Pinup Couture Laura Top - red!

I recently purchased two barely worn Pinup Couture Laura Tops (size XL, in white and red) from a groovy fellow Pinup Girl Clothing fan. The price was right, their condition is excellent, and the tops seemed like a great way to solve my perpetual problem finding cute, casual tops right for wear with jeans and crops. While the Lauras are cute (love the heart buttons at the neckline), well-made, and comfortable, they aren’t quite what I was hoping for.

First, the tops are short. Whenever I sit or bend over, they pop right up around my waist, leaving my lower back skin exposed. This issue likely unresolvable by sizing up to the 2x, as both the XL and 2x are 24 inches long.

Second, the tops are not long/big enough in the chest area, as the underbust seam hovers just above my bra underwire. While it’s still comfortable and looks fine, this doesn’t bode well for people with truly large or round boobs (i.e., bigger and better boobs than mine, which are fairly average for a person of my height and size). My bust measures 43-44″ and usually takes a 36/38DD/DDD bra, which puts me squarely in the XL area (40-45″) according to the size chart.

Ironically, some Laura Top reviewers have mentioned that despite falling well within the bust range recommended by the size charts, they felt that their boobs did not adequately fill up the bodice space provided. While I wasn’t expecting this to happen to me, I wasn’t expecting to ride the upper end of plausible fit, either. :/

Third, the stretch jersey fabric clings. Maybe this would be less of a problem if I sized up, but the top is already big enough around the waist to give a practical, comfortable fit. I have loose skin on my midriff from major weight loss that peeks through no matter how thin I get, which makes me feel incredibly self-conscious (and is in fact one of the major reasons why I have issues finding fitted knit tops I feel comfortable wearing). Wearing the tops over Spanx or tucked into a high-waisted skirt solves this problem, but that kind of negates my whole reason for buying them in the first place; I wanted to wear them with jeans and crops!

Pinup Couture Gia Top in burgundy with Laura Byrnes Black Label pencil skirt.

Something else to consider is the darker colorways run a bit smaller than the lighter ones. In my case, the red fits a tad more snugly than the white. Additionally, the white fabric is somewhat sheer; the bodice is self-lined, but the lower part is not. Those who are looking for a bit more coverage in the boob area and more “disguise” in the midriff region may have better luck with the long-sleeved, surplice-bodiced Gia Top, which comes in the same fabric and some of the same colorways.

I’m still on the fence about what I will do with my Lauras. I may trade these up for the larger size and see how I fare, or I may keep them and use them as I can until I lose a bit more weight.

At any rate, stay tuned for some new clothing posts and reviews! I’m anxiously awaiting an order of Hell Bunny dresses from UK-based online store Sirens & Starlets.

Outfit of the Day - Saturday!

Since the semester’s started, I haven’t had much time for anything but work. However, here’s my casual outfit for this dreary Saturday! White House/Black Market dot cardigan, Deadly Dames Vamp top in red with black dots, El Dorado Club “New Orleans” bat necklace, Torrid jeans, and Coach patent leather flats.

I’m also including a shot from Thursday afternoon, which features a smidge of that Heartbreaker Marilyn Tee I’d previously mentioned. I’m happy with the shot because my hair isn’t frizzed beyond belief and the colors involved seem to suit me.

I have a few new (and old) items in the hopper to show you within the next month or so, so stay tuned! Here’s hoping everything fits as planned!

Heartbreaker Marilyn Tee.

The Uniform Project:

“Uniform Project was born in May 2009, when one girl pledged to wear a Little Black Dress for 365 days as an exercise in sustainable fashion. Designed to also be a fundraiser for the education of underprivileged children in India, the project acquired millions of visitors worldwide and raised over $100k for the cause.”

What an interesting exercise in creative accessorization! It’s also a reminder that it’s more socially responsible to buy quality goods (made under empowering circumstances) that will last a lifetime, instead of a ton of cheap crap that you’ll throw away in five seconds.

Deadly Dames Je T'Adore Dress.

A few days ago, I expressed concern that the beautiful Deadly Dames Je T’Adore Dress might not fit my hips. Turns out I shouldn’t have been so worried!

The 2xl is listed as maxing out at 47.5″, but my hips are 49″. Somehow, it worked out – score!

I wore this beautiful dress to a work training today (unpaid, alas!) with my Lane Bryant sequined cardigan, pictured below (thanks to Homegoods for lending their mirror).

