museum by Miss J. H. Wilson in 1975.
Susan was the daughter of wealthy slave broker William Wright of Savannah who married Susan Bogardus in 1845. Susan’s grandfather, Henry S. Bogardus was a cabinetmaker in Savannah who was born in New York.
After a brief disappearance around 1880, the bustle reappeared with astonishing proportions. Producing almost a shelf in back, the skirt was also ornamented with abundant drapery, often asymmetrical. And, while the earlier inner ties and skirt construction that forced tiny, mincing steps disappeared by the mid-1880s, the fabrics, trims and bustles were often so heavy that they hampered mobility. This dress is amazing, with its rich colors and elaborate beading. It was likely quite a fashionable autumn walking or visiting garment.
INFORMATION REQUEST: Are you familiar with Mrs. E. Donigan? If so, we would love to learn more about this designer. Please share!
Come visit this dress in person! It is currently on exhibit in our Seasonal Fashion: Autumn in Charleston.
TEXTILE TUESDAYS: Each Tuesday we post a piece from our textile collection. Some items have been on exhibit, some will eventually be shown in our new Historic Textiles Gallery and some may be just too fragile to display. We hope you enjoy our selection each week – do let us know if there’s something in particular you’d like to see on TEXTILE TUESDAY! #TextileTuesday
Fondly recalling short riffs I wrote on some of Bill Atkinson’s amazing closeups of minerals for his book “Within the Stone” (which could be a great iPad offering):
You’re Lovely…. But Evil!
Inspired by a late-night viewing of The Runaways, and partly an exercise to see if I could make star-spangled pants and Wonder Woman go together. The idea started with Wonder Woman (I briefly entertained using an Ian Curtis Batman) but the idea of an all-girl rock band with Black Canary,…
(via twentypercentcooler)
– From an Amazon review of Patricia Seed’s Ceremonies of Possession in Europe’s Conquest of the New World, 1492-1640
Suggested by http://jujukitten.tumblr.com/ !
I make little cider, my apples are worth more fed to my hogs than for cider; but I make a practice of selecting my best sweet apples, those that furnish the richest, heaviest liquor, and making a cheese from them, using the cider thus obtained for making apple or quince preserves, boiling down for molasses, and keeping two or three barrels for drink, or ultimate conversion into vinegar. When new from the press, and before fermentation commences, that which I intend for boiling is brought to the house, and boiling in brass to the proper consistence; taking care not to burn it, as that gives the molasses a disagreeable flavor, and taking off the scum that rises during the process. The quantity to be boiled, or the number of barrels of cider required to make one of molasses, will depend greatly on the kind of apples used, and the richness of the new liquor. Four, or four and a half, are generally sufficient, but when care is not used in making the selection of apples, five barrels may sometimes be necessary; but let it take more or less, enough must be used to make the molasses, when cold, as thick as the best West-India. When boiled sufficiently, it should be turned into vessels to cool, and from them transferred to a new sweet barrel, put into a cold cellar, where it will keep without trouble, and be ready for use at all times.
Molasses made in this way will be pure, and possess a vinuous or rather brandied flavor, which makes it far superior to the West-India for mince, apple or tart pies, though where the apples used are very sour, a small quantity of imported molasses may be advantageously used. It is also excellent for making beer in the summer, giving it a briskness and flavor which common molasses will not; in short, there are but few uses to which molasses is applied, in which it will not be found equal or superior to the other. Southern Agriculturist and Register of Rural Affairs 10, 10 (October 1837), 552.
From Common Place
