Fantasy Gowns

As a treat, I am posting on modern dresses that draw from historical fashion. People label them "fantasy" dresses, but their designs clearly are influenced by very real historical gowns. Unfortunately, I can't post a picture of a fantasy dress because that would be illegal, especially since artists create these dresses to make money. I will make up for this unfortuante situation by litering this post with links to sites, so don't worry, I will satisfy all of your visual needs.

The first dress I would like to write about is from Fairy Fashion. Fairy Fashion makes fancy wedding dresses, and the Cinderella gown is possibly the fanciest. Sorry. I can't link directly to this dress because the site has frames, and I'm not a technology genius. This dress is reminiscent of eighteenth century ball gowns. It needs a corset, has a lot of detail, a voluminous skirt, and it costs as much as the wedding band, caterers, and photographer. I don't recommend buying a wedding dress this expensive unless you have money to blow. The dress is absolutely dazzling though.

There are plenty of other places that sell fantasy dresses. Uptight Clothing amazed me even more than Fairy Fashion. This place has a bigger selection, and it updates very quickly for a company that cannot mass manufacturer their clothing. There is a a fluffy blue dress at this site that must cost at least as much as the Cinderella dress from Fairy Fashion. It is called the pale dragonfly, but since this site also has frames I can't link to it directly. The dress reminds me of medieval dresses because it has hanging loose sleeves. It is the perfect party dress for a spoiled princess, and it makes me wish I were a spoiled princess too.

If you like the places I've linked to, there's plenty more where those came from. Try searching google for "fantasy wedding gowns" or "fantasy gowns" and be amazed how much time these people have on their hands.

Tent Dresses

I've held off posting about a tent dress, until now, because I couldn't find a decent picture. Well, I promised a tent dress when I started this blog, and I'm going to post on one no matter how ugly the picture is.

I thought this proclamation might help me suddenly find the perfect picture, but as you can see, that kind of thing only happens in the movies.

This picture isn't that bad, but it's not what I had in mind. The tent dress from one of my mother's fashion books was also black. However, it was floor length, shimmery, and stood out from the model's body. It was a great dress for a female vampire, but I guess that it was not typical of tent dresses. They usually are thigh or knee length, and most of them are too floppy to stand out like a tent. How disappointing. However, I did find this...

It literally is a tent dress. Imagine that.

Hawaiian Muumuu Dress

Here we have a Hawaiian muumuu dress illustration. I never really thought about muumuu dresses until now. They are not exceptionally obnoxious or eye-catching, so I just passed over them. I think my mother made a couple of these for my barbie dolls when I was young, but I haven't really come into contact with muumuu dresses a lot.

Most of the time, these dresses have colorful patterns on them, but I've seen a lot of white ones too. No matter what color they are, I think that they look best in tropical settings because they seem to mimic tropical plants. Foremost, they have a loose and floppy shape, just like petals and leaves that spend a lot of time in humid weather. They also have a sweeping shape and size, similar to a palm leaf. The layered skirts resemble the trunk of a palm tree too, and the colors muumuu dresses come in seem to cover the entire range of flower colors. Not to mention, if a muumuu dress has a pattern on it, the pattern is almost always a flower pattern.

Bustle Dress

I haven't posted on a dress with a bustle yet, and considering that "bustle" is in the title, I had better post on it. Well, here it is. I first saw a bustle when I was about six or eight years old. I never realizedt that a bustle was really a metal cage-like undergarment. Instead, I just thought ladies wearing bustles had a funny way of walking. For example, Cinderella's step-sisters wear bustles in Disney's Cinderella, and I always thought they had a "snooty" way of walking. Now I've come to realize that they were wearing bustles. What I find most interesting about this revelation is that Cinderella and her stepmother never wear bustles. I do agree that bustles look kind of silly, so maybe the Cinderella animators were trying to accentuate how silly Cindy's step-sisters were.

As far as bustles go, the one in this picture doesn't look silly. The back of her dress looks like a giant present, but I like presents. I've been staring at the caption above the picture for a while now trying to fathom what it may mean. Apparently, this picture details how a doll's dress should look, but we all know a doll's dress would never come out looking that good. My mother has made a lot of doll dresses, and they never come out looking like the illustration. My mother was a textiles major too, so she's good at sewing.

Well, I've never been jealous of women or dolls wearing bustles because I don't like to sit on metal cages. I have to sit through long college classes, and some of those classes are uncomfortable enough as it is.

