Maddy Goes High-Tech

Finally, I have pictures of my most recent finished project. Behold!

The gorgeous fabric:

The dress, all aloney on its owney:

The dress, featuring me! Doesn't it look much happier this way?


Yes, the picture is most definitely sideways. And yes, it is very fuzzy because my mother is awful with a camera. However! Is the effect not magnificent? Or at least decent? Whatever, I'll work out the kinks later, this whole photography thing is really far too high tech for me. I'm thinking I may take the hem up about four inches so it hits my knee (I think that's what it's supposed to do, I am just really quite short). And how do these shoes look with it? Anyhow, on to the next project, or rather the next two.I'll update on those soon, but right now I've got to go do the dishes and my homework and take a shower and well.... ugh.

Maddy

Mermaid Halters and Midriff Bands, Part II

I am in love with this dress.
Luckily, I am making one quite similar, so I won't have to spend $148 at Anthropologie. It is the same basic shape (mermaid halter, fitted bodice, wide-ish skirt), and the fabric I chose is this lovely calico with a pattern of navy and French blue parasols. I have these pretty beige canvas espadrilles with sort of gold thread woven into them that will look really, really perfect with it. A little sweeter than my usual sense of dress, but really perfect for going out to eat and other upcoming summery activities. I am almost done, I just have to line the bodice and then poof! Ready to be worn! And as soon as I can snatch my daddy's digital camera or provide myself with one of my own, I will show it to you. I suppose I could just ask my dad to use his camera, but I don't think he approves of the Internet. And besides, what is the fun in that? My sneaky ninja skills are desperately underused. Oh! And also I am making that drop waist dress with the wide neckline from the pattern that I got off eBay. If you scroll down the picture's probably still there. I got this black and white plaid muslin for dirt cheap, and these big old buttons with anchors on them to stick on there somewhere... well anyhow, gotta go, I am itching to finish my new dress. Bye!

A Tale of Romance, Passion, and a Murder Most Foul

I implore you: go watch Corpse Bride, right now. Not that the movie itself is any great shakes (sadly, Tim Burton's losing his touch), but the animation is perfectly stunning. I had forgotten about that. The sets are ispired, the expressions on the puppets' faces finely tuned, but most of all I love the dress of the corpse bride herself. It is just so very pretty to look at, and I marvel at how graceful her movements are, being animated frame by frame. I'm sure the animators used CGI to orchestrate the flow of her veils and things, but even without this, the effect would be breathtaking. It has inspired me. Imagine it: A blue-gray satin brocade bodice, jaggedly seamed to layer upon layer of pearly tulle of uneven lengths. Or maybe a long, uninterrupted length of steely silk, strapless, with closely spaced silver buttons down the back. Hm, if only I was that proficient at sewing... and if only I had a glamorous sort of funeral to go to.


Stop motion animation is a dying art. Computers are kind of kicking it out. This is horrible and must be stopped, for the sake of all that is aesthetically pleasing.

Maddy

TANGENT WARNING

I am going to have to round up every hypocritical magazine editor in the world if they do not shut their face holes about weight, and then I will burn them all, each at their own individual pyre. (It may be the only way to rid the world of their self righteous 'Letters From the Editor'). I was reading this month's Vogue, allegedly devoted to shape. It kind of pissed me off. Really, how often do you see a plus size model in Vogue? That's right, once a year, in the shape issue. Also, they had Scarlett Johansson on the cover, who is barfably over-publicized. I never want to see her coyly squinty-eyed mug staring up at me from the magazine rack at Target ever again, but that is a rant for another day. Anyhow, it just makes me so annoyed. Everybody needs to quit looking at themselves in the mirror so much. I think if magazines would stop running articles about skinny models, it might make overweight girls feel much less self conscious. Hello, you people, you at the magazines and on the news, you are the ones pointing out the differences in the first place. Sure, girls will notice on their own, but if none of us made such a big deal out of it, maybe the girls wouldn't either. I'm also sick of the new mantra of the masses, "real women have curves". Shut up! Last time I checked, I was a 32 A with no hips to speak of and an annoyingly protuberant sternum, but- gasp! - still a real woman. Why can't every woman be the genuine article even if they don't conform to one set body type? I understand that saying real women have curves is to make curvy women feel good, but should they have to feel superior in order to feel beautiful? It just doesn't make sense, and that's why this whole weight debate is so crazy. If people would stop talking about it so much (not ignore it, just stop discussing it all the time), then perhaps there would not be such a problem anymore. But who am I to say? I know I can't speak for everybody, and I know I'm not really making many points here that haven't been made before. I guess I'm just feeling pissy because I have nothing to do. So if you've actually read this far, maybe you should get a medal for putting up with my histrionics and overuse of italics. Bravo, madam, bravo!

Maddy

p.s.- Also, is anybody else bored of the tag line, "The Skinny on Weight Gain"? Aren't the magazines even creative anymore? Okay I'm done.

Je Suis Retournée

I'm back, and this trip was really was something. There was quite a lot to see, especially in Paris, where I have never been before. I ordered food in French several times, which was fairly mortifying as a result of the waiters' condescension. But alas, such is the cruel and mysterious way of the French. Anyhow, since I am now a cosmopolitan and worldly sort of girl, I shall share with you lowly, lowly plebeians a bit of my newfound European style.

Many British ladies seemed to have a thing for textured stockings. Opaque black is nice, but there is something to be said for a more tactile version of the classic.




There is a nice selection here. In Paris, classic black and white was quite popular, but in the form of patterns, which I quite liked.


Wet Seal


White House Black Market

And absolutely everyone had a nice coat. Nothing like the puffy things worn in America.




French Connection
Urban Outfitters. Finally, some color!

There. Now go forth and be sophisticated, and give the French nothing more to complain about in regards to American style. They do, after all, have a point.

Maddy

God, it feels good to be back.