OHMYGOSH. OHMYGOSH. OHMYGOSH!!! The Saturday night Gala was so fabulous! There were so many awesome dresses, shoes, accessories, tiaras! What a wonderful event to behold! It was truly fun to see what all the convention goers came up with! You can see the ones I caputured HERE. Such a great talent was housed in a hotel for a weekend!
Remember all the crazy royal orders and royal family orders I made earlier in the year? Huzzah! I was finally able to wear them!! Yeah! If you don't remember, you can read the posts HERE and HERE. In a few weeks, I will do a mini tutorial on how to make the royal order sash and bow. You can also see my Pinterest boards on all the royal orders, sashes and fun research Royal Family Orders, Royal Orders, and Royal Sashes.
Josie and I attended the Gala as Royalty. My original thought was to wear court presentation dresses (Yes, I have a Pinterest board for that too...Court Presentation Gowns). About 7 years ago I came across an image on Getty Images of a lady in what looked like a wedding dress while researching images for a masquerade ball that I was going to be attending for SASS in Las Vegas. My curiosity was piqued and I dug a little deeper into this bride with feathers on her head. Much to the delight of my royal loving heart, I discovered that she was in Court Presentation attire. More research told me what I wanted to know about Court Presentation. Fast forward to 2 years ago when I was pinning to my Mourning Fashion board. I came across a dress that I didn't remember from my first brush with CPGs. My breath literally left my lungs in a big woosh...followed very closely by my sucking all of the air out of the room in lustfull excitement! OHMYGIDDYAUNT!!! I HAD to make this dress. Hello!! It is a mourning dress (Oh how I love thee mourning) aaaaaand a CPG!!!!! It was quite literally a match made in costumer's heaven! Here she is in all of her gorgeous glory...Countess Victor di Carrobio. She is so beautiful!
Well, things didn't get completed and I, being who I am, didn't want to stick with the edicts of court presentation...PLUS, I had all those fabulous blingy jewelry bits to wear...soooooo, Josie went as Queen Josephine, and I went as Empress Gina! We didn't have the court length trains that attached at our shoulders, and our veils were much longer than court dresses. But we did wear our Prince of Wales feathers! I did a Queen Josie and Empress Gina album on Facebook. You can see Josie's gorgeous off white court gown. She did a fabulous job on it and it was fun to go as sisters in our black and white gowns! We will be adding a beaded wheat and bow design to the skirt and bodice here very shortly...
Yes, I am trying to affect a very regal, Edwardian look here...I'm not mad, I promise!
I decided we needed star brooches at the back of our veils!
Again, my wig was wonderfully styled by Greeneyed Nana.
My inspiration for this wig came from the Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone. Isn't she so very beautiful? Her face is so sweet.
Source: Grand Ladies
Affecting a stance and look like Empress Alexandra of Russia. I know she always looked sad, but in her sadness was a real beauty.
Here is Queen Josephine and Empress Gina in our Royal finery....Oh my did we have a blast at the gala!!! Bring on the beads!
Picture by Mary Agnes Tibbs
Have a wonderfully blessed day my friends!
g
Oh goodness, Gina, I don't even have enough excited words to complement you enough! All your accessories really make the look, and I have to say that your hair (it really doesn't look like a wig!) is probably my favorite part. You look stunning, beautiful, lovely...!!! And the mourning court gown is a lovely idea. I love that original picture, too!!! So much awesome!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteQuinn
Oh my gosh Quinn! Thank you so much! I have to admit that, all the work and preperation that went into this outfit made this my most favorite out of the whole weekend. I hadn't the chance to try it on all together before Coco as my wig was still with Josie so I was super pleased at how it all worked together! I really sort of felt regal for an evening!! Again, Greeneyed Nana did a most fabulous job with my wig! She is truly a rock star! Thank you again for your wonderful compliment!
DeleteBlessings!
g
Your court gowns were my vary favorite outfits from all the CoCo pictures that I've seen! You look absolutely stunning, and I've learned so much from all of your research on presentation attire. I had no idea they ever did black - that's just too cool!
ReplyDeleteOh my heavens! Thank you so much Jen! This whole ensemble has to be my all time favorite in all of my costuming years. I got to give in to my royal heart desires!! There were two other black presentation gowns on the Getty site that are just as lovely! Thank you again!
DeleteBlessings!
g
Ooo I love a nod to the royalty! You look fantastic. And I second Quinn, you hair absolutely doesn't look like a wig!
ReplyDeleteCaroline
Thank you so much Caroline! I do love my royalty and the wig was truly awesome! Greeneyed Nana did a great job matching the wig to my hair!
DeleteBlessings!
g
You guys were amazing. I can't believe I even approached you to tell you as much, without realizing who you were. Now that I have officially met you, I have to go back and stalk your blog from the very beginning.
ReplyDeleteHahaha!! That is so fun Tracey! It was a wonderful chance meeting you!! Your dress was so fabulous! I hope you have a fun time with my blog...I try to write with a lot of humor!
DeleteBlessings!
g
Laaa! You're such a royal royalty (I dare say more royal then the countess herself, haha!) It's not the same wig as your 1830's one, is it?
ReplyDeleteYou are too cute Eleonora! It was so fun being royal for an evening! This wig was a differnt one from the 1830s wig...It was very entertaining getting them both home, making sure they didn't get disturbed, because Greeneyed Nana did such a fantastic job I didn't want them ruined!
DeleteBlessings!
g
Noo, that would be too bad! Given my lack of attention, I would have probably sat on them on the way back, so I'm actually pretty impressed you escorted them home without any damage!
DeleteThey made it home safely...I packed them in amongst my hats that I sent to Jennifer from Historical Sewing. I had to pack and repack the box about 3 times to make sure they didn't get crushed! But they are happy and sitting on my hat shelf!!
DeleteGah, costuming is such a hard work! :D
DeleteIndeed it is!! But oh so worth it! Right?! ;-)
DeleteFabulous outfits and great photographs!
ReplyDeleteI hadn’t realized just how many Pinterest boards you’ve made – clearly I need to sit down with a BIG cup of tea, and browse!
If you’re interested in Court Presentation, you might like ‘Debutantes and the London Season’ by Lucinda Gosling, published by Shire Books. Like all Shire books it’s quite small, but it packs in a lot of really interesting information.
Thank you so much Black Tulip! I love Pinterest! It is a great place to let my OCD take total control! And I don't have to dust anything there! hahahahahaha!!! I will have to check out the book you have suggested! Thank you so much! It sounds quite interesting!
DeleteBlessings!
g
The two of you were a stunning set. The black and white pairing made everything pop out just that much more. And I've got a Queen Elizabeth II gown on my someday list, so I am totally bookmarking your pinterest boards. All or those royal orders and sashes make my head spin.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Jennifer! We had wanted to do some sort of black and white sister dress combo for quite a while, and this just really worked well!
DeleteI cannot wait to see your future QEII dress! Is it her coronation gown? That one is crazy awesome! The royal orders and sashes are so very fun aren't they? I hope your enjoy the boards!! They are my crack.....hahahahaha!
Blessings!
g
Your dress turned out amazing! The pair of you made such a bang at the Gala. It was wonderful to see it in person!
ReplyDeleteOh thank you!! We had a fun time as royalty! It was wonderful seeing you and your Violent Violet dress in person!!! I LOVED it! The colors are so much better in person!
DeleteBlessings!
g