Colonial Dress

I was supposed to wait until my trip to Salem to post on a colonial dress, but, as you can see, I didn't wait. The trip is about two weeks from now, and I'll be going with my sister and a friend. I promised them that I would wait, so I could include them in my post. Don't worry I'll find some way to work them in here. We wouldn't want anyone feeling left out. Actually, this picture is perfect for including them. There are three of us, and there are also three women in this picture. Yes, I know that I've posted a picture of Betsy Ross making the first American flag. I had to use this picture because I couldn't find any good quality pictures that were not copyrighted.

While Betsy and her friends make the flag, we can examine their dresses. Apparently, they always have bonnets and the occasional lace or detail at the sleeve. They also have frilly collars that remind me of acid-spitting australian lizards. Those lizards pop up their collars to look scary, and Betsy can pop up her collar if George Washington gets too close to the unfinished flag. After all, his boots will be dirty from trudging through muddy or dusty unpaved roads all day.

I don't know how I feel about these dresses. Sometimes, I decide that I like them because they are not meant to be exquistely beautiful. On the other hand, these dresses are very similar to their earlier counterparts featured in the movie version of The Crucible. I like The Crucible, but if I wore one of those dresses, I would feel a part of the movie. I don't want to be accused of witchcraft, and I especially don't want to be a snotty little girl accusing others of witchcraft. However, if I wore one of the dresses in this picture, the worst I could be accused of would be making a sloppy flag.

However, I am looking forward to seeing earlier versions of these dresses on my trip to Salem. Since my friend Lisa wants a picture of the three of us in the stocks, we might have to ask a person in costume to take it for us. It might be rude to bug other visitors to take the picture. Truthfully, I'm a little nervous, not about the people in costume but about putting my head willing in the stocks.

Dress from the Civil War Era

I've decided to introduce this dress from the civil war era because these dresses are very important to our history and literature. All the female characters in Gone with the Wind wear this type of dress or cheaper versions of it. These dresses also help us answer the ever important question, "What were women wearing during one of the most important wars in American history?"

Obviously, I'm exaggerating, partly because I can't see any use for these dresses. This one in particular looks like a droopy flower. Of course, they don't all have sagging petals, but every time I look at one I always think of uncomfortable hot humid weather. I could never wear one of these during a summer in New England let alone summertime in Georgia or South Carolina.

On a brighter note, Barbie dolls based on Scarlet O'Hara wear these dresses well. They are so fluffy and fun to hug because they're practically pillows with little heads sticking out of their tops. If you're curious about Scarlet O'Hara dolls, just click here, and you can see Scarlet in several different dresses. The picture quality isn't very good, but it is good enough to see how pillow like the dresses are. Regular barbies teach young girls that they can be teachers, pilots, or fashion models, but this doll helps young girls aspire to be soft, fluffy pillows.

Flapper Dress

I don't really know how flapper dresses came into being, and I'm not really sure I want to. If you were wondering, flapper dresses were worn during the 1920's for fun occassions. I guess you could consider them club attire. I've never been fond of flapper dresses because they look kind of sketchy. In this picture, the model's makeup even makes her look a little drunk. No wait, she actually looks like a zombie, a drunk zombie.

I have a friend who likes flapper dresses and would love to be a flapper. I asked her why, and she said that they were fun dresses. I really couldn't see the fun behind them, but I did try. Maybe they are fun because they're loose and flirty. Then again, maybe the freedom they stand for is supposed to magically carry over into the dresses. After all, they were worn to clubs. But neither of these explanations worked for me. I just couldn't find the fun, until I saw this picture. The fun has to be in the boa. It's fluffy, good for wrangling men, and handy in a cat-fight.

Kimono

Since I've recently posted on an Ao Dai dress, I thought I would write a post about a kimono. This dress is obviously Asian too; in fact, it comes from Japan. I'm pretty sure most people know what a kimono is. For some reason, they have become more popular in Western culture. I think that the movie Memoirs of a Geisha might have had something to do with it, but I've never seen that movie, so I can't be too sure. But if you want to see kimono in action, this movie would be the place to go.

I think kimono are pretty, but I'm not sure I would ever wear one. First of all, they are so loose, they have to be rearranged every time you put them on. Of course, you don't have to worry about having the right size, but I think I would prefer figuring out what size I should wear once instead of custom fitting a kimono every time. Second, the sleeves are long, and I know I would do something stupid, like getting them caught in doorways or maybe stepping on them. In short, it probably is a lot of hard work to wear a kimono. I would hate having to practice wearing my clothes, so kimonos probably aren't for me. But, just because I can't handle kimono, doesn't mean you can't. If you're really graceful maybe a kimono would highlight your gracefulness. Wear it around campus, and everyone will admire how you manuver up stairs or impossibly steep hills.

