For some reason, I am totally susceptible to mass phenomena (only the non-violent kind, of course!).
E.g., apart from attending the odd or two football games as there is a field round the corner from where I live and it's a nice excuse for having 2-3 beers and potato chips, I'm not interested in football at all. I'm not interested in watching most sports, but I'm particularly not interested in watching football.
And yet, when there's a European or even world championship happening, with public viewing and everyone talking about it, I really enjoy being right there in the middle, watching (and commenting on) as many games as possible, celebrating with others on the streets and becoming an all-knowing expert.
Similarly, though I'm christened I don't care much for the church, it's protagonists or it's followers. I don't think I ever voluntarily visited a church to attend mass. I have no idea at all about what the sacral decision-makers are currently up to, and I honestly couldn't care less. BUT when I found out that there's going to be a new pope and suddenly the newspapers as well as the internet where full of it, I couldn't get enough of it. I spent hours learning about the history of the papal conclave, and when the day finally arrived, I meticulously followed every newsticker, news feed or livestream I could find, to be the first one to find out who will be the new pope.
When I started out with sewing and costuming, I found my favourite eras as quickly as I found my least favourite eras - and the 1920s definitly ranked very high with the latter category. The low waist, the rectangular shapes, the silly hats... nope. Not mine. Do not want.
Then, some time ago, the Twenties craze started and eventually reached Austria. Electroswing came up. "Speakeasy"-parties everywhere, even here in Vienna! Boardwalk Empire, The Great Gatsby, Downton Abbey. Suddenly, the costume blogs I was reading were filled with adventures in flapper fashion, and the more I saw of it, the more I started to like it.
Anyway, here's my first attempt at flapper clothing:
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| Some day there will be better pictures! :) |
I made it after this excellent tutorial. As always with my first tries, it's not authentic, although I'm actually not sure with this one (the fabric is cotton crepe and the cut isn't too far off, I think... but then I don't know enough about twenties dresses yet).
I've already worn it 3 or 4 times on various occasions, and I just love it. It's so comfortable, and the skirt is great for swirling. :)
So for the next event, the 3rd Bohème Sauvage in Vienna on November 23rd, I'm planning to make a new dress, which, as you can already guess if you haven't fallen asleep yet and still remember the title of this post, will be a Robe de Style.
As inspiration, I chose this one from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art:
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| Robe de Style, House of Lanvin, fall-winter 1926/27 |
I found a beautiful black shantung silk with very few knobs in my stash, and ordered a vintage sari border on ebay as trim.
I'm not sure if I will really finish this until the 23rd, as I'm currently studying for a very big exam and can only sew for an hour or so in the evenings. If I don't finish it, I luckily have a nice backup plan, which I'm not telling you about yet :P Only that it's sparkling and pink. :D