Also pictured below is my new Deadly Dames Vamp Dress in Zebra Print. I’m wearing it with a red belt from Bettie Page clothing.

And that’s it for new clothing for the next little while. I think. Heh.

Je T'Adore, accessorized for work.

Deadly Dames Vamp Dress in Zebra Print.

Outfit of the Day.

I borrowed Forever 21′s big mirror on the way out of the mall today to bring you my outfit of the day!

I wore a silver-sequined black cardigan from the 2010 Lane Bryant holiday collection, my Deadly Dames Pirate Dress, cheap Steve Madden shoes from T.J. Maxx, Claire’s hairflower, and El Dorado Club “New Orleans” Filigree Bat Necklace.

Would’ve been nice had I, you know, worn makeup or something.

Close up!

Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma, costumed by Academy Award nominee Ruth Myers.

Fashionable Emma Woodhouse: Costuming Austen’s Emma Adapted

Before the 2009-2010 BBC Emma miniseries came out – and before I’d even started this blog – my friends Vic and Laurel Ann of Jane Austen Today kindly asked me to do a quick piece about costuming in the three previous major adaptations of the novel: the 1971 BBC tv miniseries starring Dorin Godwin, the 1996 Miramax theatrical release starring Gwyneth Paltrow, and the 1996-1997 A&E/ITV movie starring Kate Beckinsale.

It’s based on a previous article on Emma costuming I prepared for Ellie Farrell’s excellent Celluloid Wrappers site, which is dedicated to film costume. Eventually, I’ll be adding a section on the Romola Garai Emma to that article.

Fellow Pinup Girl Clothing fan Jessica M. has launched a really useful blog dedicated to informing midcentury-retro shoppers about their options – Pinup Persuasion! She reviews pinup products and retailers of all stripes, everything from shapewear to kitchenware!

Her latest review features Pinup Girl Clothing, and includes a great video testimonial that she prepared last summer for PUG (as it’s affectionately called) to use at an upcoming trade show. I did a testimonial, too, but I’m way too shy to share it here!

Excellent work, Jess! I’m looking forward to your posts.

It’s barely January, which means that the shops are stocked with cruisewear and the strange seasonal hybridity of bridge lines. Last week, my brother’s girlfriend and I stopped by Ann Taylor Loft to find it awash in nautical blues and brash stripes; all stuff I like, but nothing that satisfies either current climatic reality here in the northern hemisphere or my severe jones for flowers and fragrance and sunshine and springtime.

I know it’s too early to be shopping in earnest for the season to come – after all, it’s only officially been winter for less than three weeks – but it’s a perfect time to look ahead at what’s coming down ye olde pipe and try to plan. First, an obligatory look at the official Pantone palette for Spring, 2012:

Spring 2012 Fashion Color Trends - Pantone Fashion Color Report Spring 2012.

Margarita, Cockatoo, and Sweet Lilac satisfy my craving for soft candy color; Cabaret is a hot pink right up my colorsense alley, while Sodalite Blue in conjunction with rich greens would scratch my itch for midcentury sofa prints and lucite grape lamps. Sodalite is more cobalty than your standard January navy, it looks like.

Retailers like Torrid appear to be jumping on the the orange bandwagon with their new Sweet Escape cruise collection, though I can’t quite tell if they’ve used spring’s Tangerine Tango or a softer tone like last season’s Emberglow.

Heartbreaker Gretta Top and Laura Byrnes Black Label Pencil Skirt (Pinup Girl Clothing).

Heartbreaker Fashion – one of my favorite brands – is offering a number of its timeless pieces in a sage print reminiscent of Pantone’s Margarita, a mod drink-themed pattern (“Happy Hour”) that utilizes several bold colors reminiscent of this season’s palette, and a navy “Orbit” theme that seems to shade toward Sodalite Blue. You can check these out at their spring lookbook.

I’m hoping to pick up some more Heartbreaker separates (like this Stripey Marilyn Tee)  in the coming months, as they’re pretty much amazing. At a recent clearance sale, I purchased their Gretta Top in a rich beige color that they had discontinued. The fabric is substantial, which makes for a great shape. More, it perfectly matches my Heartbreaker Gypsy Skirt in Dandelion print.

Deadly Dames Je T'Adore Dress in Victorian Rose print.

