The Gamine Style Of Christine And The Queens

Album From Because Music

Watching the Daily Show with Trevor Noah I was awed by the performance of his musical guest, French singer Héloïse Letissier, aka Christine and The Queens.

Image: Édouard Bride

She is a mesmerizing performer, gorgeous with a face that is a cross between Kyra Sedgwick and Elizabeth Reaser. Her clothing style is enviable, full of sleek skinny suits, slim trousers, and lots of sock-less black oxfords, and her dancing style is surprisingly reminiscent of Michael Jackson's moves.

Image: DR

Check it out below. Her moves are amaz-ing, even when both feet are flat on the floor.

Image: Jeff Hahn

A Possible Problem When Wardrobe Culling

My current situation gives me a different perspective on movements like Wardrobe Architect and an older version I once used, Wardrobe Therapy. Some of these are only about eliminating unworn, ill-fitted items from your wardrobe while others are about curating your wardrobe to reflect your life. After reading a few updates on bloggers choosing to attempt this I thought...thank god, I'm not doing that one!

In my case, a wardrobe that reflected my actual day-to-day life would have me stuck at home with only fleece lounge wear and padded slippers and my work wardrobe as black or khaki trousers, navy blue button-down shirts, and Dansko clogs.

I feel the most important part of a wardrobe life reflection-type project is that the process start before you look at your wardrobe. Begin with looking at your life. Before making your wardrobe reflect that life, make sure that life is the one you want to be living.

• If you create a wardrobe of clothes that are uncomplicated, casual, and exist within a self-imposed  color palette, will you find yourself envying others that dress with creativity and mystery?

• If you want to be more dressed up in your regular day, why not start wearing the clothes you want despite the random people asking you "why are you so dressed up?"

• If you want to wear pretty frocks when everyone else goes casual, always wear the pretty frock. 

I remember attending college parties in thrift store vintage dresses similar to the type that Mod Cloth sells. So what if other girls were wearing band t-shirts, cut-off jean shorts, and Doc Martens? I felt comfortable, like myself, and I wasn't comparing myself to anyone or following anybody's lead.

So, this was all to say that even if I cannot wear what I want to wear right now I am keeping all my stuff (well, the stuff that is still well made and in good shape) because I will be living that better life again!

Battle of the Bulge

WOW, I really didn't mean to disappear for so long! It was a combination of illness and procrastination. I also had a few mending projects to do for a friend, and then made a spectacularly failed UFO.  In fact, that UFO revealed a problem that I apparently had been ignoring for quite a while.

A few months ago, I had to buy a new pair of work pants because I had outgrown the first ones. The thighs were straining and the stitches were about to give up! I also, for the first time experienced my thighs rubbing together when wearing my summer skirts. I was SO not happy.

Since I moved here two years ago, apparently I have gained a large amount of weight and didn't really notice. To put it the only way I can at the moment, I found out that I am now 11 and a half stone. A stone, a unit of weight measure in Britain, Ireland, and Australia; is equivalent to 14 American pounds. It's just easier for me to say it in stones. This is 15 lbs more than when I was weighed 2 years ago.

I was a very thin child in my teens and always susceptible to anemia. In high school, I hated being skinny and in particular did not like my arms. Around that time, I became aware of female bodybuilders like Rachel McLish, Carla Dunlap, Cory Everson, and Gladys Portugues through the 1985 documentary Pumping Iron II: The Women and that resulted in a subscription to Strength Training for Beauty (1984-86) magazine. I ended up purchasing an 110 pound weight set and remember arriving at college with what could be called a decent "six pack."

More than 20 years later, I am now battling a tummy and love handles, along with the aforementioned rubbed thighs and some unattractive underarm flab. There was a warning sign last May when I tried on this muslin and saw this:

 

I noticed I was bustier than I had ever been and had a visible roll of blubber right below my belly button. That was a year ago and obviously I have gained more weight since then. As a result, my body image is completely different than it has been for the past 95% of my life. This is hard to reconcile. 

My measurements have obviously changed but in cutting out my last sewing project, Simplicity 6145, I hadn't grasped that fact yet. While I altered the bodice of Simplicity 6145, combining it with the fit of the Grainline Scout, I still thought I would need to engage some darts in the back to accommodate my swayback. Trying on the basted muslin was such a shock! I could barely shimmy it on. I had not once thought of enlarging the waist area and below. 

So for the last few weeks, I have put off sewing and more importantly taking new measurements for the future. I have succeeded in losing 5 pounds somehow and would love to know that I could remove the other ten just as stealthily but alas diet and exercise must rear their heads for that to happen. I seriously could handle getting used to this "new me" however, I have a wardrobe of delicious clothing that I can't afford to replicate or that have adequate seam allowances for me to alter to fit.

So my dilemma is: sew new clothes in the new size or wait and see? What would you do?

Where Joan Holloway-Harris Laid Her Head

Originally written 08/13/2010 on my other blog, Shelterhome.

With season 6 updates!

The last ever season of Mad Men has aired. While looking at all the retrospective articles, episode recaps, and fashion commentary, I also saw more pictures of the show's sets. With Joan Holloway-Harris' departure from McCann Erickson, a lot more of her scenes were staged in her little pink apartment. Even though most of the articles mentioned above spoke about how the characters had or had not changed in the last 10 years, one thing that did not change was her home. When I first put together this post, Joan was still a newlywed. Now, despite all her life changes in the past ten years and the fact that now her little boy and mother share the space, it miraculously looks the same. Check out some new pics and updated commentary (in blue) below.

