side saddle, tea and dancing

The Victorian and Edwardian periods hold a particular fascination for me in terms of style and hair adornment. I have whole binders detailing the course of fashion from c. 1870 to 1914, and the first costume I attempted to recreate was the "swim" dress from Titanic:

(La Femme, Adelaide Hills, age 13)

I've been trying to do the grey suit from Moulin Rouge every since. So, it isn't suprising that I adored yesterday's Dior haute couture show. Adore may not be a strong enough word, but superlatives grow tiresome for the lesser obsessed, so I'll just post some photos, starting with the riding habits.

Remember this Vogue editorial with Natalia Vodianova? Sigh.

A 21st century Gibson girl. I have just now died and gone to heaven.

Galliano finished with ballgowns. A little over the top perhaps, but I'll take my swoons where I can get them. His colour palette is inspired. Some of the gowns featured rich combinations of seafoam and petrol, pink and wine, olive, mocha, raspberry...

...and of course I loved the snoods. The streets need more snoods. Check out Casey's blog for some classy 40s snood action.

Dita even smiled. A rare sight on camera. Barring Anna's head shake, I think this may be the test of a collection. Bravo!

photos: wireimage

mourning the enfant terrible

I'm reeling.

It is difficult to picture the fashion world without Lee Alexander McQueen. I'd like to imagine him having tea right now with his mother and Isabella Blow, in some fantastic, hat filled afterlife.

Best wishes to his family.

Three of many favourites:
Shalom's spray painted ballgown, Kate's angelic hologram, and Deconstruction.

my kingdom for a horse

I went to see a Ryerson Theatre School production of Richard III last night and was completely blown away. It's a modern telling, directed by Canadian dramaturge Ruth Madoc-Jones, who mentions in the program notes that she was influenced by "A Clockwork Orange, The Godfather movies, and an 80s high fashion, high power ethos". It works. I was up half the night thinking about what the 2000 version of Hamlet (Ethan Hawke/Julia Stiles) would have been like in her hands.

Costumes and staging were done with inspired style by Patrick Du Wors. As a lifelong costume fanatic, I'm pretty merciless with wardrobe criticism, but there is nothing I can say about this neo-gothic extravaganza except 'go see it'. Wear something by Rick Owens or Helmut Lang perhaps to get in the mood. I haven't even gotten to the acting yet. Jonathan Sousa leads in the title role, but it's a cast of 19 people, all of whom performed brilliantly. If television roles were given to actors of similar talent (excluding certain shows on HBO and Showtime...), I might actually buy a tv.

The only criticism I have is that this play has been shamefully underpublicized. I'm badgering the marketing people with letters because it drives me crazy that so much work has gone into a production so few people are coming out to. If you're in Toronto, I highly recommend making time for Richard III before it closes on Feb. 11th. I'm going again on Monday - hope to see you there...

8 pm - 11:15 pm at the Ryerson Theatre (43 Gerrard St., College subway). $18 regular, $14 students (cash only).