salomé

As I was doing some Halloween costume research earlier in the month I stumbled across Salome, a silent film from 1923 based on the play by Oscar Wilde. I remember watching it once during college and was struck by its sets and costumes, all inspired by Aubrey Beardsley's drawings for Wilde's play.

The film itself was considered sensational and obscene for its time, although by today's standards the movie is extremely tame.. the execution scene is left to the imagination as is the severed head of John the Baptist, and the famous dance of the seven veils features Nazimova in an unflattering tube dress and a piece of chiffon spinning round and round. Beardsley's drawings, rife with nudity and gore, are much more controversial.. and they were released in 1896. Nevertheless, the film doesn't necessarily suffer due to these omissions. It's just an interesting comparison between the world of film and art and what's considered acceptable or objectionable in each.



The film, at times resembling a Georges Melies short with its tinted illustrations and over-the-top costumes, runs at just over 70 minutes long. While the exaggerated acting can get a little old, it's worth watching for the Beardsley-inspired sets and costumes alone.. the headpieces worn by Salome are incredible, and her dip-dyed chiffon wrap after the dance and metallic turban worn in the final scenes are my favorite costume pieces. Plus, it's a great spooky movie for cold Halloween nights (although the creepiest silent film in my book is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari). Watch it online here, and more photos here.

And tonight! Costumes are ready and we are going out. Neil and I have plans to hit up a local East Nashville bar for drinks with friends then on to the Belcourt Theatre's Rocky Horror Picture Show.. the 70th time we've seen the movie but the first time we've seen it with a live cast, so we're pretty excited. It's a tradition of ours to watch Rocky Horror on Halloween and this year won't be an exception. Happy Halloween!

on a throne in the sky

I came this close to ordering a copy of Lula's latest issue through an online bookshop in Scotland - THIS close - but in the end shrunk away from the nearly 30 dollars in shipping charges alone. That's what this magazine has done to me. Instead, I decided at the last minute to wait until it arrived in a place closer to home and until then, I'm resorting to looking up scans via the Fashion Spot forums.

The Lula Issue 15 spread that is making the most internet rounds has to be this one, and for good reason.. it's my favorite so far. Shot by Elle von Unwerth and styled by Leith Clark with model Zanna van Vorstenbosch (what a cool name). Best images.. the photo with the metallic drop-waist cape and the lace blouse with cranberry skirt (I love the detail on the skirt's hemline).


Sewing Saturday delayed and now coming this Saturday.. I ordered some supplies from Mood Fabrics for the first time and am smitten - quilted brocade and metallic silver linen - that will be going into some sort of future project, but for this week I'm sewing a tweed jacket and skirt set (originally planned to post about the skirt process today and jacket this weekend but instead decided to combine them into a single post, since it's really a set that I'm sewing). And before then, some Halloween love (and this until then). Happy Tuesday!

sunday dress

1940s crochet lace dress, vintage straw tote - Flea market
Vintage metallic gold shoes - Nashville vintage shop

This weekend during my monthly visit to the Tennessee flea market with Lauren, we ran into a woman who had this dress hanging in her booth.. an old discolored dress with a crochet lace bodice and tiered crinkled cotton and lace skirt stretching to the ground, all in a mismatched shade of antique white. The seller told us a story of traveling through Ohio in search of estate sales and buying this dress from a man whose mother had worn it in celebration of her wedding in the 1940s. On an impulse, I bought it along with this straw tote from a vintage leather vendor, a mid-century matador print, some sewing patterns, and a pair of cut geode bookends.

I soaked the dress in the bathtub overnight (using Oxyclean and Dr. Bronner's soap) and dried it in the sun outside. When finished, it had turned into the most pristine shade of white.




I love this dress, but I'm not certain that I'll keep it for myself. Watching it transform into snowy white in the wash reminded me what a beautiful wedding dress it would make, and it'd be great to see it used as such by someone else.. maybe I'll sell it? When I bought it I was convinced of dyeing it to a tea shade or maybe black, but now I don't think I could.

Belated Sewing Saturday coming tomorrow.. starting some cold weather projects soon.

watercolor leather

Floral peplum top, oxblood faux leather trousers - H&M
Vintage platform lace ups, leather purse - thrifted
Vintage turquoise cuff - Nashville flea market

I didn't think I'd be wearing leather pants anytime soon (since I have memories of wearing them as an awkward kid in the late nineties) but while in St. Louis last weekend, Neil and I stopped at H&M for the first time in awhile and these were too perfect not to buy. The faux leather trousers and floral peplum top were both a part of H&M's fall 2012 campaign, a collection filled with watercolor floral prints and tweed dresses. Definitely planning on pairing the pants with an oversized cable knit sweater when the weather cools down in Nashville.