However, I did say they were pretty. Similar to Ao Dai dresses, they can have entire scenes depicted on their fabrics. I think this kimono has a flower scene on it. Now that I come to think of it, this kimono looks unusually shiny. I wonder what it is made of.

Victorian dress

Is anyone else yawning? Here, I have a Victorian dress, much like the kind I imagine Jane Eyre might wear. Not very colorful, is it? Well, now I know why Jane thought patterned silk dresses were too expensive. She usually wore one of these lovely creations. Those high necks and dull colors are enough to make anyone think patterned silk is extravagant.

However, what bothers me most about these dresses is not the boredom they spread, but the little bonnets. Not only did women have to wear corsets, but also they had to keep their hair up and covered by a bonnet whenever they left their houses. In fact, when they went outside without their bonnets, they were being “indecent.” I hate wearing hats, and I never put my hair up. If I suddenly was flung back into the Victorian era, I would proudly display my indecency. Of course, I would probably end up in an asylum for hysterical women, but that's okay because I would have plenty of company.

Ao Dai dress

What, you may ask, is this thing? I know it isn’t loaded with lace or hoop skirts or any of those strange items before mentioned, but this outfit is a historical costume. It’s an Ao Dai dress from Vietnam, and although these dresses are older than most of our outdated fashions, they still are worn today. What makes such an old style last so long? My reply is function and beauty. It’s kind of hard to see, but the gold garment visible through the slit actually is a pair of very loose pants. In fact, they are so loose that when I first saw one of these dresses, I mistook the pants for a skirt. Any outfit that gives an illusion of a full skirt but actually includes a pair of pants gets a ten on my function scale. Wondering where the beauty comes from? I think it’s easy to see; the shape is so simple. Anyone could look good in one of these dresses. Also, Ao Dai dresses come in every color and any pattern imaginable. Sometimes these dresses depict entire scenes, such as a sunrise in a rural village.

This example happens to be a wedding dress. No, it’s not white because in a lot of Asian cultures, they wear red to get married. In the US, red wedding dresses usually signify a naughty girl, but to the Vietnamese, red is a color of celebration.

As you may have guessed, I would celebrate if I had one of these dresses. Surprisingly, they’re not very expensive. They usually cost 70-80 dollars. Unfortunately, I can’t even spare that right now.

Italian Renaissance Dress

If you’re scratching your head wondering why this dress looks so familiar, you may have seen it before on one of English literature’s most famous characters: Juliet. Yes, Juliet always wears one of these dresses, and I bet no one loves these dresses more than Romeo.

I happen to like Italian renaissance dresses too for a bunch of reasons. I have to admit, there are a lot of Italian things I don’t like at all. For example, Italian food isn’t exactly a weakness of mine, but I do like Italian renaissance dresses. First of all, my ancestors probably wore them. It’s fun to think that one of my great grandmothers might have frolicked, or more likely toiled, in one of these dresses. Second of all, these dresses were relatively easy to put on although they were in six pieces. The first piece was a chemise, and women simply pulled it over their heads. Chemises are long, simple, loose white undergarments, and we can see a little of it peeking through the sleeves in this picture. Don’t worry; it’s supposed to, so our model isn’t unknowingly exposing her underwear. The actual dress was always sleeveless and also could be pulled over the head. Well, we’re up to two pieces, so where do the other four come from? The answer is the sleeves. Each sleeve was in two pieces, one piece for the upper arm and one for the lower arm; these sleeves were tied onto the arms. I imagine that it might be difficult to tie something on your arm because you would be trying to do it using only one hand, but that is what sisters, maids, and mothers are for. My third and final reason is that these dresses must have been comfortable. There is nothing to restrict the waist, and during the winter, the double layers could keep anyone warm.

An 18th Century Ball Gown

What do we have here? Well, this dress, my friends, is an 18th century ball gown. In my opinion, this costume is one of the most outrageous fashions in history. It even has two of the “accessories” in this blog's title: a hoop skirt and oodles of lace. Often, these types of dresses were made with silk, so this dress actually may have three out of the four items mentioned in the title. I can’t imagine wearing this dress and being comfortable. How would I fit through doorways? Unfortunately, the age of grand, open doorways is definitely over.

But, this dress isn’t all bad. At least that little man to her right seems to like it. Maybe he is attracted to her compressed waist or fluffy white hair. I guess corsets and powdered wigs really do come in handy; we can use them to pick up strange little men. Seriously though, these ball gowns were intricately designed, and they probably cost more than an entire modern wardrobe. Her admirer is probably dazzled by the treasury she’s carrying around on her person. Now that I think about it, I might endure corsets, powdered wigs, and hoop skirts to wear a dress worth the same as my bank account too.