The Ornamented Being
Ornamented: -verb: Adorn; beautify
Be·ing: -noun: Fulfillment of possibilities; essential completeness
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Erté (Romain de Tirtoff) (Russia, St. Petersburg, 1892-11-23 - 1990) , Redfern (attributed to) (England and France)
Costume for Ganna Walska as Manon Lescaut in ‘Manon’, Act III; Woman’s Cape and Petticoat, 1920
Costume/clothing outerwear, Silk velvet, marabou feathers, metallic thread embroidery, a) Cape: Center back length: 72 in. (182.88 cm); b) Petticoat: Center back length: 49 in. (124.46 cm)LACMA
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Disclaimer: I am not a crazy amazing artist so no laughing. I’m working on it. You should be proud of me, I actually drew a nose on her!
I hate drawing noses.So this bad drawing is my Eowyn plan. Eowyn has boots on under her dress so I’m going to wearing my everyday Ralph Lauren riding boots. Warm and comfortable! Her sleeves have eyelets up the arm because the cuff rolls up.
I washed the fabric so it’s not so lilacish. I wish I had broomsticked the fabric before I cut it but alas beggars cannot be choosers. I literally just finished cutting all of the dress pieces out and all I need to do is sew them together.
I’m worried that I’m going to have to add an extra panel into the sides of the surcoat. I’m going to go back and add pockets into the side anyway because I haven’t sorted out my purse situation yet. (I’m hoping too make pockets big enough to carry keys, travel pass for the Nat Rail, credit card, camera and phone). I really wish I could get my hands on some sort of fur to go on the neck and sleeves of her coat because then I would make the entire costume. I forgot I need to wear a coat down to the theatre.
Oh well! We’ll just see what happens when I get there!
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The V&A says: This costume comes from Meleto Castle in Tuscany, where there is a private theatre, which was opened in 1741. It is a very early example of a costume made specially for the stage and, although probably used in productions of plays, it was also undoubtedly used for masques and other entertainments which included dancing.
Furnishing velvet rather than finger velvet was used as it was more effective in candlelight and because it would better withstand the weight of the metallic embroidery. The use of such precious metals and expensive fabrics was only within the means of rich artistocrats.
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One of my classmates just posted this link in our class facebook group so of course I had to pass it on to the costume enthusiasts here!!!!
The auction is on December 3rd, 2011 and here is a link to the website where you can download the free catalog!
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We two alone will sing like birds i’ the cage…/ …so we’ll live,/ And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh/ At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues/ Talk of court news; and we’ll talk with them too,/ Who loses and who wins; who’s in, who’s out;/ And take upon ‘s the mystery of things,/ As if we were God’s spies…
-King Lear, Act V, Scene 3
I have so many favourite Shakespeare quotes but this particular one has stayed with me through the years. There is nothing in this world that can replace the love and loyalty of a daughter.
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The queen seduces the young playwright on her throne. Afterward, Elizabeth teases Oxford, referring to him as Puck from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” His misunderstood response leads her to believe he was only using her, so she becomes enraged and throws him out of her chambers.
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ANONYMOUS SYNOPSIS:
“PLOT: Set in the political snake-pit of Elizabethan England, Anonymous speculates on an issue that has for centuries intrigued academics and brilliant minds such as Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Sigmund Freud, namely: who actually created the body of work credited to William Shakespeare? Experts have debated, books have been written, and scholars have devoted their lives to protecting or debunking theories surrounding the authorship of the most renowned works in English literature. Anonymous poses one possible answer, focusing on a time when scandalous political intrigue, illicit romances in the Royal Court, and the schemes of greedy nobles lusting for the power of the throne were brought to light in the most unlikely of places: the London stage.”
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“What if I told you Shakespeare never wrote a single word?” A male voice says: “Promise me you’ll keep our secret safe.” An older woman’s voice, presumably that of Queen Elizabeth played by Vanessa Redgrave, says ominously: “None of your poems or your plays will ever carry your name.”
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Costumes that ‘have seen better days’
…was the ‘Anonymous’-script advice for costume designer Lisy Christl who boiled, shrank, then dyed and painted the fabrics to transform them into director Roland Emmerich’s desired look for the authentic atmosphere of the political snake-pit of Elizabethan England and the movie’s picture style with low light that comes from candles and fireplaces.