Deadly Dames (Pinup Girl Clothing) will be rolling out both sleek and fluffy silhouettes in feminine hues and prints, most of which don’t follow the seasonal color pack. That, however, is part of why I like Deadly Dames. In fact, the parade of awesome winter-to-spring stuff from designer Micheline Pitt begins this weekend with the much-anticipated Je T’Adore Dress in four colorways. I’ve ordered it in the “Victorian Rose” pattern, which suits my springtime floral craving to a T. I tend to ride the line on the hip measurement in their largest size, so keep your fingers crossed that it fits!

Coming later are the Courtesan Swing Dress, available in a black/white gingham and the Victorian Rose pictured above (I want the gingham!), and the L’Amor dress, which I hope to get in the black with white polka-dot colorway. You can see advance images of the collection at Micheline’s Facebook fanpage.

My outfit of the day: The Mon Cheri Dress in Mauve by Deadly Dames.

The satin Mon Cheri Dress, from the Fall Deadly Dames line, comes in colors from the same palette. I purchased the dress in the mauve colorway, which is a breathtaking antique pink. It’s got just the right amount of gold to make it right for autumn, yet it’s soft enough to carry you through the winter into spring. If it weren’t lined or sleeved, I’d want to wear it in summer, too!

Anyway, it’s what I’m wearing to a party tonight! This is their 2x; except for the arms, I could have handled the xl. Even a little big, it still looks good. I particularly love the black velvet belt!

Me! In Ionic chiton, performing Lady Emma Hamilton's "Cleopatra Seduttrice" attitude, based on Rehberg's drawing. I forgot to take off my glasses, durf.

Because I love Greco-Roman antiquity, I needed to make myself a chiton. Because I’ve performed Lady Emma Hamilton’s famous, classically-inspired tableaux vivants twice in the last twelve years, I needed to make myself a chiton. Because chitons are awesome and I like them, I needed a chiton.

By this point in the blog post, you might be asking yourself, “What the heck is a chiton? Who is Lady Hamilton? And those “tableaux” thingies?” I know it sounds like a strange combination of ideas, but it’s honestly not as complicated as it seems. In fact, the chiton – a very simple women’s  (and men’s!) garment originating in ancient Greece and widely used as a basic dress or underdress for women in Roman eras – is extremely easy to make and wear. But I’ll get to that in a second.

Emma, My Inspiration

Rehberg's drawing of Lady Emma's "Cleopatra Seduttrice" attitude.

First, the Lady Emma part of the explanation. Our English Regency society puts on various events dealing with events and culture from the late Georgian period of British history. In the course of preparations for a ball honoring the great naval hero Lord Horatio Nelson, I somehow got roped into playing a role. And not just any role; I would be recreating Lady Emma Hamilton’s famous “attitudes.” Lady Emma performed these silent tableaux from 1787 through the 1790s and into the early 19th century, sparking several high-profile imitations and influencing modern dance and other forms of performance art over a hundred years later. Now, this was 1999 and I was crazy busy trying to finish my last year of law school. The last thing I probably needed on my plate was a performance of some sort, but for Emma Hamilton I made an exception.

"Rebecca al Stagno" - Rebecca at the well. My version.

Not only was Lady Emma one of the most celebrated women of the late 18th and early nineteenth centuries, she was also among the most scandalous. With humble beginnings and a sordid past, Lady Emma – born Amy, or Emy, Lyon in 1765 – is infamous for both her affairs with notable British men (not the least of which being Lord Nelson himself) and her often-seedy early career as a performer and artists’ model.

Painter George Romney’s sensational portraits of Emma – usually posed as a personification of a classical virtue, or as an historical figure, pagan deity, saint, or fictional character from antiquity – garnered her quite a bit of male attention. In fact, her growing reputation as a beauty and neoclassical muse, thanks largely to the circulation of engravings based on her portraits, paved the way for her relationship with (and eventual marriage to) the British ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples, Sir William Hamilton.

"Rebecca al Stagno" - Rebecca at the well.

Art history professor John Wilton-Ely proposes that Sir William, an obsessive collector of classical antiquities, considered Emma “a personification of the beauty of classic art.” Wilton-Ely indicates that Hamilton essentially “collected” Emma as he might collect a beautiful Greek vase, eagerly “inheriting” her from her previous paramour and his nephew, Charles Francis Greville. Fittingly enough, Emma’s “attitudes” – which she developed in partnership with Hamilton – essentially allowed her to become the sculptures and vase-figures that her husband so adored. As Wilton-Ely puts it, it becomes a Pygmalion story in reverse.

