Thursday, March 6, 2014

Period Drama Fashion Week Tag


Emma Jane over at For the Beauty of the Earth is hosting a Period Drama Fashion Week, and though I'm a bit late to the party, I'm finally getting around to filling out the tag!

1. Tell us five random things about yourself.

~I really, really like Greg Lestrade's character on Sherlock.  He's probably my fifth favorite character, which is saying a lot.
~I'm currently reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen and falling in love with it all over again.
~I absolutely love getting mail (who doesn't?).
~I have four yet-to-be-answered letters sitting on my desk in front of me and two of them have the same kind of stamp.  (We did say random things, yes?)
~I passed my driver's test today and now have my license.  THIS IS JOYOUS NEWS INDEED and has been duly celebrated with chocolate.



2. What are some of your favorite dresses from period dramas? Pick three.


This was an incredibly hard question to answer but I finally decided it wasn't referring to my TOP three, just three of my favorites, so I went with Marianne Dashwood's "summer ensemble," Christine Daae's Wishing gown, and Esther Summerson's fan-front printed muslin dress.


3. How would you describe your own style?


Contemporary chic librarian-- sweaters, skirts and some modern boho/preppy influences.  

4. List (up to) five of your favorite period drama wardrobes.



~Esther Summerson's from Bleak House (image via Old-Fashioned Charm)


~Anne Shirley's from Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel


~Olivia King Dale's from Road to Avonlea


~Emma Woodhouse's from Emma (2009)



~Margaret Hale's from North and South (image via Portrait of a Maiden)

5. What are some of your favorite fashion eras?


The Regency era, the 1850's (and the Civil War era too) and the 1900's-1910's.

6. What are five things that make you happy?


Reading a good book when it's raining outside, opening my Blogger dashboard and seeing comments waiting for me, drinking a hot cup of tea, holding a soft snuggly baby and listening to a song that thrills me to my fingertips.


7. Do you like to wear hats?

I love to wear hats!!!!  That totally deserved four exclamation points, because my passion for hats needs airing now and then.  I only rarely get to wear them, but I adore them.  I was just saying to a friend recently that wearing hats at weddings needs to come back in style in the US... someday when I get married, ladies will be requested to wear hats to the wedding.  Heehee.

8. Do you have a favorite fictional character who has the same name as you?

Indeed-- Amy Dorrit from Little Dorrit.  Our characters are not much alike at all, but I do identify with her in nomenclature at least.  (And neither of us like Mrs. General.  Haha.)  My dad's rather fond of calling me Aymee in a Chivery-esque fashion, and my best friend nicknamed me Mouse when we first met.


9. What is one of the ugliest dresses you've ever seen in a period drama?


Estella Havisham's white monstrosity in Great Expectations (2011).  YICK.

10. What is the most-worn color in your wardrobe?


Brown.  I have a lot of shades of brown.


11. What are your sentiments on the subject of tea?


DID SOMEONE SAY TEA.  Green, white, black, rooibos, herbal, fruit-flavored... I love pretty much all of it.  Especially Moriar-tea, because that's what people BREW!

12. Do historical inaccuracies bother you?


Tremendously... if I want them to.  I'm a big fan of Scarlett O'Hara's wardrobe in Gone With the Wind (some of it, anyway) and I have to shut a blind eye to all the glaring mistakes in her dresses.  But I've been known to complain loudly over any kind of anachronism in a dress I didn't like, haha.


13. What are some of your favorite eras of men's fashions?


Men's fashion is boring.  Next.  (Okay, okay, the 1930's were pretty dapper.)

14. Have you ever read any books on historical fashion?


Several!  I'm currently in the depths of From Queen to Empress, a dissection of ladies' clothing during the span of the Victorian era.

15. If you could pick just three fictional characters to have over for tea, who would you invite?


Sherlock Holmes, Emma Woodhouse and Bertie Wooster. Now that's what I call a party.

13 comments:

Hayden said...

I didn't think Estella's dress was so bad...at least not next to Fanny Thornton's plaid monstrosity ;)

Greg Lestrade is awesome; I like him too :)

And your tea party sounds like one interesting bash!

Melody said...

So how far are you in S&S?
Congratulations agaaain on passing the test. So thrilling. :D

Excellent wardrobe choices. :)

Hahaha... I do like some hats, but I'm afraid I don't like wearing them all that much. Not that I usually have a chance to. :P
Wait, when you get married??
...Okay, okay, sorry. I oughtn't to criticize you for hypothetical when's. ;)

You're lucky to have a favorite character who has your name. Sigh.

Well, your answer for the ugly dress would have been the same as mine. How about that?

"Men's fashion is boring. Next." HAHAHA.

I always get books on historical fashion and then only barely poke through them. Sigh. Bad habit of mine. ;)

Gasp! 2/3 of the people you're inviting to tea are MALE! Ooh, shocking... what a hilarious mixture, though. Ehehehehehe. I want to come. (Hey, it doesn't say you can't invite real people, too.)

Melody said...

Also-- what is "modern boho/preppy", anyway?

Miss Dashwood said...

Hayden
Fanny Thornton's plaid monstrosity IS pretty bad but at least it fits her reasonably well... Estella's dress just doesn't make sense in any way. Someone played hooky on her wardrobe fitting days, methinks.
Lestrade always bored me in the books, haha, but on the show he's fabulous. "Could you possibly lower your voice?" "NOT REALLY!"

