Catherine Morland’s Dorothy Vallens Blue Velvet cosplay.Catherine Morland’s Dorothy Vallens Blue Velvet cosplay.Edition Cover: Blue Velvet cosplay.
The photos, makeup, wig styling, and lighting are all by the fabulous Marilee Caruso! Fittingly, Isabella Rossellini wore a similar wig during production, so I think we really could not have done better in replicating Dorothy’s big 80s performance hair.
I put together the outfit, featuring the Golden Era gown from Vixen by Micheline Pitt and vintage 1980s earrings that are a pretty close match to the ones worn by Isabella as Dorothy in the movie.
Catherine Morland and Gilman in Retro Lovely Bathing Beauties number 4.
The photos ended up being playful and funny, as we very quickly moved away from me playing terrorized victim to the creature himself turning tail and running away. I’m guessing it was my big net and massive Dooneese Maharelle energy that scared him off? The world may never know.
Catherine Morland and Gilman in Retro Lovely Bathing Beauties number 4.
Anyway, a fun way to bridge the gap between hot Summer days by the lagoon and Halloween.
The June issue of Bombshell magazine is out! My Hearst Castle-inspired set by Marilee Caruso (who also did the makeup and hair) is in Book 1, including the inside cover facing the table of contents. If you want to grab this – or any – Magcloud publication on sale, there’s a discount code right now: MAG25.
Hearst Castle library-inspired image by Marilee Caruso. I’m wearing the Gene dress by Trashy Diva.
Since I am a huge fan of William Randolph Hearst’s La Cuesta Encantata estate (“the enchanted hill,” now a California State Park located near San Simeon, CA), I wanted to incorporate a sliver of the atmosphere there. Virtually all aspects of the architecture and decoration were overseen by architect and Berkeley grad (Go Bears!) Julia Morgan over nearly three decades, and it remains one of her most impressive projects.
Hearst Castle library photographed by me. Note the Greek pottery atop the bookcases.
Since we couldn’t shoot at the actual house, we adapted Marilee’s “study” setup to double as W.R.’s library. The original room is very Spanish Baroque in ways that only a wealthy media mogul who collected lots of European antiques can replicate, but we did our best. I added a reproduction Greek vase (dude collected tons of art, including a huge ancient pottery collection from Greek antiquity which he highlighted in his library) and my “Citizen Kane” snowglobe to the studio set.
Marilee put images from my Film Noir shoot on the late 1940s tv console to add another layer of meaning, as both Hearst and Marion Davies (his girlfriend and major silent era and golden age of Hollywood star) were involved in the early American film industry. Given the tv cabinet and the more mid-century look of the studio set, we couldn’t do 1920s or 30s. And since the house was closed during World War II and Mr. Hearst and Davies left the house in 1947 due to the former’s ill health, we figured a small evening party in 1946 or 1947 “coulda happened” like this.
You can find this and all my issues via my Linktree.
I love the 1992 Dracula adaptation with Winona Ryder and Gary Oldman. While watching the film in a Carson City theater auditorium last year (Fathom Events hosted a set of 30th anniversary showings back in October), I was struck by the idea of doing a pinup shoot featuring the count’s three hot vampire brides. Fast-forward to the end of April, and my dream was not only reality, it’s on the cover of Retro Lovely‘s “Halloween in April” special edition, Volume 1!
Brides of Dracula on Retro Lovely’s Halloween in April Cover.
My friends Miss Melody Noir and Lena Von Noir kindly agreed to be my sister brides for the shoot, and Marilee Caruso – my favorite photographer! – signed on to do makeup, hair, and (of course) take the pictures.
Catherine Morland cosplays as Bond Girl Plenty O’Toole.
Marilee Caruso did the pretty hair and makeup and took the photos for our six-page feature. I didn’t think I’d be able to pull off an early-1970s look, but Marilee made it work and I ended up loving the results. She also shot Missy Maybe’s lovely cover set for the same issue!
Catherine Morland cosplays as Bond Girl Plenty O’Toole.
I love Blade Runner. It’s my favorite neo-noir film, and one of the rare novel adaptations that’s at least as good as the original source material. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I recently cosplayed my favorite replicant character from the movie, Rachael, for a photoshoot with Marilee Caruso.
Catherine Morland cosplays Rachael, Sean Young’s replicant character in Blade Runner.
Marilee did the 1940s-inspired “Rachael” hair (yes, there are rolls present) and makeup, and we used her classic “film noir” set, brand-new lamps, and some neon-red lighting to get a 1980s-does-1940s-gritty-mystery look. I’m wearing the Mariette Jacket by Pinup Girl Clothing with the Bad Girl Pencil Skirt in faux leather from the Vixen by Micheline Pitt line and Re-Mix reproduction Babydoll pumps.
Blade Runner Cosplay in Retro Lovely Masquerade No. 28, photographed by Marilee caruso. There are four more images from this set published in the issue.
You can grab a copy of the magazine or a cover poster via Magcloud, and use code BF25 to get a discount (on these or any Magcloud publication) through 11/28/2022 (the actual discount varies by publisher and issue, btw). Note that I don’t make any money off of purchases direct from Magcloud, just the Tiki issue and posters (I have one mag copy left and a handful of posters if you want to help feed my pinup addiction. I mean, support me as I pursue this noble hobby! Ha!).
This one’s kinda meta, because my nom-de-pinup is Catherine Morland and I’m actually portraying Jane Austen’s heroine from Northanger Abbey, Catherine Morland, in the photo set. As she’s into gothic romances and horrid novels of all kinds, we have Catherine reading novels by candlelight in a spooky forestscape of her imagination. Eat your heart out, Emily St. Aubert!
I cosplay as Northanger Abbey’s Catherine Morland…my pinup namesake!
So I finally got around to seeing the new Emma, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, and it was pretty good. You can stream it now, or pre-order it on Blu-Ray or DVD, both of which will drop on May 19.
So what did I think, exactly? Read on to find out…