"Dryad Esaltata" - Exalting Dryad - my crappy version, with a maenad-ish grapevine wreath informed by Romney's painting of Emma, below.

Lady Hamilton’s classically-inspired sittings for Romney were the background for her delightful tableaux vivants, but it was Sir William’s interest in Greco-Roman art and Lady Emma’s growing role as social fixture and unofficial diplomat at the Neapolitan court that presented her with this opportunity to strike out beyond mere model’s poses. In Sir William, she had an encouraging mentor and knowledgeable advisor on artistic matters. He was also a source of social legitimacy, as their marriage in 1791 transformed her from a mistress of dubious reputation to wife of a British ambassardor. As such, Emma found ready audiences in the Neapolitan court circle and a new kind of popularity. In addition to her relationships with Sir William and Lord Nelson, two respected allies of the Neapolitan royal family, her friendship with Queen Maria Carolina provided her with a unique kind of political capital at court.

"Dryad Esaltata" - Exalting Dryad.

Evolving from her earlier static poses as an artists’ model, Emma’s “attitudes” can be described as a fluid, rhythmic series of brief poses evoking famous women and events from antiquity. Wilton-Ely suggests that in coaching Emma’s tableaux, Sir William was attempting to recreate Roman pantomime, a dramatic art that combined silent acting with elements of dance. Usually, the poses and minimal props that Lady Hamilton engaged were direct allusions to specific pieces of art (everything from Roman wall paintings recently excavated at Herculaneum near their home in Naples to Roman sculpture, Greek vases, and Old Master paintings), authenticated by Sir William’s knowledge of classical antiquities.

Pietro Novelli's drypoint sketches of the Attitudes of Lady Hamilton.

Bringing Back the “Attitudes”

Lady Emma Hamilton as a Bacchante, by George Romney. The painting features Emma as a maenad. Her wreath greatly informed me in creating mine.

When I first portrayed Emma, I used Drawings faithfully copied from nature at Naples by Friedrich Rehberg – a collection of classical tableaux featuring several of Lady Emma’s most famous “attitudes” – as a source for my poses and a rough guide as to how I might dress. Paintings by Romney, Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun, and others also contributed to the look and feel of the ensemble. We also had period comments from visitors to the Hamiltons’ home in Naples as to the nature of her tableaux and costume:

She wears a Greek garb becoming her to perfection. She then merely loosens her locks, takes a pair of shawls, and effects changes of postures, moods, gestures, mien, and appearance that make one really feel as if one were in some dream. Here is visible complete and bodied forth in movements of surprising variety, all that so many artists have sought in vain to fix and render. Successively standing, kneeling, seated, reclining, grave, sad, sportive, teasing, abandoned, penitent, alluring, threatening, agonised. One follows the other and grows out of it. She knows how to choose and shift the simple folds of her single kerchief for every expression, and to adjust it into a hundred kinds of headgear.

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, poet

"Reflessione" - Reflection. My version = trying really hard not to laugh.

In opposition to Goethe’s rememberances of Emma’s originals, my attitudes weren’t at all fluid; in fact, we decided to play them strictly frozen – like a more traditional tableau, as if I were a piece of Greco-Roman statuary – with a curtain to mask each transition. We felt it would be easier for me to replicate the poses this way. If I ever manage a third performance as Lady Emma, I’ll revamp my scheme to incorporate a more fluid routine and lose the curtain.

The Costume

When I made my first Lady Emma costume, I figured I should go with something flowy and at least vaguely Grecian, to keep with Goethe’s description and some of Emma’s various period images. The chiton is easy to make, and it moves dramatically without being uncomfortable or overly draggy, so it seemed an obvious choice.

"Reflessione" - Reflection. Emma seated in an ancient Greek chair, or klismos.

I made my first chiton out of a drapey cotton; I should have used linen or silk, but it was the best I could do at the time. While Emma’s costumes were usually simple Grecian-style or Neapolitan peasant-inspired gowns (long, sleeved chemises, essentially) worn without underpinnings, I needed some sort of security against slippage. I wore it over a late-Georgian (Regency) corset and chemise and used an Indian shawl as a stand-in for a himation (cloak or overwrap).