Mellow D.,
Haha, I'm on chapter seven. Making such amazing progress. :P
It's a hypothetical when. You knew that. It sounds nicer than writing "if," haha.
Hey, there's always Melody Moore in the Molly short story, remember? :D And I sometimes feel like I'm cheating a little bit, saying Amy Dorrit has my name, because her name's not really Amelia... haha.
Anne-girl enjoyed the line about men's fashion tooooooooo. Quite enthusiastically.
Oh, good grief, two-thirds of them are MALE? WHATEVER SHALL I DOOOOOOO? But wait, with me and Emma, that makes two couples, which is reasonable. She can have Bertie, I call Sherlock. Bahahahahaha. (And of course you're invited. You can bring an escort of your own choosing. Preferably fictional.)
Modern boho/preppy, in my mind anyways, means silky scarves and some bracelets and necklaces and shoes with heels whenever possible and flowy skirts, too.

Naomi said...

Haha! Shelock Holmes, Emma and Bertie Wooster! Very interesting party indeed!
Indeed Men fashion is boring- goodness I'm so glad I'm a girl. Although Mr Darcy's green coat is very handsome and so are many others.
Historical inaccuracies are SO, SO, SO, SO annoying!!! (I should calm down, I know:)
Urch that dress of Estella's is loathsome!
You are also named after Amy March in Little Woman, but Amy Dorrit is certainly nicer. Actually, this doesn't count- your name is Amelia. Very nice name, by the way.
I love all the dresses you put in. (I would have put Elizabeth Bennet's wardrobe in though:)
Congrats for passing your driving test!
You've probably noticed I started commenting from the end of the post to the beginning. :)
Lovely post
~ Naomi

Anna said...

Hi Miss Dashwood, I nominated you for the Sunflower and Sunshine blogger awards. Here is the link: http://cowgirlandadream.blogspot.com/2014/03/ive-been-nominatedtwice.html

Emma Jane said...

Yay! You did the tag! :-)

Oooh, congratulations on getting your license! That's exciting. :-)

I love the Civil War era too. Scarlett O'Hara's dresses are to die for! I'm kind of obsessed with hoopskirts at the present. :-P And yes, I know her wardrobe has lots of inaccuracies-- like, for instance, that hideodious dress she wears to Ashley's birthday party would have been UNHEARD OF. But it was made in the 30s, so you've got to cut them some slack and give them some credit for trying. :-P

I knew you would say Amy Dorrit! :-) And how sweet that your dad calls you 'Aymee'. :-)

Um. *cough* Men's fashion is NOT boring. :-P

Thanks so much for participating! I enjoyed reading your answers.

~Emma

Anonymous said...

I love your favorite period drama dresses and your wardrobe selections!! congratulations on passing your drivers test I totally agree with you on Estella Havisham's dress...it is indeed a very spooky dress...may you have a wonderful day

Blessings,

Miss Dashwood said...

Naomi,
Very true, Mr. Darcy's coat is indeed handsome-- and I'll admit that men's fashion was definitely sharper in the past than it is today. Oooh, I also like Elizabeth Bennet's wardrobe... but unfortunately I was limited to choosing just five and there were others I liked better.

Anna S.,
That's so sweet of you to tag me! I've stopped doing tags and awards on my blog unless they're part of a blog party I particularly want to to participate in (good grief, that was a lot of "par" words) so I'll pass on it this time, but thanks for thinking of me!

Emma Jane,
Thank you for hosting this! I wish I could have participated more, but it was a busy week... had great fun on the tag though! Hoopskirts are my obsession too-- I do Civil War reenacting and that's literally the best part of the deal, getting to wear them. Heehee. Hideodious, that's an AWESOME word. Totally using that.

Laura,
Spooky! Great description of Estella's ugly thing. :D

Alexandra said...

It's a good thing you added the dapper 30's or I'd have to disinherit you. :P I like elements of period fashion for men...the BOOOOOOOOOOTS OHMYGOSH. I actually really like the 1840's fashion myself.

CAN I COME TOO?! We shall fight over Sherlock. :P

And you *do* wear a lot of brown, I noticed that. Also on Saturday I realized we were both wearing gray. Look at the pics. :D

Miss Dashwood said...

Ally,
Well, it's a relief to know the 30's saved me from being cut out of your will. :D And I'll admit, boots are great. ENJOLRAS BOOOOOOOOOTS. And pretty much anything Gilbert Blythe wears is Amy Approved. (Except the hideodious overalls.) So maybe I should take back that statement. But women's fashion is still far MORE interesting, haha.
You can come but you'll have to bring your own Sherlock. You can have the Jeremy Brett version. :P
Oooh, you're right, we were both wearing gray! And on Friday we three girls had varying shades of pink... well, okay, yours was a bit of a stretch, haha.

Olivia said...

Hi, Miss Dashwood! Your answers were so interesting to read! They reminded me that I love Margaret's wardrobe from "N&S" and Anne's from "Anne 2" as well;) Haha the Aaron Tveit gif is hilarious!! …That IS Aaron Tveit, right?;) Anyway cool post!

Hannah said...

Your Moriarty comment made me spit out my tea! :D

I definitely agree with you on Lestrade! I've always found him quite boring in the ACD stories too but I love him in the BBC version. I even think I could quite happily watch a Lestrade and Anderson spinoff show!

Congratulations on passing your driving test! :D

Your fictional character party would be AMAZING.