1930s photo album

I tried getting some pictures of the 30s photo album I bought at an estate sale on Friday. They turned out so-so, but I don't want to risk damaging the album by trying to put it in the scanner. If anyone has any suggestions for photographing an album like this, I'd really appreciate it-- especially ideas for what to do about glare from the overhead lights.

The album belonged to a British family who were stationed, not in India as I originally thought, but in what is now Pakistan. One family member may have been educated at Oxford, as there are also pictures from there. Basically, my head is full of Dorothy Sayers thoughts right now. And the pictures are amazing!









This page is incredibly charming-- the husband and wife staged and photographed a mock fight, complete with touching reconciliation at the end.



I cannot get over the sleeves on the bridesmaids. What on earth kind of infrastructure is under there, do you think?



About two-thirds of the album is pictures from the family's life in Pakistan.



This page is basically the most British thing I have ever seen in my life. What's more English than men in drag at a pantomime?



In 1935, an earthquake devastated the town of Quetta. Whoever owned my album was there.



Mostly, I'm captivated by all the little daily-life pictures.

stripes

Today's outfit is nearly all Rugged Wearhouse. I used to shop there a lot, and found really great stuff (like the Anthro sweater and Madewell jeans), but lately it's all been no-name brands and very poor quality. I hope it picks up again!

I went to an awesome estate sale this morning, and got a bag of scarves and four-- four! --vintage photo albums. One is of a British family that lived in India in the 1930s. I am super excited about these-- pictures forthcoming!

For the record, today I am not wearing jeans because I'm sad. I'm wearing jeans because I need to do laundry.

comics, vintage style

No outfit post today; I'm being lazy. Let's talk about comics, instead.

I am a total comic book nerd, although I haven't been reading superhero comics much lately because they tend to hurt me in the feminism. One of my favorite comics, though (and one that definitely does not hurt me in the feminism) is Darwyn Cooke's DC: The New Frontier. It's drawn in an amazing vintagey style-- I absolutely cannot get enough of his Lois Lane, or his Wonder Woman. And the story's wonderful, too. It's the comic I pick up to remind myself why I love comics.

at long last

I have a problem where I buy an item of clothing, and it sits and sits on its hanger for ages before I ever wear it out of the house. Sometimes I do this because it's a little too small, and I'm waiting to lose a little weight; sometimes it's because I don't have anything that goes with it yet; sometimes it's because it's a little more daring than what I usually wear and I haven't gotten up the nerve to wear it yet.

Today's dress is one such item of clothing.



I thrifted this jumper aaaages ago, but it was a little too tight and I didn't know what to wear it with. And when I found a blouse that worked, I thought the outfit was a little too schoolgirl-y, and didn't try wearing it out for the longest time. Well, I lent it to a friend for a Dragoncon costume, and she looked so cute that I decided I had to at least try wearing it myself. And it worked out just fine.

okcupid round two

I went on my second OkCupid date yesterday, and it was really fun! We saw the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The exhibit was actually all paintings from the collections of George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg, of all people! It makes sense if you think about it, though, because they're both kind of obsessed with nostalgia; I just hadn't known they were such big fans of Rockwell.



I don't have any pictures from this part of the date, because there was no photography allowed in the exhibit. But I can tell you that the paintings were totally gorgeous up close, and it was really fascinating to see the preliminary sketches Rockwell did before each painting. The one thing I would really have liked is more biographical information about Rockwell-- the labels on the paintings kept mentioning things like "this was painted while his second wife was being treated for depression," and making me go, okay, details please! Who was his second wife? Why was she depressed? Please allow me to interrogate this text from a feminist perspective!

After the exhibit we walked over to the Mall (that's the National Mall, non-DCists), where they were holding a science fair.



We got our picture taken with a neuron.



Then we went over to the Natural History Museum, and got to see the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef.







The coral reef was amazing to look at-- all the different textures and stitches and materials that were used, all the amazing handwork done by so many dedicated crafters. I loved it. The Reef website says that it "resides at the intersection of mathematics, marine biology, handicraft and community art practice, and also responds to the environmental crisis of global warming and the escalating problem of oceanic plastic trash," which I think sums it up pretty well.

