Dolled Up Unboxing and Review

Legal Disclaimer: The hair pieces were sent to me free for the purposes of this review. All thoughts provided are my own honest opinions.

So I finally managed to be well enough and not trying to do six other things at the same time and managed to get this review put together.

The black bun is my favorite of the two, it blends really nicely with my real hair and looks and feels really good.

I actually ended up wearing it on the second day of Newcastle Comicon as well and it stayed in all day without falling out or anything.

The blonde wig, whilst really good quality and feels really nice I'm not 100% sure on the colour

I do give them full marks on  quality though.

 Dolled Up's Site can be found here.

The Queen is not Amused!

On Saturday I spent a lot of the day at Newcastle Comicon, then we had Dark Nation until 3am and before we had to be up for Comicon day 2 a few hours later EEK!

So we ended up staying over night in the Thistle Hotel, where this photo of Queen Victoria was hung above our bed, silently judging our unmarriedness!

So I scowled back!

Satyress Preview

Did my first photoshoot in what seems like AGES last week, shot in the outfit I made to wear to Antichrist with the Autumn Fox Creations horns.

In Which I Return!

I do apologise for vanishing for a week I started out with glandular fever and ended up full of busy, but I have returned and I have lots of adventures to blog about now I'm back!

Floral Corset of 1891

While I'm not keen on the floral fabric just look at how well matched it is!

via Metropolitan Museum of Art - Gallery Images on archive.org

This is the kind of shaping that I like, and the kind of shaping that I want to aim for when making corsets myself.

Something I would like to add though, I know it's hard to tell dimensions and scale from a photograph, but does this really look like the mythical torture device that bad researchers and terrible historians bring up to get a gasp out of an audience?

It doesn't look very much like the owner was overly thin or fat, and it certainly doesn't look like it would cause mutations of the body unless severely misused.

I notice also that it features a petticoat clip on the front, I find these quite interesting for two reasons.

One is that people often seem to mistake them for lacing hooks, which presumably is where the idea that laces are wrapped around the body and then tied at the front comes from.

Two is that I cannot figure out how they work, I know they're there to stop the petticoat riding up, but I can't figure out how they attach as in every photo I have seen of a petticoat hook it seems to be the opposite way up to the way that would work in my head, and that if it wasn't that I know it's a petticoat hook and not a lacing hook then I to would assume that it's there for keeping the laces out of the way.

Obsession of the moment: Poldark

Aidan Turner with swooshy hair in 18th Century Military-wear?

via pinterest

Yes please :D

So there are a few costuming liberties that look a bit strange (a whole bunch of the actesses seem to not be wearing stays for a start, then weirdly a whole other bunch of them are), but there's some utter fabulousness (check out the draping on the back of Verity's dress after the duel in the second episode).

Also now I really want to sew DAT JACKET. 

SIMPLICITY’S STAR SEWIST!

My pattern arrived in the post this morning for my entry into Simplicity's Star Sewist contest this morning!

I'm entering the Vintage section because I felt like this is the pattern that has the most potential for me... Plus how freaking awesome is the belted version going to look over a corset?

My plan of attack is to make out a mock up first to see how it sits on me and if I'll need to make any alterations (I'm long waisted so chances are I'll need to make a couple of alterations), and then I will make a few sketches for my competition entry.

There's still time to enter the contest, you can find the details on the Simplicity blog here.

Postcard of a lady in her underthings

A postcard that is part of the The Milford Haven Collection, housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

It features a young lady that perfectly encompasses my personal aesthetic ideal. Long full hair, fantastically corseted figure, round bottom (I like big butts and I cannot lie), and long legs.

Underwear: From corsets to bullet-bras and back

So I have been nose-diving into what The Victoria and Albert Museum has to say about corsets lately.

I visited the V and A when I was a teenager, I really hope I can go back at some point as I'd love to take a little longer to examine their collections, and I would very much like to take a look at some of the archive pieces that they don't have on display and are storing at the moment.

It's so nice to find a bit of un-biased history now and again.

I've never worn an Edwardian "s-bend" corset, so I don't know if it is true that they are uncomfortable or not, but I do love the shape they give, so I'm hoping that I will get to give one a try eventually.

Figure Training

I know, I know yet another corsetry post... I'm almost turning into a corsetry blog these days, but you love it really!

"Cheapest real Whalebone Corsets in Europe"? I can't help wondering if they were nicely made or if they were a bit like the current crop of cheap end steel boned corsets?

Earlier whilst lying around trying not to cough up a lung (yes, yes I am still ill, thankfully it's not bubonic plague like I was dreaming that it was over night), I found this nifty little article  on the Victoria and Albert Museum blog about a book in their collection which is about figure training with corsets from 1870.

