Adventures in Wonderland

This time of the year is always Alice-themed these days. Or so it seems, anyway.

After weeks of letting it tug vaguely at the corners of my mental to-do list, I've gone ahead and booked tickets for Alice's Adventures Underground, interactive* performance extraordinaire. (I won't use the other 'i' word, because everyone hates it and you know it.) The event isn't until tomorrow, and already I've spent days obsessing over small details - does the 'Black/Red' dress code mean red and black? Red or black? What if I change my mind and decide I want to side with another suit? Should I Eat it? Drink it? Which one will make me big, which one small? What do I want? - until I thought I was going mad. And then I thought maybe that was the point.

I never thought I liked Alice. Having been decidedly unimpressed by the Disney cartoon, cat-less smile aside, I shoved the memory of it to the back of my mind as a child, to only take it out of a dusty brain drawer when Disney's shiny-and-new live remake forced me to. I was equally unimpressed. But I had to admit, something about the Crazy-circus, Creepy-clown concept of it all appealed to me. I mulled it over and had to concede - Alice belongs to the same, dreamy-yet-terrifying-if-you-think-like-really-think-about-it category as Peter Pan.

Once I realised that, I was hooked (no pun intended).

And so last year, I decided my birthday would be Wonderland-themed.

Quite conveniently, Archway with Words festival decided to hold an Alice in Wonderland Fancy Dress Day on that very date, complete with hat-making and flamingo croquet.

     

 

(In case you're wondering, I won at flamingo croquet. Ha.)

(At least... I think I did?)

A certain mad hatter talked us into making giant card hats...

          

...And we got stuck in a house.

Top - Etam

Silk corset - Harmony

Skirt - Topshop

Vintage apron - Absolute Vintage

Cardigan - Jane Norman

Shoes - Repetto

Clock earrings - Warehouse

Clock necklace - Vintage

Scarf - gift from Jerusalem







I want to hear all about YOUR Wonderland events, parties and adventures!

Reminiscence - Spring Ball

In anticipation of the upcoming historical Poppy Ball, I thought I'd share with you a few photos of the previous period ball by the same Masters of Ceremonies, the Spring Ball at Normansfield Theatre, Langdon House.

The venue is a Grade II Listed theatre with beautiful hand painted decors.

Built in 1877-79, it retains its Victorian side flaps, in full working order, and is still used for performances to this date.

Langdon House itself is home to the UK's Down Syndrome Association, to whom the Ball's profits were donated.

Waltzes were danced, quadrilles, reels and country dances, including my beloved Pride of Erin Waltz and all-time favourite Waltz Cotillion - all to live music by the wonderful Green Ginger.

Photographs #2 and #6 courtesy of Andrew Rawe

Hair From Beyond #5: Do the Clara Bow

It dawned on me the other day that I'd never styled short hair. I mean, sure, I've styled long hair into faux-bobs plenty of times, but actual, real short hair? Never. Conveniently, my flatmate happens to wear her hair cropped very short and very straight. Always up for a challenge, I marched straight into her room and declared I was turning her into Clara Bow for the evening. She never knew what hit her.

Clara Bow was one of the very first silver screen icons, THE 'it' girl of the 20s. As Anne Helen Petersen writes in this fabulous post for The Hairpin, "Girls wanted to be her, boys wanted to date her, and old people thought she was a sign of the apocalypse, which obviously meant she was star material".

And so I set to work curling, teasing and spraying, until I was moderately satisfied with the results. Now, you can't have a Clara Bow without the Clara Bow eyebrows. This posed a bit of a problem, as you can't really get Clara Bow eyebrows without plucking it all away, and my flatmate/beautiful model was (understandably) really not that keen. Thus I was forced to compromise and draw them in on top of her (partly concealed) natural eyebrow, but oh well.

~

Here I'm looking for Clara Bow, but all I see is Theda Bara...

Theda Bara

~

Model: Betty. Hair, make-up and photography by moi.

Hair from Beyond #3: the Katniss Braid

Here's my spin on the popular Katniss Braid, which is rapidly becoming a classic.

Modelled by my beautiful friend Chloe.

Outfits from Outer Space #3: Halloween

Better late than never, right?

Leaving you to ponder this for too long is potentially dangerous, so here's a distracting compilation of all my Halloween 2013 costumes.

1. Pop Art

This was put together very last-minute for MCM Comic Con, inspired by Roy Lichtenstein's art. Mostly it just involved orange face paint and a LOT of eyeliner. Drawing on those dots took fucking forever.

A very confused Castiel discovers pop art.

2. 50s movie character

After reading this inspiring blogpost, I decided to go greyscale for Halloween and aimed for a 50s-inspired look.

Top - Collectif

Skirt - Coast

Behind the scenes:

Originally, we were meant to go as a greyscale couple, but he flipped out when I brought out the eyeliner and wouldn't let me paint the rest of his face..

3. Last-minute Cruella De Vil

I got invited to a Disney pub crawl in Shoreditch, and was too lazy to go home and change, so I concocted this with what little clothes I had at my boyfriend's... Fun fact: I've owned this faux fur jacket since I was 6 years old and my cousin's bridesmaid. It's served me well.

People kept complimenting me on my 'white face makeup'... I wasn't wearing any. Sob.

4. Creepy nondescript Tim Burton character

Inspired by Emma Pickles' makeup tutorial, I wore this for Voodoo Rock Night. 

Corset - Primark

Skirt - Topshop

Armwarmers - Claire's

Annoyingly, it turned out to be one of those cases where everything looked better during the makeup test than on the actual night.

My eyebrows just wouldn't disappear!

5. ...And a minion

...What did YOU dress up as on Halloween?