My second incarnation, pictured on this page, was an opportunity to improve on the deficiences of the first costume. I wanted to make it as period correct as possible so I could wear it on occasions requiring ancient Greek or Roman dress. By the sixth century B.C., the Ionic chiton joined the traditional Doric peplos as a primary women’s garment in ancient Athens (Abrahams 57-60), worn as an outer layer or under an himation. In imperial Rome, women often wore a similarly-constructed tunica as a dress or underdress; it was almost always worn with the himation-like palla (a type of draped overcloak), and matrons had the option of wearing it under the stola, a sleeveless overdress pinned or sewn into straps at the shoulder.

Redfigure vase from the fifth century B.C. showing a woman in an Ionic chiton and himation. Her chiton is pleated to show volume of fabric. You can see how the shoulder "seam" of her chiton is made from what appear to be stitches at fixed intervals down her arm. Thumbnail links to original image at The Perseus Project.

From the Greek Archaic period through Roman times, the chiton (along with its tunic cousins, the mens’ Doric chiton and womens’ peplos) was constructed, decorated, and worn in a variety of ways, a reality which sometimes creates confusion as to the defining features of the garment. At the beginning of the Archaic era, the chiton (probably a version of the Ionic style) was described by the epic poet Homer as a sewn, rectangular linen tunic for men. According to the historian Herodotus, by the sixth century B.C. Athenian women were wearing sewn linen chitons, too (Abrahams 41). As Athens progressed into the Classical era, women’s chitons were being made of silk in addition to the traditional linen (for Ionic chitons) and wool (for Peploi, or Doric women’s dress) of the previous eras.

Depending on style, period, terminology of choice, and the gender of the wearer, chitons could have long sleeves or none at all, a consideration determined by the overall width of the garment and the fastening method used on the shoulders. The shoulders could be pinned, stitched, buttoned, or tied once per shoulder, fastened in several places at intervals down the shoulders and arms, or sewn along the top edge to create more conventional, tunic-style shoulders and sleeves. To make the sleeves more pronounced, and ostensibly to promote ease of movement, some chitons appeared to be tied under the arms and around the shoulders (See the Charioteer at Delphi). Sometimes, chitons were created with additional sleeve sections that were woven or sewn onto the armholes of the chiton.

Fifth century B.C. bronze of a charioteer wearing an Ionic chiton. His sleeves appear to be tied around the arms and shoulders, helping to create the tremendous pleating that is a signature trait of the style. © RaminusFalcon / Wikimedia Commons

The basic design of the latest chiton I made is fairly representative of the garment type. It’s what classicists often refer to as an Ionic chiton:

• It’s long and wide with sleeves (not all Ionic chitons had pronounced sleeves, but all had seaming of some sort at the shoulders), as differentiated from the Doric chitons and peploi worn by most mainland Greeks of the Archaic age, which were less broad, didn’t have sleeves or proper seaming at the shoulder, and could be short, in the case of the men (Abrahams 60).
• It’s composed of two large rectangles of linen fabric. Doric chitons – worn by men -  and their feminine counterparts,women’s peploi, were traditonally made of wool (Abrahams 59-60). Further, Doric chitons and peploi are associated with single-fabric-rectangle construction, rather than two pieces of fabric sewn together.
• The rectangles of fabric are stitched and buttoned at intervals along the top edge to create seamed shoulders and sleeves, leaving room for a neck opening. Ionic chiton shoulders and sleeves could be fastened by sewn seams, stitches at intervals, buttons at intervals, or pins at intervals.
• The chiton is sewn down the long sides of the fabric as well, creating a basic tunic shape that is pulled in at the waist by a belt.

Peplos Kore, ca. 530 B.C. Photo by John Pappas. The image shows the trimness of the Archaic peplos. You can see the apoptygma terminating just above her waistline.

Chitons are in many ways similar to the aforementioned peplos, an older style of Doric dress worn exclusively by mainland Greek women before they started wearing Ionic chitons (and by the sixth century B.C., the peplos was apparently worn by Athenian women over chitons of varying styles, as the peplos transitioned into the role of cloak, or himation). Unlike the Ionic chiton, which was sewn up both sides, the traditional peplos was constructed from a single, unsewn piece of woolen fabric that was folded in half to create the basic tubular tunic shape. Circa 800 B.C., the beginning of the Greek Archaic age, the epic poet Homer used the term peplos for women’s dresses as well as other large, rectangular pieces of cloth, which bears out the characteristic (Abrahams 17).