Happy Wednesday!

viva magazine

A happy surprise waited for us when Neil and I returned from our trip this morning.. in our mailbox was a copy of Netherlands-based Viva Magazine, and in it was a feature on style bloggers with myself included! Thanks for the feature, Viva!

Translation from Dutch to English (thanks to Sara!).. Lauren (26) blogs from Nashville. Favorite stores? Thrift stores, Goodwill in particular. I also really like Madewell and American Apparel. Your style in three words? Classic, ladylike, grunge. What are you wearing in this picture? A silk blouse from the flea market, skirt and watch from American Apparel and boots from Urban Outfitters. Favorite winter trend? Baroque. I can't wait to wear a top in heavy velvet with oversized prints in gold.

We had a great trip this weekend. We spent most of the time hanging out with friends til late, getting very little sleep and talking about ridiculous things. Strange the feeling that nothing changes between college friends. When we made it back to St. Louis (a sort of halfway point on our drive back to Nashville), we stocked up on fall and winter wines and beer and visited H&M to look at their latest collection, picking up a seasonal floral print top, metallic sweater, and even some pants in faux leather (crazy Alison Mosshart-like motorcycle jacket also now in my possession). Oh man, and can you believe Halloween is just over a week away? Time for some planning.

on the road

Topshop Boucle Coat // Miu Miu Sunglasses // Warehouse Padlock Shopper // Rachel Roy Smoking Flats // I Am Legend Novel by Richard Matheson // Maje Metallic Leather T Shirt // Secret South Sadie Skirt // Madewell Lady Grey Trapezium Ring

Road trips undeniably hold some sort of magical sway, and I am constantly craving them.. maybe it's the adventure of running off to some new (or familiar) place, but every time we jump in the car for a long drive it immediately puts me at ease and gets me excited for what's to come. This time around, we're returning to our Midwest roots. Neil and I are leaving this afternoon for St Louis to meet up with friends and all driving together from there to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for a good friend's wedding this weekend. Gone til Sunday!

The only downer in this equation is the weather. We leave sunny, 70 degree Nashville for highs in the 40s and 50s in Cedar Rapids all weekend.. it's officially coat weather again. At least while we're away. This meant digging out our winter things from the basement, so I have my eighties-era herringbone swing coat in tow in preparation for the cool evenings, similar in oversized style to that awesome boucle coat from Topshop, above. Now if only I had a metallic leather tee hidden away in the basement too - but that I just have to dream about for now, until I buy some faux leather and make one for myself.

Stocked up with granola bars and audiobooks.. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. It's October - which means all reads need to be spooky in preparation for Halloween, right? It's the best time of year and I intend to live it up with dystopian books about zombies and pumpkin ale. Can't wait to experience it with all of our college friends this weekend.

And on another note - thanks for the support you showed for this week's fall/winter collection release! The affirmation in the form of your reposts, comments, and all-around positivity makes the hard work worth it - thank you, thank you, thank you! Happy weekend, all.

blooming leopold fall/winter look book

Here it is, the Blooming Leopold A/W 2012-13 look book! This season, I had fun with dyeing - mainly marble dyeing but I also experimented a bit with dip dye and tie dye. The process of marble dyeing was fun, albeit time consuming, which led to a very limited run of one-of-a-kind drop hem dresses and other pieces, all in silk fabrics.



More photos here.

The look book was shot by Drew Tyndell, styled by Rhiannon Tyndell, and modeled by Ashley Fisher - the best team I could ask for (a big thanks to them!). I don't remember the last time I had so much fun and so little stress during a shoot, Drew had a distinct vision (modern but almost dreamlike) and we ended up with something better than I even hoped for.

Several pieces are handmade while others are vintage that I dyed, such as the coral safari shirt with marbled dyed collar and the tie dye trousers. A few pieces are already in the shop, with the rest heading that way tonight (with the exception of the drop waist dress in velvet - coming soon). I plan on updating the shop periodically with marble dyed dresses from now until the holidays, plus stocking one of my all-time favorite West Coast stores with some dresses specially made for them.. more soon!