It's a very interesting read and features an illustration of The Venus Di Milo in Victorian finery!

Goldilocks

Unfortunately as I can't really speak today without wincing it looks like I'm not going to manage to get my Dolled Up review up today.

But here is a photo of what I look like blonde until then!

Who needs Glass Slippers?

Do excuse me for my sudden absence, the ills I have them...

I wasn't too bad on Tuesday though when I tried out this hair piece from Dolled Up that they sent me to review.  

Hopefully I will be feeling well enough to post the review later on today.

Edwardian Underthings

Today I thought I'd share this very interesting video I found of Melanie Talkington of Lace Embrace giving a demonstration of Edwardian underpinnings.

You may recognise Melanie as she was the woman who appeared with Cathie Jung on the Tyra Banks Show that I posted a clip of in this post here.

It's a very interesting video and it makes me want to make more petticoats.

The corset featured is a very similar shape to the one that I am making at the moment with my Teaspoon and an Open Mind fabric, hopefully I will get a chance to finish it off soon, I have been so busy that I haven't had the chance, once I do though I intend to make another corset to the same ;pattern but in plainer fabric for stealthing in, as I really do love the shape.

Corsetry Muse

Such a stunning corseted waist!

Princess Alexandria in 1883

Corset Stealthie

Taken last night, velvet dress over my striped underbust, with a belt I told Kev would look better on me than him... I was right :D

Broad Beans

My little balcony garden is getting pretty awesome :)

Sex, Lies and Lovebites

As I mentioned yesterday I discovered that there had been another documentary on TV that mentioned The Corset Controversy, well I managed to find it on BBC iplayer!

Giraud Corsets advert

Sex, Lies and Lovebites: The Agony Aunt Story is not a documentary about corsets, rather a documentary that mentions corsets in passing.

As I'm sure you've guessed already from the subtitle, Sex, Lies and Lovebites is a documentary on the history of the agony aunt, starting in the 17th Century with agony uncle John Dunton of the publication Athenian Mercury, who suggested that if women were having a hard time finding a man to marry then perhaps they should try overseas!

The section that mentioned The Corset Controversy actually disappointed me a little bit, while it was a pleasant surprise to learn that The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine was founded by Mrs Beeton (yes that's Isabella Beeton who wrote all the cookery book)'s husband I was rather disappointed by the show's presenter theorising that "Staylace" who wrote the letter about her experience of tight-lacing couldn't be a woman and must be a transvestite man.

I find this disappointing, firstly because why is it so hard to believe that a woman might have a good experience tight-lacing?

  I tight-lace and I love it, I love the way it's like a hug that lasts all day, I love that I can make my body look radically different and then take it off again when I don't feel like looking like this any more, I love how it helps me with my posture, I love how it helps me bring myself out of panic attacks quicker than if I wasn't wearing it and I am a woman.

And I found her attitude disappointing because generally I hate the way that a lot of people seem to like to perpetuate the negative stereotype that all transvestites and cross dressers must be extreme fetishists and can't possibly just like wearing women's clothing.

That aside though it was interesting to hear the excerpts of Staylace's letter (which is in the scans in the entry I posted yesterday) and pretty fascinating to hear that "The Corset Controversy" rumbled on for over two years, as opposed to online arguments these days that only tend to last a few days!

The rest of the programme was a pretty fascinating look at how times change, for example, could you imagine a modern advice column advising you someone to not tell their partner that they were pregnant but that the child wasn't theirs as happened in a wartime column or to treat their partner being covered in another person's make up as "just a bit of silliness" in order to preserve a happy marriage?

Like I said it was a pretty interesting programme and it's definitely worth a watch while it's still on iplayer (if you're not in the UK try youtube, I know a lot of BBC programming tends to end up on youtube eventually), and it didn't stray into "CORSETS WILL MURDER YOU IN YOUR SLEEP!" level weirdness, it was just a little bit disappointing that the presenter chose to believe a woman couldn't be happy in a tight-laced corset.

Suddenly The Corset Controversy Seems To Be Flavour of The Month!

I wasn't even aware that "Sex, Lies and Lovebites" was on!

Public domain image from the post linked below

But here's an article with some scans of The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine in 1867 featuring some letters about tightlacing.

http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/untoldlives/2015/03/to-be-tightly-laced-is-a-most-superb-sensation.html

It's always fascinating to read first hand accounts from actual tightlacers of the time.

Now I'm off to see if Sex, Lies and Lovebites is on iplayer!

She's Just So Cute

While I'm working on some meatier posts, here's a photo of my grandma's cat Lily

Random Photos From My London Trip

I took a short hop to London at the weekend, if you're following me on Instagram you've probably already seen them, and if not then you should go follow @alexandriawebofficial ;)

We used a Grand Central train for the first time which had more legroom, puzzles on the tables and free wifi!