When worn, the peplos was folded over at the neckline to make an apoptygma, or as fashion historian Harold Koda calls it, a “capelet-like overfold.” The dress would be fastened at the front of the shoulders with two fibulae, or brooches, to which Koda refers as the “single defining detail” of the peplos, and to an extent, the Doric stye of dress for both sexes (though men’s clothing in the Doric style – AKA the Doric chiton – could be fastened on one shoulder only, and did not have the apoptygma).

That said, the apoptygma overfolds are an example of a peplos characteristic that is sometimes shared with the Ionic chiton as worn by women (Abrahams 64). Conversely, and as Athenian art moved into the fifth century B.C., the volume (and in some cases, the diaphanous quality) usually associated with the Ionic style appear to have been blended into Doric-style clothing of figures such as the karyatids of the Erechtheum:

Karyatid from the Erectheum on the Athenian Acropolis, fifth century B.C. She's wearing a peplos that is much fuller and more diaphanous-looking than the trimmer Archaic peploi on this page. Image © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons

Most chitons and peploi would be girded in some way at the waistline, sometimes double-belted to create the look of a shorter overdress, furthering the similarity between the two. Sometimes peploi wouldn’t be girded at all, particularly if worn over another tunic of some sort. Open-sided peploi not worn over another tunic of some sort would practically require a belt, given the fact that it wouldn’t stay closed at the side without one. Some scholars indicate the early use of brooches to keep the open side of the peplos closed.

The fates, or moirae, from the Francois Vase (ca. the mid-sixth c. B.C.). They're wearing peploi, with noticeable apoptygma overlapping the bodice. Their shoulders are pinned at the front; on the far left-hand fate, you can see the overlap of the back edge of the peplos and the straight pin attaching it to the front edge.

To make matters more confusing, by the sixth century B.C. the term peplos could apply to virtually any Doric-style women’s dress, whether it was sewn up the side or not (Abrahams 46). This contradicts the frequent assumption that chitons were the sewn garment, while peploi were specifically not:

“…the word ‘peplos’ is usually reserved for the Doric [feminine] dress whether open or closed [at the side], the word ‘chiton’ for the Ionic, though the latter is frequently applied to the Doric, and is invariably used of the under-dress when the two styles became confused” (46).

Ethel Abrahams seems to suggest that “chiton” is most properly used to describe

1. an Ionic chiton (long, full, fluidly pleated, sewn down the sides, usually with sleeves),
2. Doric-style tunics worn by men, or
3. a tunic dress (whatever its style) worn under a peplos (maybe).

Athena pictured on a metope from the fifth century B.C. Temple of Zeus at Olympia. She's wearing the fuller-style peplos of the classical era. Her apoptygma drapes over her belt to cover the waistline (though it was sometimes worn girded under the belt).

I chose an off-white linen as my chiton fabric (yes, Joann has 100% linen, suitable for ancient, medieval, and renaissance pieces), purchasing enough to create two head-to-foot lengths of wide fabric. Even then, it isn’t quite as long as I would like; Ionic chitons were supposed to nearly touch the floor on a female wearer. The fabric wasn’t as thin as I would have liked for a diaphanous Ionic chiton, either, but it does drape nicely. Chitons could have been embroidered or colored, but I was working with limited color resources and went for the white. While ancient Greek sculpture would have been vibrantly painted, I like the idea of a chiton that resembles the light, Pentelic tones of the Parthenon sculpture from the mid-fifth century B.C.

I created a neckline and sleeves by tacking the top edges of the fabric together at intervals and finishing each stitch off with a burnished brass-tone button. I left enough room at the end of the sleeves for my hands and forearms to emerge, sewing together the side-seams and hemming the bottom of the chiton. I created a zone or “girdle” belt out of a piece of decorative cord and some ready-made upholstery tassels. For underpinnings, I made a concession to practicality and wore my Regency chemise; it provided enough support in the boob area to keep things reasonably modest (and hey, Roman women wore mamillare to keep the chesticles in check). For shoes, I chose a modern version of a medieval “bog shoe.” They’re a boot-like, closed-toe, lace-up sandal that resembles Roman calcei.

"Vestale in Pieda."

For props, I made a grapevine wreath inspired by Romney’s Bacchante (see images above) and borrowed an urn, a plinth/column, a libation bowl, and a tambourine from my mom. The Rehberg engravings show Emma using a very wide, long shawl – very much like a Greek himation or Roman palla – as a prop. I substituted my cream wool rectangle shawl from India, which had the right look but isn’t nearly large enough to be a real wrap from antiquity.

