The Language of the Fan

During the Victorian Era the fan became a very important fashion accessorie - not just as a means to stay cooled or ward off unpleasant smells, but also as a way to communicate with others. I did a little research on this "language of the fan", and this is what I found out about the different gesture's meanings!

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1. The fan placed near the heart: "You have won my love."

2. A closed fan touching the right eye: "When may I be allowed to see you?"

3. The number of sticks shown answered the question: "At what hour?"

4. Threatening movements with a closed fan: "Do not be so imprudent."

5. Half-opened fan pressed to the lips: "You may kiss me."

6. Hands clasped together holding an open fan: "Forgive me."

7. Covering the left ear with an open fan: "Do not betray our secret."

8. Drawing the fan across the forehead: "You have changed."

Hamilton Hamilton, Woman With a Fan

9. Shutting a fully opened fan slowly: "I promise to marry you."

10. Drawing the fan across the eyes: "I am sorry."

11. Touching the finger to the tip of the fan: "I wish to speak with you."

12. Letting the fan rest on the right cheek: "Yes."

13. Letting the fan rest on the left cheek: "No."

14. Opening and closing the fan several times: "You are cruel."

15. Dropping the fan: "We will be friends."

16. Putting the fan handle to the lips: "Kiss me."

George Washington Cable, creole ladies with fans in The Grandissimes

17. Fanning slowly: "I am married."

18. Fanning quickly: "I am engaged."

19. Opening a fan wide: "Wait for me."

20. Placing the fan behind the head: "Do not forget me."

21. Placing the fan behind the head with the finger extended: "Goodbye."

22. Fan in right hand in front of face: "Follow me."

23. Fan in left hand in front of face: "I am desirous of your acquaintance."

24. Fan held over left ear: "I wish to get rid of you."

Alexander Roslin, The Lady With The Veil

25. Twirling the fan in the left hand: "We are being watched."

26. Twirling the fan in the right hand: "I love another."

27. Carrying an open fan in the right hand: "You are too willing."

28. Carrying an opened fan in the left hand: "Come and talk to me."

29. Drawing the fan through the hand: "I hate you."

30. Drawing the fan across the cheek: "I love you."

31. Hiding the eyes behind an open fan: "I love you."

32. Presenting the fan shut: "Do you love me?"

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I'm sure there were more gestures that meant other things too, and I can imagine that the gentlemen of those days might have had a bit of a difficult time trying to keep up with the development of this language...I love it though, and wouldn't mind if fans came into fashion again. I do use them sometimes though, and after writing this post I feel like always having one with me!

Burlesqueer

On Friday January 18, me and Elegy Ellem packed some poisoned wine and her Tommy Gun and went to Burlesqueer - Femme Fatale, at Bonden Bar in Stockholm. Ellem had been asked to create a burlesque number for the "Femme Fatale" themed event, and she asked me if I wanted to assist her as her maid. Of course I said yes!

This is her Tommy Gun (replica) by the way! I love it, and I want it! It's quite heavy though, and I was glad no one caught Ellem when she was carrying it to the show on the subway, with it's pipe sticking out of the bag...

Photo: Linda Merja Holmgren

The storyline of our number was that Ellem comes home from being out murdering some people. I'm her maid, that serves her as best as I can. The problem though, is that Ellem is a self centered diva, who treats me like shit - and I'm very tired of this! So in the end of the number, when she has stripped, I give her some poisoned wine...

Photo: Linda Merja Holmgren

...that kills her!!! Sexiest corps I've ever seen, by the way...When she's dead, I then take my apron off, and throw it over her. Then I put her black coat on, and steal her cigaret and Tommy Gun, and walk out. The end!

Photo: Elegy Ellem

Of course though, I didn't kill her for real! Since we're hoping to do this number together again, I thought it would be best to keep her around for awhile...Here is us after the show. You don't want to meet us in a dark alley at night. Just sayin'...

