burlesque-brigade

[burlesque-brigade]

One of my favorite YouTubers just did a video on Bit of Earth! It’s a great summary with plenty of primary source material, including Abbey’s blog. She also did a great job countering the transphobia in Jeanine’s book and sorting everything out in spite of its non-linear structure.

It sounds like she’s going to do a part two on DAYDverse, so keep an eye out for that sometime in the future.

[burlesque-brigade]

Hi, I’m actually one of the makers for the dresses in this show. You might have even seen my twitter thread about the closures being hooks and not zippers:

Part of the reason it was decided that my studio would do back closures in the majority of dresses was for uniformity and ease for the onset wardrobe team who dress the actors and don’t necessarily have the historical background to know how multiple hook&eye panels at the side front might work.

In regards to historical accuracy in construction, in the film and tv costume industry something that we strive for (largely because of the rise in HD cameras) is to construct these dresses more perfectly than historical methods would allow and we use more modern couture methods to do so. Its a mistake to think that we aren’t very familiar with the extant garments our recreations reference and if you have looked closely and even held these antique garments you would know that they are often messily hand stitched and somewhat wrinkly when worn, things we work to counteract when making ours. Thus the reason we don’t try to make them like they would have been made then.

Historical accuracy isn’t actually a very good measure for the quality of a costume

I have seen some arguments that what appear to be zippers down the backs of so many dresses on Gilded Age are in fact hook closures, which would be an improvement, given that hook closures existed in the time period and zippers did not (and so I hope it is true, for the sake of my opinion about various people involved in the costuming of this show).

That said, however, even if some or all of them are hook closures, that doesn't obviate their irritation to me, because that still is simply not how dresses from the period were constructed. (Disclaimer here that we are lucky to have a huge number of surviving garments from this period and they often have a variety of quirky elements, so I am certain there exists an example of this type of closure on an 1880s dress, but I myself have never seen one and I'm talking here about generally used construction methods.)

Hook and eye closures were very common, but they would be built into the dress's design; so for instance if we look at this dress of Marian's from 2.04:

Those actually might be hooks! But they still make no sense, because there's already perfectly logical and unobtrusive place to put the fastenings for the bodice (down one side of the front panel where it connects with that little fold to the side of the bodice).

You see this time and again with the back-fastening dresses in the show--there is almost always a more logical and accurate way to fasten them, which can be proved partly by looking at the other dresses in the show that do not show back fastenings. And while clearly the costumes on the show are not going for 100% historical accuracy (or even, say, 80% historical accuracy), this is one of those instances where using the historical methods would actually improve their design and functionality specifically as film costumes. The back closures are visually noticeable and eye-catching in a way that period invisible closures are not, something that seems like it would be seen as a big advantage for TV costumes that can be expected to be seen by the camera and audience from any angle.

So my argument against these is not just about accuracy for accuracy's sake (though I, personally, feel that that's enough), but also accuracy in order to learn from design tricks of the past that are still useful and applicable today, even in situations that would be foreign to the people who developed them.

(This is one of those details where you can see so clearly that different characters' costumes were shopped out to different costumes houses, and the design team apparently did not provide any or enough oversight to catch annoying prominent details like these.)

[burlesque-brigade]

Interview with the Vampire (1994), deleted scene… maybe

(@dreamofme9 this one is for you ☝️)

[burlesque-brigade]

keem keetsuragi warmps + an old harrykim thing

[burlesque-brigade]

When I tell you I snorted!

[burlesque-brigade]

From the Neil Gaiman: Dream Dangerously :) (you can watch here in US or with US vpn :) <3)

Terry Pratchett: Neil once said, 'Your fans all look jolly. And my fans all look as if they're about to commit suicide. Wouldn't it be nice if we could get them to marry?'

[burlesque-brigade]

"What, you're just gonna waltz in there like it's commie Disney Land or something?" To this day still one of the most fun shoots I've ever done! Shout out to yet another friend with an unusually perfect, unsettling basement. This time, Stranger Things edition! Robin Buckley - @armsofthearts Steve Harrington - me Photographer - Starbitphotography

[burlesque-brigade]

Mantua from the 1720s

[burlesque-brigade]

Now, this is different- a skeleton sewing machine for your goth or Halloween decor. I couldn't find it on Google, but I have been told that it's been seen at JoAnn Fabrics.

[burlesque-brigade]

Hmm. Some. Of these people may be insane

[burlesque-brigade]

what a beautiful ending

[burlesque-brigade]

This isn't a break-up, dear heart, it's a season finale!

("Battle Cries" by The Amazing Devil)

[burlesque-brigade]

thisis so cool

[burlesque-brigade]

Obi and kimono by Gofukuyasan.  Japan

[burlesque-brigade]

Eva Green.

As MILADY DE WINTER in THE THREE MUSKETEERS.

[burlesque-brigade]

UM !!! redrew this cosplay picture by @burlesque-brigade and @woodsmokeandwords because it itched my brain in a way I couldn’t ignore.

#omg this is so lovely! #i always love seeing your art! #you rendered our uniforms beautifully!

[burlesque-brigade]

Good Omens Fancomic Tartan and Starlight! Part 3

I ran this in May 2020, and it’s now collected up :

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/821316098/tartan-starlight-go-comic

Part1 | Part 2 | Part 3