From Sasha

Okay, it was only a matter of time before Gossip Girl made it into the blog. Maybe I was trying to keep the lowbrow world of modern television separate from the world of fairy forest folk; maybe I felt you would be confused by my seemingly incongruent obsession with a show about rich teenage prep schoolers in New York City. But then, little by little, I realized– all of you are watching it, too! Ha ha! (And believe you me, that includes Amber here at Violet Folklore… big time.)

For the few among you who have yet to be initiated, I offer an explanation. No, I've never been– or tried to dress like– a preppy, in all of my life. No, I don't watch much TV– we don't even have TV service, and we haven't had it for 15 years. I have missed all the shows that have captivated my peers for the past decade: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Sopranos, Sex in the City. But then along came the show that brought me (and so many of my popular-culture-resisting friends) back to TV land– the utterly obsess-able Gossip Girl. It has a lot going for it: sassy, witty characters, outrageous fashion, steamy love scenes, and the most Jane Austen-esque-cliff-hanger plot twists imaginable on the little screen. For one hour, my brain is on vacation, and nothing else matters except the shifting reputations and alliances of these immaculately turned-out Upper East Siders.

Come to find out, you can watch even it on your computer! (Revelation). Of course, it's better on the big screen, with friends, so you can see the outfits better, and shout things at TV, ganging up on the characters you don't like. But speaking of characters I ***LOVE***, here are Chuck and Blair, the reigning King and Queen of my Monday night heart:

Now the purpose of this blog, besides potentially humiliating myself, is to discuss this gold brocade dress that Blair wore in the season premiere on Monday (forgive her pout face- she is having a bad moment here as she visualizes Chuck cheating on her with a supermodel). I always pick a fave outfit from every show– and frankly, Lily Bass often wins the prize. But when Blair dresses up, she goes for it, and this dress made me lose my breath for a moment. When have I seen anyone wearing gold brocade lately? (Okay, I live in a rural county, so that's not a fair question, but I DO get out sometimes.) I think we need more gold brocade NOW! While this dress is made by Burberry and probably costs more than my month's salary, there is plenty of reasonably priced vintage gold brocade on Etsy. Check out these finds:

Brown Brocade With Gold and Silver Trim, $40 from laurakhollander

Cocktail Dress with Matching Jacket, $60, from laurakhollender

Gold Bullion 1950s Gold Brocade Dress, $85 from LipStickWhiskey

Go get fancy, ladies! 

Okay, a funny aside: last night Chris and I were talking about how much we miss Nate from Gossip Girl's Man Bangs this season. I am actually thinking of starting a petition to bring them back, as they add a whole dimension to what is an otherwise tepid character. Then somehow the discussion turned a corner and we were talking about what a bunny would look like with Man Bangs (maybe because Nate sort of looks like a bunny?). As I was drifting off to sleep, I remember asking Chris if he could please photoshop me a Bunny with Man Bangs. I had forgotten all about it today, when suddenly this appeared on his Facebook: 

Chris says he used Nate's actual hair for this one. Bring em back, Nate!!!

You know you love me! XOXO…

From Sasha

Okay, I know it's not coming out til next year, but I can't help being Waaaaaay Excited about Tim Burton's film version of Alice In Wonderland. Not only is it inspired by one of the coolest books ever written, not only is it being made by one of my all-time-favorite-can-do-no-wrong directors, but the cast are my top actors and actresses of all time (Helena Bonham Carter has been winning my heart for decades, and Johnny Depp, well, no more needs to be said). Mia Wasikowska, who plays Alice, is new to me, but I already love her. I mean, she is Australian, she didn't dumb down her last name, and she has a face that is beautiful and intelligent. And the costumes, especially Alice's dress? Hello Dreamy!

Okay, eye candy I promise you and eye candy I deliver:

Mia Wasikowska as Alice

Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter as the Mad Hatter and the Red Queen

Anne Hathway as the White Queen

Does Alice acquire this awesome dress mid-movie or something? We'll have to wait and see, I guess!

Okay, can't resist one more pic of Mia, from her shoot for Teen Vogue:

I hope this means that more fairy-tale-esque and romantic dresses will be hot in popular culture this year. You know me, never a fan of Modern and Boring. Tulle, lace trim, and the flouncy skirts: yes please!

***Just a fun aside: a while back, we sold a cool Alice in Wonderland-style prairie dress to one of our fave customers, Jenny, who does the wonderful blog Sailor Purrs. Come to find out, she is actually wearing the dress in the picture on her blog banner! I think Jenny makes an excellent Alice in her personal Flower Wonderland!***

Alice In Wonderland comes out on March 5th, 2010. Peep more details here!

From Sasha

We just bought a car from a friend, somewhat spontaneously (as far as Ye Olde Budget was concerned), and I find myself having to hold onto my extra cash for a little while. Though I'm being Very Very Good, nothing can stop me from a little window shopping! Dreaming of the glamorous days to come, a la Holly Golightly, I have assembled an amazing collection of Lovelies in my Etsy Favorites. Fair game to those of you that get to these before me… and enjoy the eye candy!