Photo: Elegy Ellem

And another one. This is how you clean a gun properly!

The rest of the evening was spent drinking and fighting, and I played with Ellem's snake-tongue. That's my finger there...

And here is also a video of our number, shot and edited by Alexander Valenkamph!

Full Moon

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I got Lana Del Ray's album "Born To Die" for Christmas, and since then, I've become completely addicted to it! So tonight let's get down "dancing and grinding in the pale moonlight" to her song "Body Electric"!

Fabergé Friday

So few Fabergé eggs left now...And non of them have known names...Here is the next one:

This 2,75 kilos, silver, gold and gold plate egg was kept in a collection in Eastern Europe for over fifty years.

When opened up, it reveals a beautiful sailing ship in gold.

Today's second egg was made sometime before 1896:

This gold egg is covered in white enamel, and decorated with laurel wreaths and bows of different colored gold. 340 diamonds, and 28 cabochon rubies also deck it's surface.

The surprise consist of a gold basket filled with gold flowers covered in white enamel, with green enamel leaves, and ruby centers.

Two Times Dita

Since I showed you my new lingerie from Dita von Teese's Von Follies collection yesterday, I thought it was a good idea to follow it by showing you a video where Dita herself models the new collection for this line of lingerie! Here it is!

But since the band Monarchy just released a video with their collaboration with Dita for their song Disintegration, I decided to throw that one into today's post too! Enjoy!

Von Follies by Dita von Teese

When I first looked at Dita von Teese's lingerie collection Von Follies I immediately wanted the black overwire bra. It didn't exist in my 32 A size by then though, so for a long time I haven't payed so much attention to it. But then, a few weeks ago, I took a peek at it again, and noticed the bra was now being sold in my size! Yay! Of course I ordered it, together with a pair of panties with a matching garter belt, and here they are! Just wish I could have done a proper shoot, with a better camera for these pictures. But sometimes there just isn't enough time...

I ordered everything from Debenhams, but the panties that are paired with the black overwire bra were out of stock, so I decided to go with the black lace and fishnet brief, and it's matching garter belt instead - which turned out to work really well with the bra!

The panties have a sheer backside, and even though I show them with the garters over them here (because it looks better in pictures) the right way to use a garter belt is with the straps underneath the panties! As I almost always wear stockings instead of pantyhose, I was happy to see the Von Follies garters are equipped with six straps and metal clasps, which means they will be able to hold my stockings in place all day long. 

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The bra can be worn with or without the straps, and in my opinion it's meant to be shown off! Like in the picture above where Dita wears it underneath The Showcase Dress from her Muse collection. Wish I could afford this dress, but even though her dresses might be a bit pricey, the pieces in her lingerie collection come at very good prices! And even though they won't break your bank accounts, they still feel - and look - really well made! So as long as they come in my size, I will definitely get more Von Follies lingerie in the future!

Mrs Murphy

I have a friend I have never seen without a gorgeous dress covering her fabulous curves, and a pair of high heels on her feet. Her name is Mrs. Murphy! She is the epitome of a confident woman who won't let anyone or anything stand in the way of letting her be the lady she is, and live her life as she wants it! And now to what she works with - in her own words:

"Mrs. Murphy invites you to a never ending cocktail party. In her presence, you always have that bubbling feeling that life is wonderful, you are the hottest at the party and that the great adventure is just about to begin...Mrs. Murphy's mission is to beautify life, and give us a little smile on our faces while doing it. She designs not only individual products but whole worlds, or rather whole universes...Because why stop at the sky when you can be a star...!"

She is an illustrator and designer who has won prizes and awards for her work both in Sweden and abroad, and during the years I have seen her design everything from gorgeous dresses, to calendars and condom cases - like the one below which she gave me at a party once...

Mrs. Murphy says it like it is! And her ingenious quotes can be seen on many of her products, like for example:

A MacBook Pro case, which lining and binding can be color-customized.