“With the new developments in digital cinematography, we could really take advantage of candlelight and firelight,” says Director of Photography Anna Foerster. “For a period piece, using available light – candles, fireplaces, whatever comes in from outside – makes it real.” Together with Emmerich, she developed the look of the film from the paintings of Johannes Vermeer and Georges de La Tour. ”Vermeer uses the soft, diffused daylight that comes in through windows; de La Tour would have a single source of light, a candle or a torch.”
German costume designer Lisy Christl studied for the movie’s three hundred costumes English history and portraits from the 16th century. Queen Elizabeth alone wears ca. 20 gowns which were made by hand at the costumier Sands Film in London.
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“Imagine the scene…you are in the theatre attending the latest boring production by Mr So-and-So when Lady Talk-of-the-Town takes her seat further down your row. How can you appear to be watching the performance whilst really spying on what the scandalous lady is up to?
The answer was to use one of these - a ‘jealousy glass’ designed to look like a simple straight-barrelled spyglass but in fact containing an oblique lens and side aperture so you can look at what is happening to your left or right. The aperture was usually less conspicuous than this example, though maybe sometimes the user wanted to be caught!
The technical name for a side-looking opera or field glass with an oblique mirror is ‘polemoscope’. The German-Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611-1687) claimed to have invented it in 1637, describing it in his book about the moon, Selenographia(1647) and apparently he named it after the Greek word for war because he thought it could have military uses although Robert Hooke examined one and found the viewing angle too narrow for this. It was as a fun plaything that the invention really took off in the 18th century.
The jealousy glass at the top has a brass eyepiece and blue enamel casing featuring white decorative embellishments. A hinged ‘lens cover’ conceals a storage compartment (probably for snuff or a pomade). There is of course no lens there at all. Instead an oval mirror with a surrounding green cord opens to the side.
The second, much less blatant, jealousy glass contained all the accoutrements a gentleman might desire. It is incorporated within a gold-mounted etui with a brass body covered in green-stained fishskin. A magnetic compass has been set into the brass cap. The wooden core to the etui contains a gentleman’s manicure set including nail scissors, hinged ivory note-slide, pencil, folding knife, needle and tweezers with a file handle.
Ladies were thought to want other things, so the female equivalent, shown here in an example by Bointaburet from early 19th century Paris contained a pill receptacle in the end beneath a lid and a miniature scent bottle just 2cm wide that fitted within the barrel. Should your neighbour’s antics overwhelm your tender sensitivities the other contents would help revive you!”
Artifacts date to the 18th century
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Did I say Madame de Saint-Belmont was my favorite? I’ve changed my mind! Julie d’Aubigny aka Mademoiselle Maupin is now my absolute favorite woman!
I don’t agree with everything this website wrote about her but it’s the best site with the most legitimate sources I’ve found. Here is just a brief summary of who she was. The actual article was entirely too long to post. However I have linked my source so feel free to read about her scandalous exploits!
”La Maupin, 17th century French swordswoman, adventuress and opera star, was like something out of a novel by Dumas or Sabatini, except for two things. First she was real, and second few authors would have attributed her exploits to a woman. Theophile Gautier borrowed her name and a few of her characteristics for the heroine of his novel Mademoiselle De Maupin, but in many ways his character was only a pale imitation of the original. The real Maupin was a complex creature. Well born and privileged, she knew how to use her influential friends and contacts to get what she wanted or to escape danger, but she was also proud and self-reliant. She seems to have craved the center stage, reveling in both fame and infamy. She had a fiery temperament and equally fiery passion, often the fool for love.
Mlle. Maupin was, excepting her sex, the very image of the swashbuckling romantic cavalier: tall, dark and handsome, one of the finest swordswomen or swordsmen of her day. She was athletically built, had very white skin and dark auburn curls with blonde highlights, blue eyes, an aquiline nose, a pretty mouth and, it is said, perfect breasts (or perhaps just a lovely throat).
She was also a star of one of the greatest theaters of her day — the Paris Opera. She had a lovely contralto voice and a phenomenal memory. Although she was largely unschooled in music and is said by some to have had little talent for singing, her good looks, beautiful voice, love of attention, excellent memory and flamboyance seem to have suited her well for stardom on the stage of the Paris Opera.
She is said to have been “born with masculine inclinations” as well as having been educated in a very masculine way. Certainly, she often dressed as a man and when she did so could be mistaken for one. She also seemed to have at least as much an eye for members of her own sex as for men. Her skill with the sword, either in exhibition or duels fought in earnest, seems to have been exceptional.”
(Source: eldacur.com)