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The Last Unicorn Ring by thatjewelrygirl (um, thank you for referencing my favorite movie ever!). This piece of Fantasy Bling is on sale for $10. Can you believe that? Shocking.

Maximum Fringe Necklace by iheartnorwegianwood (this one just sold! drat! but maybe she'll be inspired to make a new one!) In my mind, I am Karen O's twin sister, despite bearing no physical resemblance to her. That this model actually does look like Karen O only increased my desire for this hot piece of neckwear. Sigh.

Moonshine Capelet by whiteapple. Um, pinch me, surely I am dreaming. Can I have those gloves too, please? Pretty please? 

Black Tunic with Peruvian Spirit Print from comaandcotton. I super-heart the whole outfit– necklace, hat, binoculars. I don't buy it that this is merely a Bird Watching moment, either. Hmmmm.

Natural History Necklace from thatjewelrygirl. I don't even have room for all the things that I love from this seller… and every piece is totally unique.

The Age of Innocence Hat from whiteapple. When I am rolling in it, every hat I wear must be at least this opulent. I will settle for nothing less than Fabulous.

Delicate Little Circus Flower 1922 Bewakeful. This crafty lady has inspiration to spare. I think I am cut out for the Show Pony act… but if you give me bon bons, I will try out the trapeze.

Handmade paper flower pin YeYe. Yeye's creatrix is a design student from Montreal, and every thing in her store sparkles with total joie de vivre! The Ye Ye Style blog is total eye candy, and highly recommended.

One last, cause I can't resist… a Pucci-style bathing suit from Ye Ye! Okay, I know I'm down to the last month of swimming here in Northern California, but I want. I want. I want.

Whew! What a whirlwind! Okay, back to work… gotta make that spending money somehow!

From Sasha

You all remember Cerise, our fabulous Australian friend who bought the California Dream Girl Dress? If you read her spirited interview, then you probably won't be surprised to learn to learn that this multi-talented young woman is a talented photographer. She took the Dream Dress out for a shoot with her lovely friend Jessica, and just LOOK at the magic that they created!:

It makes my heart absolutely HUM with happiness to see one of our dresses becoming part of someone's artistic inspiration, half a world away. I hope they all find such happy homes!

For more of Cerise's beautiful camera work, check out her Flickr stream here. Told ya we have the best customers.

From Sasha

I have feathers on the mind, that's no secret. Here are some lovely pictures from ladies who share my avian fascination:

From Cari Ann Wayman, better known as yyellowbird to you Flickr aficionados. I just stumbled upon her imaginative, envelope-pushing work, and I am in total awe.

I found this image by Vogue photographer Tim Walker when I was wandering faaaaar out on the periphery of the web, and I stumbled upon a blog called nokaalma. There is some debate about whether these are real swans… if so, I say they are heavily sedated. (The dirt makes them look genuine… but I guess Vogue can pay someone to rub dirt on a stuffed swan.)

This image was featured in Sally Jane Vintage's recent post about actress Tallulah Bankhead. Sally Jane does one of the most interesting and personal fashion and arts blogs out there, by the way, so you should put her on your reading list STAT!

This extraordinary picture is by one of my very favorite image-makers on planet earth, Calico Courtney Brookes… she is a modern photographer, believe it or not, though she obviously owns a magic time machine! Check out her fabulous work here.

This image of the Ziegfeld Follies star Princess White Deer is from our friend Tamara aka Verhext's Flickr photostream. (God I love me a Ziegfeld girl! Thank goodness there were cameras back then.) Verhext always finds the best images in the world, when she is not straight up making them herself. She also finds the best clothes, which she sells on Etsy. Check her out!

I just got this pair of feather earrings in the mail this week, and I haven't taken them off since! They go with everything, including one of my favorite summer dresses, pictured here:

The earring designer is Rachelle Starr, and she is a total riot. I recommend that you buy something from her awesome Etsy store, Starrbeads, just so you can get a chance to talk to her! She has lived an awesome, sparklingly creative life, designing feathered halters for Hustler photo shoots in the 70s, necklaces for Oscar de la Renta, and the masks for Prince's Purple Rain movie… and that is just the tip of the iceberg. She uses feathers that she acquired in the 60s and 70s, which makes her work totally unique. Her best quote: "We are not born with Feathers, We need to Decorate!" Run, don't walk to her Etsy store! (Everything is reasonably priced, too.)

To top off my week, Chris found me two of the biggest feather in the world. They look like they come from the zoo! But maybe they are just turkey tail feathers. Anyhoo, they were promptly installed on my dashboard shrine, and voila– the shrine just got one hundred thousands times cooler. It also got one thousand million times more hippie, so now if I get pulled over I'm sure I am going to get some kind of lecture about smoking weed– but it is worth it! My Honda is now a winged being! (Yup, my Accord. I know I'm cool.)