Well, come on in! Welcome to the apartment home of Greg and Joan Harris (nee Holloway), wonderfully sourced and styled by the talented set decorator Amy Wells, production designer Dan Bishop* and their design teams at Mad Men.


It is definitely girly, all done up in coral pink and seafoam green. Or in other words, shades of red and green. You do remember that the former Joan Holloway got married during the Christmas season, right?


Add in some cream, turquoise, gold accents, robin's egg blue in the kitchen, lavender or lilac in the bedroom, and you have Joan's complete interior color scheme for her amazing pink apartment.




So, let's start with that sumptuous floor pillow Joanie is lounging on above. This would be easy to replicate with some damask fabric and the same kind of trim which can still be found at any fabric store, some 30 decades later. How about a mix and match of the two below from Wrights trims?




 

In this view, we can see the green graphic patterned drapes alongside shorter cream or eggshell colored sheers; a gilded oval mirror, candle sconces, and her cream painted dining set with cane back chairs. Notice that her walls are in a deep coral (or salmon) and that the trim is that color that landlords still stick you with today, Antique White/Apartment Beige (or as it's called in the U.K, Magnolia). At least she has the wall-to-wall seafoam green carpet to augment her color scheme.

• The painted piece near the dining table stands in for a bar and seems to have a faux shagreen finish on the sides and gold detailing. Anyone know what this piece is called or what the furniture style is?

• Gilded gold round coffee table with inset glass resting on three chunky legs.

General Electric refrigerator for S. 3 and newer one for S.4

• Season 3 had the most adorable refrigerator ever! It took quite a while to source this one! Luckily, it was distinctive because of the vertical handle, separate freezer compartment on the bottom, slightly raised middle section on top and the deep channeled detailing down the center. It looks like it could be either a General Electric Deluxe PB6-40 or just a B6-40. Now whether or not they kept the same designs for years, may mean that this model is as old as the 1940-50s. Perhaps MM noticed that too because Season 4 shows a different, less-cute refrigerator.
  
  

  

  Season 6

• Season 6 shows an even newer refrigerator, in bright blue! What was Joan doing to those things? That seems to be a lot of wear and tear in just ten years.

• Remember those nubby sofas? What was that fabric and why was it so hard to clean?
• Here we see a coral armchair in a different style than the cream damask club chair seen in the earlier picture.
• I love that pale wood TV cabinet on hairpin wire legs and the lovely turquoise bowl/ashtray on top.
• Also do you notice the painted street scene? A very similar one is seen in her new office this season, I wonder if she brought it from home or bought herself a new one?

Season 6

• In season 6, Joan still has the same sofa. It is over ten years old and still covered in the same fabric. I find it hard to believe that with the huge increase in her salary this was never replaced. Every other character on the show has changed homes, some numerous times. However, Joan not only did not move but she had never changed anything in her apartment except a kitchen appliance or two? Puh-lease.
• Those turquoise drapes do not seem to have faded and the carpet has changed from a pale seafoam blue to cream, despite there being a child under ten living there.

Season 6

• Gilded faux bamboo bar cart with turquoise and gold tipped glasses. Of course, this made it to season 6!

• An unique folding buffet tray for appetizers. I used to have a wooden sewing basket that was constructed just like this. Here's one by Karoff that I found online at A La Modern. I'm tempted to believe it's the same one that Mad Men bought. Others can still be found on eBay and Etsy.
  

Karoff buffet tray

• A better look at the abstract patterned barkcloth curtains at the back of the room next to the plant.
• A closer view of those nubby, uncomfortable sofas? We had two otherwise lovely Danish armchairs recovered in that fabric (almost the same color too) when I was a teen. They originally were in tufted black leather...le sigh.
• Notice Joan's gold-tipped tea service and canape server. You can tell that she studied entertaining from her copy of Emily Post.
• I wish we could see those hanging light fixtures better though.

Red pearl Crucianelli accordion.

• I found many similar looking Italian-made Scandalli models before I could find a picture of a Crucianelli model like Joan's. Isn't it truly gorgeous?

Update: Picture of Joanie's bedroom, just ignore the exhausted diva in her jammies.

Lookee! Here's Joanie's color scheme from a 1952 print ad for DUCO paints from DuPont.

Images: Courtesy of Tom and Lorenzo (Thank you SO much guys!), A La Modern, AMC, Retro Renovation

*Links to two online versions of Etiquette: in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home, 1922.

** He's a VCU alum too!

Worth Checking Out: Dates

I don't know why the CW decided to air "Dates," a series that originally aired in Britain two years ago, but I'm glad they did. This is a brilliant and entertaining show that I think could only survive in the US on cable. It just has that feel.

The show was created by Bryan Elsley and aired earlier this summer but is still available to watch HERE on CW's website in full. The nine episodes depict men and women meeting for the first time as arranged by an online dating service. The show utilizes great British, Scottish, and Irish actors such as Gemma Chan (Humans), Andrew Scott (Sherlock's Moriarty, Spectre), Oona Chaplin (Game of Thrones, Crimson Field), Greg McHugh (Fresh Meat), and Neil Maskell (Humans) among others.

You should really check this out:



Behind the scenes of Episode 1: David & Mia