Thursday, June 11, 2009

For the Love of Regency Fashion

Lately, while I work on projects from beading to drawings, paintings and dolls, I have been watching some of my favourite films over and over. I love these films because I love the Regency Style Fashion in them. Yes, they are films so the fashion may not be totally correct, but that is fine with me(movie magic and all that!). In particular, I have been watching "Vanity Fair" with Reese Witherspoon-wow! Her costumes are just fantastic! And, I have been watching the 2005 version of "Pride and Prejudice" with Keira Knightly. I love the fashions in this version as well. The interiours and exteriours in these movies are also amazing.

Here are some of my paintings of my Regency inspired Ladies. They have all been done with watercolours and gouache paints, metallic inks, coloured pencils and pastels on archival cotton rag paper. Most of them can be found in my Etsy shop http://www.pascal4aqua.etsy.com/ so check them out if you have a chance. I plan on doing more too! Even my faeries are wearing Regency-ish styles these days-they are wearing long mitts and gloves and fancy detailed gowns-all of which I wish I could wear myself!

"Violetta"
"Lady with Amythest Cross"


"Venchenza"




"Regency Lady in Turquoise and Aqua"


"Lila"



"The Blue Lace Veil"


"Springtime Faerie"


"Violet"


A Commissioned family portrait where Mom is wearing Regeny Fineries including her gown and opera length emerald green gloves~
My Twin in her Regency style Wedding Ensemble of a blush pink silk wedding gown with organza cap sleeves and pintucked bodice, purple velvet overcoat that is lined in fuschia satin and matching Juliet cap. For the reception, she took off the coat. I designed the outfit and my mom(who is an amazing seamstress) made it a reality-I am still not sure how she did it! It was a gorgeous 30 October Wedding in 1999.
Nearly 6 years later, I found this gorgeous outfit in the Jane Austen Museum in Bath, England. I was very freaked out as it was so much like my Twin's outfit! I even made my twin a little purse like this but in pinks and purples!




With the leftover wedding gown and jacket fabric, I made this "Bride Doll" of my twin with my own crazy twist on everything. She even has a little mask as the Wedding was Masque Ball for Halloween and I got to make both masks-how fun-they are both covered in the finest glass glitter and rhinestones so they sparkle! I love making these dolls and any other commissioned dolls or portraits for folks so feel free to ask me about it!



Photo Self Portraits "Thoughts of Jane"

Inspiraton from "Pride and Prejudice" 2005








Inspiration from "Vanity Fair" with Reese Witherspoon





7 comments:

Robin said...

So much Regency goodness! We should have a Regency tea party some day :-)

Unknown said...

oh yes! that would be fantastic!

KatinkaPinka said...

LOVE!

oh regency fashion makes my heart swoon! and it's so flattering for any lady's shape...maybe i'll go and sew myself up a little regency dress for summer...

Unknown said...

katinka! so true! the empire waist has always been a favourite with my twin and me with our crazy short bodies. your style is already regency with your hair doo-dahs and other fancies. we can stop worrying about our hair and just pile it up on our head, wear ribbons, make lace and wear fantastic gloves and mitts. oh, and the shoes-gorgeous little slippers or flat boots! plus hats! and, gorgeous coats and jackets over everything when it's cold plus, we could have on stripey socks and bloomers underneath everything! let's do it!
yes, i would love to see your regency summer dress!
xo,
merle

Lena said...

Oh dear Merle!
We are so similar in our taste for movies! I love Pride and prejudice and Vanity fair. You should check up "The Fountain" I love that movie too and is so very inspiring!
I love the Lady in blue lace specially but all you do is lovely as you are.
Stay well dear friend!
Love and light!
<3

Unknown said...

lena,
oh, i have seen "the fountain"-all the costumes and eras in that movie are amazing. thank you for your compliments! "the blue lace veil" was inspired by an actual piece of ancient lace that i have-i drew it for that piece which was kind of tedious but important to me! thank you-hope all is well with you!
xo,
merle

Ivy Long, Edera Jewelry said...

Merle! I love, love, love your new Regency inspired paintings! In fact, we're on the same inspiration wave-length right now--that is the style I want my wedding dress to be, and I'm reading "Emma"... and Pride and Prejudice is my all time favorite movie--definitely one of my favorite time periods, so this post was a feast for the eyes...

How have you been? I have been neglecting my blog so much lately--I'm afraid I've got blogger's block!--but I did receive your sweet comments on flickr and my blog, and wanted to say hi!

The dresses of your grandmothers' sound lovely--the handwork and attention to detail back then was incredible. It's too bad that they are in such a fragile state--how pretty they would be on a dress form to be admired like a work of art!

I came across a gorgeous white empire waisted floaty dress from the late 1910's on ebay, but was outbid at the last minute--was going to buy it as my wedding dress, but I think I will be making my own dress now along similar lines...

Well, I hope you're doing well! Have a wonderful weekend :)
xo,
Ivy