"COFFEE...??? Where's my freakin' champagne...?!?" Coffee mug with a lid. Need one of those...

Throw pillows. GREAT for pillow fights!

"OOPS! Did I but champagne instead of milk again...?" Drink coasters. Love this quote! If you're lactose sensitive - like me - this might have happened to you a few times...

Kitchen towels.

iPhone 4 case.

Note books...

...and many other things. If you're having a bad, grey day, and you see one of these quotes, your day will instantly get a bit better. Trust me! I follow her on Facebook, and now and then she puts up newly invented quotes that immediately brightens my day by reminding me that I - and everybody else - are just as fabulous as they make themselves, and that the everyday-glamour is in the little things you do for yourself! Except for the quotes she also spreads inspiring pictures on the web. So if you need some encouragement during the long weeks, I strongly advice you to follow her on Facebook! Here's the link:

https://www.facebook.com/FabulousMrsMurphy

If you want to check out her web store it's here (the Swedish one, roll down to the bottom to find your country's store):

http://www.zazzle.se/mrsmurphyslife/presenter

Fabergé Friday

So, here comes two more Fabergé eggs without much information attached to them. The first one is the "Nephrite Bonbonnière Egg", from somewhere between 1908 and 1917!

As it's name states, this egg is made of nephrite. Around it runs a band of gold and white enamel, decorated with five ties set with rose-cut diamonds. On June 8, 2010, it was sold at Christie's, London.

The second egg for today, is one for which we don't know either the name or the year of creation.

This egg is made of heavy, emerald green glass, decorated with enamel flowers and leaf motives in different colors, as well as the two-headed Imperial eagle. The egg rests on a metal base, standing on three pairs of legs fashioned like deer legs and hoofs. On the bottom of the glass the word "Fabergé" is etched, together with the numbers "0025". This egg is now kept in a private collection.

Tattooed Vintage Women

I love tattoos! Most of the time - when they're engraved in somebody's skin for the right reasons...They can be like a diary of a persons life - things that girl/boy has gone through during their lives - or just things that have a special place in the wearer's heart, and which that person wanted to bring out and permanently fixate into the skin. Since a full arm tattoo is called a "sleeve", "to wear one's heart on the sleeve" becomes something that's actually visible when it turns into a tattoo...

This way of decorating the skin has been around for thousands of years. Scientist have found remains of tattooed skin that's over 10,000 years old. But it's not that often you see photos of tattooed people before the 1980s - especially not women! So today I'm going to show you that inked women did exist even a few decades ago!

Not so sure about the authenticity about the picture above. The tattoos look far to modern-made for the time the model lived in. But I just loved this photo anyway... 

And we end with my favorite - tattooed ends...

Robots Don't Sleep

About a year ago I did a post on the photo-artist Juha Arvid Helminen and his "Dark Empire" series. Then, just recently I saw a video to a song called "Little White Lies", from Robot Koch's new album "Robots don't sleep". In this video Helminen's dark figures come to life, like shadows of the unconscious...So as I did that post a year ago, I wanted to show you this too!

Robot Koch has been called "one of Europe's finest producers of the beat generation", and after touring in both the US and in Europe, and worked as a producer and composer for both indie and major artists worldwide, he is now working on his 4th full length studio album - "Robot's Don't Sleep". On this album he collaborates with John LaMonica, who lends his voice to the music.

Here is the video:

Philip Treacy

Irish hat maker Philip Treacy was born in 1967, and started sewing at age five. Later, when he studied fashion at the National Collage of Arts and Design in Dublin, he realized hats were his calling. Today he is a world renown "hat artist", who deigns hats like sculptures. His amazing head ornaments have been worn by both princesses and superstars, and a few years ago he also tried his hand at creating shoes for Valentino. Let's take a look at some of this "mad hatter's" works of art!

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And now for the shoes!!!!!!!!!!

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