We tried to go to one more exhibit, but by that point the museum was closing, so we headed for the Metro. I had a great time-- my date seems like a really nice, really cool guy. I think I'll see him again.

vivian maier

I've been browsing my way through Vivian Maier - Her Discovered Work today. Vivian was a Chicago street photographer from the 50s up through the 70s, and her photos found their way to the Internet when a man bought the whole collection of negatives at an auction. There's something about her photos that really draws me in; they're not really *friendly*, if that makes sense, but they're vivid and captivating nonetheless.

work day

I work all day on Saturdays, so there's never very much to report.





I did wear my other dress from DC Big Flea, though. And the next one's November 6 and 7! Any DC-area folks interested in going with me?

My OkCupid date was okay. A little bit meh: we ate at a Cheesecake Factory and my food wasn't very good; the guy was nice but not super exciting. I'm meeting someone else tomorrow for the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the American Art Museum, so I'm excited about that. I'm trying to decide if it's going to be warm enough for this dress; I suspect not. Well, I can wear my green dress instead.

projects, projects

Well, it looks like the universe is rewarding me for making it through this last month of unpleasantness. My cat is still missing, which sucks, but several other things that have been going wrong for me lately seem to be turning around. On top of that, I got a call from a friend who's speaking at a panel at Anime USA-- he wants me to be on the panel with him! I'm really excited. And this gives me an excuse to make a costume! I hadn't had a Halloween costume really planned out yet, so I'm making an outfit for that and the con. I'm going to try to make a Katara costume, from Avatar: The Last Airbender. We'll see how it turns out!

In other news, this is what I wore today:



All thrifted, except the tights and shoes.

date night

I signed up for OkCupid, an online dating site, because I haven't really been meeting people lately and I wanted to start. I was very entertainted by the message you get from the site founder when you sign up, which tells you, basically: "ok, as a girl you will get lots of dudes messaging you. this does not mean you should not bother messaging dudes! We have proven with science that you will end up with someone better-looking if you make an effort to contact people!"

Well, I am not one to argue with science, so I did my best to ignore my talking-to-new-people anxiety and sent messages to all the dudes I thought looked interesting. A few of them answered me back, and I have my first date with one of them tonight! Wish me luck.

Here's what I'm wearing:







dress: Francesca's Collection
sweater: swapped (Anthropologie)
shoes: Marshalls (Nine West)
tights: Rugged Wearhouse
brooch: Colonial Williamsburg

clothes make me feel better

Miss Moss has a great post about Lauren Moffatt's fabulous spring collection, but I want to talk about her fall stuff.







Well, okay, when I say "talk" mostly I mean "gaze upon." And also, "note that I am right about capes."

cheer up

I'm still pretty upset about my cat being missing; it's been long enough that I can't help but think that something's happened to her. I'm trying really hard not to think about it, but periodically I remember and I feel like crying. It sucks, on a number of levels.

I took an outfit photo today, but you can see I'm feeling pretty lousy: I'm wearing pants.



Make a note of this, because you're probably not going to see me in pants again anytime soon. Unless, of course, I continue to feel crummy.

mixing things up

I tried a new setting for today's outfit picture. Welcome to my backyard! It is prettier than the corner of my dining room. I'm thinking of moving some furniture around in the living room, because there's a nice big blank wall I could set up for outfit and Etsy pictures. I have a whole stack of pretty posters and things in frames that could stand to go up.

In less cheerful news, I think my cat is missing. She's indoor/outdoor, and often goes on walkabout for a day or two, but it's been long enough that I'm getting really worried. If you live around College Park, and see a gray-and-black tabby with enormous paws, she may be mine, and I miss her.

it's all dress-up, really

Today I wore a different kind of outfit.



I took my little sister and her friend to the Maryland Renaissance Festival, a place I obviously have spent a lot of time before. I've had this outfit for a few years now, and I always enjoy getting a chance to wear it. This was actually the first time out for the cloak-- I made it for a Dragoncon costume that ended up not getting worn.

We had a lot of fun.

fall is here, huh.

Well, it's definitely fall.



If it wasn't, I wouldn't be wearing this. So it must be fall.

wonder women!

I don't talk much about how I love comics on this blog (although I'm totally getting some posts together), but I had to share this amazing print by Lucy Knisley. You can buy one of your very own at Society 6. Go give Lucy's art a look!

color on a rainy day

It's gray outside, I'm wearing gray... here, have some color. Autochromes remain my very favorite.













Aren't they lovely?

In other news, I drew a couple more pages of paper doll clothes: