Miss Meadows' Pearls: February 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Milfred The Mink

Meet Milfred the Mink!

He's a mink stole I bought at Kellerman Vintage just before that shop closed. And yes, I'm ok with real fur as long as it's old...Here you can see Milfred sleeping very cosily on my lap. But don't be fooled - in reality Milfred is a party beast!

Photo: Fanny Kellerman

The evening I performed at Bonden Bar I decided to bring him with me, and this is how that went:

He started with the alcohol. Got wasted really fast...

...and tried to sneak down into my cleavage!

When I pulled "the f**king ferret" (as I call him when I'm pissed at him, because he gets really offended by it. He's a mink, not a ferret) out of there he tried going up Fanny's skirt instead.

Then he continued by looking for drugs in her purse. But as he didn't find any...

...he went out for a smoke instead!

I have to give it to him though - he ruled the dance floor! Here he's shakin' it with Fanny!

Fräulein Frauke also brought one of her fur stoles to the party, and of course Milfred had to flirt with her! They ended up making out in a corner until the placed closed, and I had to drag him home. But I guess we all know how the evening ended for little Milfred...

...He spent over ten minutes throwing up, and my sister was kind enough to help him.

Then he fell asleep in one of my pointe shoes...The next morning I was glad to see he hadn't puked in that one too...If he continues like this I might have to take him to rehab. At least I should probably put a leash on him...

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Performing at Bonden Bar

The day after Valentine's Day I was booked to perform at Bonden Bar, at Burlesqueer's event Swinging Valentine! One of the organizers - Pippi - had asked me to do my Diamonds are Forever number, but to a different piece of music - the aria Voi che sapete from Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro.

Photo: Fanny Kellerman

Pippi sang the piece herself, and on piano we had Erik. I love performing to live music - and in this case song too! The funny thing about this though, was that the whole number - including the very ballety costume I wear when I come out on stage - looked so classical that the audience didn't really expect me to start stripping in the middle of it...

Photo: Fanny Kellerman

When I unhooked my tulle skirt and let it fall to the ground, I heard some surprised "wohoos", and also one "oh YES!!!" Haha! After that I swiftly skipped backstage to change pasties, because I was also going to premiere my new number Arabian Nights that evening.

As you can hear from the name of the act, my costume is inspired by Arabian stories, and is made of black, transparent fabric and dark red and golden Swarovski crystals and beads. Above are the pieces of clothing I'm left with after taking off the rest!

And a closeup of the pasties! I love making these costumes, and spending hours decorating them crystal by crystal!

So when my music - Beauty Beats by Beats Antique - starts, I go out on stage. And the first thing I notice is I can't balance on the tip of one of my pointe shoes because there is something wobbly there! At that moment it's too late to do anything about it, and I don't even want to ruin my performance by looking down to see what was wrong. But I just continued and did most of the choreography without actually getting up on my tip toes as much as I was supposed to. Since I'm a perfectionist the fact that I couldn't do it the way it should have been done annoyed me a lot! But none of my friends had seen anything that looked weird when I danced though. I guess they were too busy looking at my boobs to notice what was going on down at my feet...Anyway. As you can see in the picture above, one of the little crocheted thingys I had sewn on the tip of the shoes (to make them last longer, and make the shoes less slippery) had gotten loose on one side and bundled up. That little platform needs to be flat to be balanced on!

At the end of the number, just before the music stops, I shower myself in golden glitter, which I pour out of my Aladdin-lamp. Everyone should take a glitter-shower now and then! It feels great!

Here is a very good - not grainy at all - iPhone picture my sister snapped of me exactly at the moment for the above mentioned glitter-shower! Even though I tried to get most of it off me after my performance, I still woke up with a whole heap of glitter in my bellybutton the next morning...

Monday, February 25, 2013

Full Moon

Source

For this month's Full Moon post let's go classical again, and listen to Chopin's Nocturne Op.2 No.2. In classical music the term adagio means slow tempo, and when you take ballet classes adagio is also an exercise, which - just like with the music - is done in a slow tempo. Just because you do the movements so slowly, it's a great exercise for both your strength and your balance. When I danced at The Ballet Academy in Stockholm, we always had a live piano player during class, and once when we did an adagio, he played this piece - which I love - and I remember feeling so good dancing to it...

Friday, February 22, 2013

Fabergé Friday

Fabergé didn't create many tiaras, but today we will look at one of the few he did make - the Empress Josephine Tiara, created around 1890!

Source

The French Empress Joséphine was the first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte. In 1810 they got divorced though. After that she stayed at Château de Malmaison, and every time Tsar Alexander I of Russia visited her after her split from the Emperor, he used to bring her presents. At one time, this present consisted of several beautiful briolette-cut diamonds (the ones cut like tears). Around 1890 these diamonds - and a few more - were then mounted in silver and gold by Fabergé's workmaster August Holmström, to create this magnificent tiara.

Empress Joséphine. Source

After WWI the King of Belgium bought the tiara from the collection of the Dukes of Leuchtenberg, a title first granted to Eugène de Beauharnais, son of Joséphine and adopted son of Napoléon. Later Queen Marie José of Belgium inherited the tiara from her brother, Prince Charles Theodore. Marie José became the last Queen of Italy, after marrying Umberto II of Italy, who reigned the country for 34 days, before Italy became a republic.

Source

In 2001 Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy - one of Marie José's and Umberto's four children - inherited the tiara from her mother. To help pay her taxes she decided to sell it, together with 40 other lots of rare jewels, and in 2007 the tiara was bought at an auction at Christie's by The Arthur and Dorothy McFerrin Foundation, for 2,079,389 USD.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Fräulein Frauke Presents - Weimar Cabaret!

If you happen to be in Stockholm Mars 2, and doesn't have other plans, come to Nalen for a night of burlesque decadence! Actually - if you have already made other plans, change them, and come to Nalen for a night of burlesque decadence! Everyone needs to visit one of Fräulein Frauke's clubs at least one time during their lives, and this time the theme is Weimar Cabaret!

After WWI until 1933 the Weimar Republic held power over Germany. But even though many hardships followed in the footsteps of the war, the Weimar Republic is remembered as a cultural renaissance. The cabaret scene grew immensely, and was a place where writers, artists, homosexuals, actresses, filmmakers, dancers, and other children of the night gathered to escape reality. It was also during this time Christopher Isherwood wrote Goodbye to Berlin, the book which later became realized as the popular musical Cabaret with Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey as main characters.

The list of show girls - and boys - for the evening is:

Photo: John Paul Bichard

Laurie Hagen!

Photo: Paul Green

Marlene von Steenvag!

Photo: John Paul Bichard

Hedo Luxe!

Photo: John Paul Bichard

Fräulein Frauke!

Photo: Miriam Zakarian

Velma Voluptuous!

Herr H!

Photo: John Paul Bichard

Valkyria von Tessla!

And if I get in the mood, I might jump up on stage and throw my own clothes off!...Ok, I won't...I don't think...

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Things I DON'T Want Right Now

After yesterday's pretty dresses - here comes the second part of my Things I DON'T Want Right Now posts, from the Spring 2013 Ready-To-Wear collections! Enjoy!...Or not...

DressCamp

Let's start with one for the boys! I just LOVE those big cut-outs on the front of the legs! Hehe...

Emilia Wickstead

These pants could have been a good idea. But then something went utterly wrong with the hip/waist part. There's even a bit of a camel-toe warning here...

Imitation of Christ

I really don't know what to say about this one...Speechless...

Jeremy Laing

Uhm...yeah...

Mulberry

And here we have another attack of diarrhea! Why does so many designers go for this color?!!! And in a whole outfit?!!!

Ne-net

Why? WHYYYYYYYY?!!!!!

Peter Jensen

"Hello. I'm not like other people. Could you guess?...!

PPQ

No comment...

Richard Nicoll

Feels like maybe the skirt got stuck in something just when she entered the runway, and broke...

Stephen Burrows

Another case of extremely bad waistline!

Stephen Burrows

This is something I would imagine to find in a random store with very cheap clothes - not on Fashion Week...

Stella McCartney

What woman would like to wear anything that makes it look like she has very short legs, and a very long upper body?

Suno

Ok. The only time I wear something like this, is when I'm living out my Dexter-fantsies in the "lab". Afterwards I always take it off though, and burn it, together with the remaining parts of the person I just lived out those fantasies on!