I performed my attitudes a second time this past October, at a ball as might have been hosted by the Queen of Naples, Maria Carolina. That’s where the photographs – kindly taken by my friend Yvette Keller – originate.

 Sources – Lady Emma Hamilton

• Drawings faithfully copied from nature at Naples by Friedrich Rehberg, engraved by Tommaso Piroli – 1794 – Contains engravings of several of Lady Emma’s “attitudes.” This was the source I used to create my series of tableaux.
• Emma at Home: Lady Hamilton and her “Attitudes” – John Wilton-Ely’s Lecture on Lady Emma’s “attitudes” as a manifestation of neoclassical artistic values. His discussion includes the various visual and historical allusions in Emma’s work.
• Sichel, Walter Sydney. Memoirs of Emma, Lady Hamilton: The friend of Lord Nelson and the Court of Naples. New York: P.F. Collier and Son,1910.
• Vic’s Lady Emma article

Chiton Sources

• The Chiton and Its Descendants
• Roman Clothing: Women – Professor Barbara F. McManus’ Roman clothing site
• The Chiton, Peplos, and Himation in Modern dress – Essay by fashion historian Harold Koda
• Abrahams, Ethel Beatrice. Greek Dress: A Study of the Costumes Worn in Ancient Greece From Pre-Hellenic Times to the Hellenistic Age. London: John Murray, 1908.
• Smith, William et al., eds. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 1890. Peplos and Palla | Chiton and Tunica
• Whetstone Johnston, Harold. The Private Life of the Romans. Scott, Foresman and Company, 1903. 

"Vestale in Pieda."

Edith Head in the 1970s.

This piece was originally written for the Greater Bay Area Costumers’ Guild’s Finery newsletter, in anticipation of our Vertigo-themed costume event on February 11.

Despite her long studio career and a stunning cache of major awards (including a record-setting 8 Oscars, the most ever for a woman, and 35 Oscar nominations), costume designer Edith Head is a star whose name isn’t readily recognizable to most people. Her work, however, is instantly familiar to virtually everyone. She’s the woman responsible for the iconic fashions appearing in midcentury classics such as Roman Holiday, To Catch a Thief, Vertigo, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Head spent 43 years at Paramount, worked 14 years at Universal, and collaborated on various projects for other studios over the years, aggregating a portfolio of work totaling several hundred movies. “I do so many films that I would only like to send you work that is outstanding, or of importance to your collection,” she wrote in 1967 to the Wisconsin Center for Theatre Research, in response to a request to create an “Edith Head Collection” at the University of Wisconsin.

Her diverse collection of designs includes everything from period fashions to fantasy creations. Though she downplayed the importance of cutting-edge contemporary fashion to her work (“What is shown in Paris today is a dead duck tomorrow” she once said), Head was also in many ways a fashion trend setter. The popular demand for sarong-style dresses in the late 1930s and 1940s, for example, grew out of Head’s iconic designs for Dorothy Lamour in The Jungle Princess (1936).

Originally an instructor of French and art, Head broke into the movie business in 1924 as an inexperienced costume sketch artist. She honed her craft under Paramount head designer Howard Greer. Over a fourteen year period she graduated from styling and designing for background players to the studio’s head of costuming in 1938.

From the 1920s through the 1970s, Edith Head clothed a veritable who’s who of Hollywood stars including Clara Bow, Bette Davis, Elizabeth Taylor, and Audrey Hepburn. In addition to her film work, she designed personal wardrobes for personalities like Lamour and Barbara Stanwyck, who relied on her to make them “look like stars.”  Head designed two stunning gowns for her friend Joan Crawford to wear as a presenter at the 1965 Academy Awards ceremony. Over the years, she also advised a number of other stars as they prepared their Oscars wardrobes.  “One of my extracurricular duties is as a consultant to the Academy,” she wrote in 1959, “and during the month of March the number of problems and diagnoses are of epidemic proportions.”

Befitting a designer of her stature, Head also developed her own tremendous personal style. Her striking round glasses, Anna May Wong-inspired bangs, and understated yet elegant suits became her trademarks in later years, while sleek bobs and flapper togs set her apart as a younger professional. Always imaginative, in childhood she recalled collecting scraps of fabric that she would use to “dress” her animal friends and decorate her homemade doll house. “Anyone who can dress a horn toad can dress anything!” she once wrote. As a designer and stylist, Edith Head did indeed dress everyone, dreaming up ensembles for men, women, and even animals (including elephants, which she draped in decorative vegetation for 1925’s The Wanderer).