We went to London to go to Club Antichrist, I don't have photos from there as it's a fetish club and photos aren't allowed, but here's a photo of me wincing at being stuck on a train in front of people talking about 50 Shades of Grey.

Cable ties are a great way of getting nerve damage people!

Breakfast the following morning, there's a brilliant cafe in King's Cross called Cappadocia that make the most amazing falafel breakfasts.

An Excellent Photo!

Of my excellent new wallpaper!

WHY CAN'T I HOLD ALL THESE SKULLZ?

Commissioned Musik Pictures I Drawn to draw me, result is made of win :D

Based on this photo Kat in a Hat took of me a couple of years back :)

International Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day.

This is why we still need women's day:

In the UK alone there are estimated to be 78,000 rapes per year (this statistic includes male rapes before anybody throws their fedora at me), 79% of which go unreported, top reasons for this being fear of judgement or fear that the Police will not consider it rape.

Only 8% of these are strangers and yet we still teach women that to avoid being raped to never leave a drink unattended or take directions from a strange man.

82% of rapes don't come to trial.

One of the top reasons victims choose not to continue court action is being poorly treated by the police.

Only 7% of reported rapes in the UK end in a conviction, in India the conviction rate is 24.2% remember that the next time you are considering posting something bigoted about Indian men.

(statistics via http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/rape-a-lack-of-conviction/

and http://world.time.com/2013/11/08/why-rape-seems-worse-in-india-than-everywhere-else-but-actually-isnt/)

Elsewhere: 

In April 2014, 276 school girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram, 50 later managed to escape while the remainder have been reportedly forced into marriages by their captors, when this first happened it lead to the hashtag campaign ‪#‎bringbackourgirls‬ which had over a million uses in a very short space of time, and also featured the misuse of completely unrelated photos of women of colour in Guinea-Bissau, a country 1,000 miles away from Nigeria, where the school girls were kidknapped. Almost as quickly as it happened, the hashtag vanished again, and those girls are still missing.

(http://www.indystar.com/story/opinion/2014/08/07/hashtag-campaign-bring-back-girls/13717045/

http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-05-09/how-wrong-photos-became-faces-viral-bringbackourgirls-campaign).

This week:

Another hashtag ‪#‎thedress‬ went viral as people wondered if a dress was black and blue or gold and white, and The Salvation Army have jumped on the buzz train to use it in a campaign against domestic violence against women.

This seems like a great idea until you realise that The Salvation Army has a history of discrimination against LGBTQ people.

61% of bisexual women experience rape, physical violence, and/or stalking in their lifetimes as a result of Intimate Partner Violence.

46% of Transpeople in a study that took place in Scotland had experienced abusive relationships.

While The Salvation Army in the UK claims to condemn homophobia they have never apologised for their opposition to the repeal of Section 28

"We can easily envisage a situation where, due to active promotion of homosexuality in schools, children will grow up feeling alienated if they fail to conform." - Colonel John Flett, the church's Scotland Secretary in 2000

and worldwide they continue to discriminate against LGBTQ people.

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-31768421

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zinnia-jones/the-salvation-armys-histo_b_4422938.html

http://lgbtdaf.org/category/essential-reading-to-support-lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-trans-survivors-of-domestic-abuse/

http://www.scottishtrans.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/trans_domestic_abuse.pdf)

These are just three issues, there are many, many more.

And before anybody chimes in about how International Women's Day is sexist because men don't have a day, they do, it takes place on November 19th

All Finished

My mask is now made up and ready to go!

Vegan Banana Bread

Latest baking adventure!

pre- oven stage

I used the recipe from Veg Recipes of India

Post oven!

It's very yummy :)

Lolita Fashion Questions

Much like when I covered myths about corsetry I want to finish my series on myths about Lolita fashion with a post for reader questions.

chess story

You're the last piece!

So Yesterday I made the last part of my outfit for Antichrist on Friday!

The mask! I still need to attach the beak properly as it's held on with pins there.

I had none of the correct backing to make a fully lace mask, so initially I tried embroidering it onto some sheer brocade. The first piece came out fine but the second ripped so I tried again on cotton.

This ended up working out way better, and it's actually prettier than it would have been if the sheer brocade had worked out.

Dot dot dot

My new every day boots

They're so pretty and comfortable :)

Cranial Sarcoma

Browsing /r/morbidlybeautiful tonight I happened upon this photo of the skull of someone who had suffered from cranial sarcoma.

Cranial Sarcoma is a form of bone cancer, and it must have been incredibly painful for the person when they were alive, but they left behind a really beautiful skull.

I really want to sew something with fluffy skulls now.