THE MOVE

Due to mounting frustrations with the blogger format I'm moving the blog to:

peggydreadful.wordpress.com 

Hope to see you there! 

McQueen; 'She is a night creature inhabiting a charmed and Surreal world'

There are three things I thought when I watched Alexander McQueen's Fall 2016 show:

feminine

mystical

transformation  

I actually really liked this collection although it doesn't scream 'dark' McQueen I think it still captures a strand of Gothic, albeit in a lighter, almost hopeful tone.  

Sarah Burton was notably expecting her third child as this collection walked, and I think the themes of birth-rebirth-transformation are really evident here.  The coat (first image below) literally cocoons the model as she walks, and although the texture of her outer-garment drowns her frame, the cascading 'tail' of a much more form-fitting dress reveals a glimpse of what lies beneath.  The coat then becomes almost an enactment of a much darker prompt, not look at, but rather look beneath...

Above are just some a handful of my favourite looks from this collection - in case you want to check it out for yourselves! 

I really like the how skin feels like it has been manipulated throughout this collection, from the wholly sheer looks that overlay the skin with intricate designs and use the model as a true canvas.   The many cut-away patterns expose and conceal the skin in deliberate lines; literally the models are spliced and transformed like their garments.  

The collection also featured embellishments of unicorns, moths, owls, swans, eyes and mirrors.  Darkly feminine, it is not a stretch to feel the 'witchy' nature possessing these clothes; these women are adorned in symbols of nature and beauty.  These images are at times set upon 'powerful' cuts of impeccably tailored suits, corsets, even bondage-inspired adornments, that provide a nice contrast to other softer lingerie looks within the show- whilst also providing notable nods to McQueen's most infamous designs.

Personally if witches, darkness, transformation and the battle between inside/outside (or surface/depth) isn't Gothic enough then you might not have liked this collection, but I personally think that the Gothic as a 'style' in terms of fashion doesn't have to be overtly threatening or uneasy - I think this collection is more 'Gothicised' by its consumption of itself.  This collection draws the eye continually to the surface, to the excessive embellishment, whilst revealing LOTS underneath - unease almost comes from the shape of the fabric, swallowing, draping, cutting, consuming the model.  The fact it's based on ethereal women in the night with moths and the moon (paraphrasing majorly here) is just a dark bonus!

***

I found it coincidental that last week I received a copy of the latest ASOS magazine with 'Making Magic' upon the front cover.  Upon closer inspection this edition also provided an article on 'Modern Magic' which detailed how the mystical is becoming more mainstream, and 'crystals are cool'.   Furthermore you could read how to 'max your moon power' and discover the benefits of making a vision bard (which I actually quite liked the idea of being a massive Pinterest fan and a serial mood boarder- I've never really thought to make a 'vision' board!).  

So, you can take this post as celebration of the apparent cosmic alignment of all things Witchy this Spring.  Go forth and wear beautiful clothes and make happy visions - maybe even buy a cat? 

Gothenburg

I've recently returned from a trip to Gothenburg, Sweden (a place I fell in love with) and I've got many more posts on the way now I'm home!

First I just wanted to share some of the cool things we stumbled across, and prove that traces of the Gothic unexpectedly everywhere... 

*evil villain laugh*

First up is some 'cliff art' of Death and the Maiden (because that's totally a thing over there) because romance is not dead.  Speaking of romance, there are many vintage clothes stores in Gothenburg, one of which I found a rail of lace and satin ballgowns which looked like Sleeping Beauty's wardrobe.  I died and went to Disney heaven.

We also found a Steampunk bar which was full of old brass trinkets, clocks and cogs, weird sepia photographs, and victoriana armchairs.  There was a big iron spiral staircase in the centre which was horrible to try and manoeuvre whilst carrying cocktails.  The cocktails themselves had THE best names: 'elixir of mystery' and 'the dark forest' were our favourites.  I've never had a steaming, frothing drink before but I'm now left with bitter disappointment that all my beverages aren't as sassy. 