Miss Head (she was often professionally known as Miss Edith Head, though she was married twice) possessed diverse abilities as a designer and stylist, but always retained a particular interest in feminine shapes and details when dressing leading ladies. “She was a ‘dress girl,’ that is, she expressed her rebellion against the current mannish trends by wearing simple dresses,” Stanwyck once said of Head, referencing the sometimes severe, tailored styles of the later 1930s.

The designer enjoyed largely pleasant working relationships with her stars and colleagues, citing educational collaborations with actresses like Mae West and Patricia Morison, a former design sketch artist whom Head invited to work on pieces for Morison’s scenes in The Magnificent Fraud (1939). “The star should be consulted a great deal, because it is the star who has to wear the costume to help them project the character,” Head told film historian Tony Macklin in a taped interview from 1975, describing her philosophy of costume design.

“She was not…one of those flamboyant designers who wanted their name on everything,” Morison remarked. “She…sold the character.”

“The boss is the script,” Head herself essentially concurred in her interview with Macklin. “I as a designer work with every other technical person [on the project...we...] work more or less as a team.”

Edith Head’s job was not without its complications, however. “I don’t usually get into battles,” she once said. “but dressing Kim Novak for her role in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo put to the test all my training in psychology.”  While Head and Hitchcock were apparently on the same page regarding Novak’s costumes, Novak was unhappy with the director’s color choices for the famous gray “Madeleine” suit and accompanying black shoes.

Vertigo suit design created for Vera Miles, original casting choice for the role of "Madeleine."

As early as the 1930s, Head took on the roles of spokesperson for her studio department and representative of her craft, functions she performed until the end of her life. In the process of representing her profession in the media, her practical approach to clothing also made her a fashion advisor to average midcentury American women and a self-described “star” in her “own right.” She wrote books and columns filled with fashion advice, designed sewing patterns for Vogue, hosted her own radio shows, and was a regular guest on television, sitting for interviews and even appearing as herself in a major cameo role on Universal’s legendary Columbo series. According to Head’s former assistant (and now legendary designer himself) Bob Mackie, her work bungalow at Universal became an informal attraction on the world famous studio tours.

In her writings and broadcasts, Head provided expert opinions on various practical wardrobe considerations, such as the right colors, fabrics and shapes for different activities or times of day, and suggestions for dressing to accentuate or downplay various figure elements. To a teenager so concerned about her pear shape that she feared wearing full skirts, Head advised in one 1950s column, “If I were you, I would forget the extra inch or so [at the hip] and wear all your beautiful full skirts. Your hips will be minimized if you color-match waist or sweater to your skirt.” To another girl worried about money, she recommended a tightly coordinated wardrobe of interchangeable separates: “For anyone who is on a strict budget, I would advise separates,…and hold to one or two basic colors…[that way] it is less expensive to have matching bag and shoes.”

Highlighting both the confidence-building qualities of fashion and the idea that style is accessible to everyone, Head stated in her 1959 book, Dress Doctor, that “clothes are a practical therapy, and a woman’s happiness – her outlook on life, her ability to meet the terrible competition in love and in war, in business and before the eagle eye of her sisters – can be decided by what she wears.  The way you dress affects you; it also affects the people around you.”

While her most high-profile legacies are undoubtedly her spectacular film wardrobes, Edith Head’s broadest, and most practical, contributions are those she made to the American everywoman.

Sources:

• Fishko, Sara. The Fishko Files. < http://www.wnyc.org/shows/fishko/2011/feb/25/ >
• Fleckner Ducey, Maxine. “Elegance by Design: The Edith Head Collection in Wisconsin.” Wisconsin Magazine of History, Winter 2001-2001, pp. 18-27.
• Edith Head Papers. Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research. < http://www.wcftr.commarts.wisc.edu/collections/featured/edithhead/index.html >
• Head, Edith, and Jane Kesner Ardmore. The Dress Doctor. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1959.
• Jorgensen, Jay. Edith Head: The Fifty-Year Career of Hollywood’s Greatest Costume Designer. New York: Running Press, 2010.
• Macklin, Tony and Nick Pici, eds. Voices from the Set: the Film Heritage Interviews. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2000. < http://tonymacklin.net/audio/head.mp3 >
• Edith Head’s patterns: http://vintagepatterns.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Edith_Head