Masqued Class
31/10/2012 § Leave a comment
From my temporary refugee perch on the UES, and on Halloween no less, I felt this elegant masked ball in Paris in 1946 was particularly apropos to share with you today. Featuring several minor royals and creations by seminal postwar French designer Jacques Fath — and a few pictures of Fath himself, even in a mask! — these ensembles take fancy dress to dizzying couture heights. Doesn’t it just make you itch for a pair of opera-length gloves and a set of crown jewels?
Photos by David E. Scherman for Life Magazine, via the Life Archive.
While these pictures are a sorry excuse for missing out on the usual Halloween festivities, I’m still very hopeful that New York will come together for the kids this evening. I’m planning a UES constitution of my own, to try to help spread the spirit. So many New Yorkers are still without power, and the annual Halloween parade in the Village has been postponed, but the city has been working hard to come back online as soon as possible after Sandy — and we’ve made some amazing progress already.
If you would like to help, please make a donation to the American Red Cross. You can also text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief.
Be well! Happy Halloween!
Throwback Thursday || Halloweenasaurus Rex
18/10/2012 § 6 Comments
I have always adored Halloween. I think it probably has a lot to do with the fact that during my formative years my mom took the time to make costumes for all three of us (and usually also for herself and my dad) from scratch – and they were always of our own choosing. We’d all make a special trip to the (usually boring) fabric store with renewed interest, ready to pick something amazing from those big floppy pattern books.
In the first grade, the most amazing thing I could think to be was a dinosaur. And my mother, bless her heart, obliged her tomboy with the felt creation you see above. However, you’ll also note that she added two bows and a bit of lipstick.
“If you’re going to be a dinosaur,
at least you’re gonna be a GIRL dinosaur!”
You know, maybe it’s high time for a repeat.
Happy Halloween!
What are you going to be?
Happy Halloween!
31/10/2011 § 1 Comment
John, John-John and Caroline in the Oval Office. Halloween 1963.
Image via the US National Archives.
Imagineering The Haunted Mansion
31/10/2011 § Leave a comment
Fact: I refused to enter the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland until I was 13 years old. Too scary for this little scaredy-cat. It’s since become one of my favorite attractions at the park, with its herky-jerky animatronics, doom buggies and hitchhiking ghosts. On Halloween, my thoughts always turn to this lovely antebellum mansion, and I thought I might share a bit about the creation of the ride. Of special interest in this video is the appearance of Harriet Burns, the first Disney woman Imagineer, at the two minute mark in part 1.
Quite Continental 