Slottsskogen is a giant Park just south of the centre that was so vast that we were pretty surprised when we turned a corner and discovered seals, moose and baby deer.  Whilst not overtly Gothic I think just the sheer size of this place with its dark watery ponds, partially frozen and eerily glassy, meant we did feel quite in the wilderness at times and very far from the city.  We felt the same visiting the Southern archipelago.  Some of the islands had no inhabitants at all so you're just wandering around a ghost town with little wooden fishing shacks.  It was incredibly quiet and unlike anywhere we've been before.  We looked out over the water and you can see fish rising and splashing in the distance- which did nothing for my fear of the water, knowing I'd be getting a boat back with the sea monsters beneath me! 

Basically, I loved Gothenburg.  It was beautiful and quirky and not at all what I expected, I even found a Kawaii shop! 

Sweden, till next time...

" Nothing about her is human except that she is not a wolf"

At the Libertine's New York Fashion Week show, the nails of the models ruffled more feathers than the clothes.  

This 'trend' has certainly got people talking and it did get me thinking about the relationships between skin and fur and the implications of 'fashioning fur'. 

The title quote is from Angela Carter's 'Wolf Alice' tale from her Bloody Chamber collection, and I feel this unusual trend somewhat visualises the essence of Carter's re-writing of Little Red Riding Hood.  The fur has caused such a sensation online and amongst beauty bloggers, a large majority of which have a singular response: EWW.  I find this fascinating because fur has become such a glamorous adornment (don't get me wrong it is not without controversy regarding how it is procured) - but, in the fashion world at least, it is beautiful.  

Why then the horror over its presence on this particular catwalk?  

It is the placement of the fur that incites such disgust; upon the skin fur easily takes on the property of our own skin as boundary.  When we step into the wolf we are strong, we are fierce, yet we can also be beautiful- even superior as fur is often an indicator of class, wealth, or status - even outside of Western Culture.  Nail's are essentially claws, albeit our 'claws' have been evolutionarily watered down as we have no need for them.  Now nails can be a site of beauty and there are numerous ways to decorate them, but this practise is almost exclusively a feminine act.  If you walked into Boots you would find polishes, false nails, files, buffers, tints, tips, stickers, decals, gems, overcoats and undercoats and all are marketed at women.  

(I am not in any way saying guys do not/should not wear nail polish, just that they are often not the target audience!) #rockitjohnny

In placing the fur on the nails a site of beauty has been aligned with the beast.  The nails have no vulnerability, unlike the skin, they have one purpose and even in masquerade they still evoke their one function: violence, survival, predator. 

The She-Wolf has left her closet and regained her claws. 

Peggy Dreadful

Who else would you like to see join the Peggy Dreadful line-up?

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PeggyDreadful

Update on "stuff and things"

(had to reference Rick Grimes after last night's The Walking Dead mid-season premiere)

So things I still need to do: 

• Write about Buffy - my re-watch is currently at 'Graduation Day' which might be a good time to discuss some "stuff and things" once I've got these last two episodes out of the way.  

• Haven't got much further with Vampire Knight which is annoying but February has hit me like January (aka I was super productive in January and now I feel like a squirrel trapped in a nut-less tree trunk in the middle of an Alaskan winter).  I WILL FINISH THIS SEASON BEFORE THE END OF FEBRUARY. 

• Finally, I need to process what on earth happened in The Walking Dead - it got good again (at last) albeit some gaping continuity errors but I was prepared to let that all slide for the security of knowing that the group was good, the people were rallying and baby Judith was safe (lets go even go there about how she ended up safe....again, letting it slide) BUT I can't push away this niggling feeling it's all about to go very, very wrong and I'm not yet ready to address the horrors that lie ahead of us. 

On the plus side I painted some new Peggy Dreadful's:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/peggydreadful 

I hope to collect my thoughts more and power through now I have *almost* finished my PhD proposal *EEEEEEEEEK*

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

The zombie is maintaining strength into 2016 with the awaited return of The Walking Dead in Spring also. 

 Pride and Prejudice and Zombies appears to be following the trend of the grotesquely rotting corpse; as opposed to a pale and wide eyed animated body as in their earliest risings, or simply a bleeding viral victim as in 28 Days Later (2002.  

I'm particularly intrigued by how skin will be treated in the film and to what extend the bodies 'rot' - or as in Warm Bodies (who took a step back from the 'rotting' likely because it's probably a step to far to fall for a guy with a weeping eye socket) the 'zombification' is more stylised when romance is also at play. 

So, really hoping that early reviews are correct and that the film is as good as I am hoping it will be - or at least interesting enough that I will have lots to say about it!