Fräulein Frauke Presents - The Great Masquerade 2013

Last New Years Eve I welcomed 2013 at the most lavish, beautiful, decadent New Years masquerade ball I had ever been to! The producers of the event was Fräulein Frauke and John Paul Bichard, and as the party was such a success, they decided to do it again for this New Years Eve!

The theme of this year's masked ball was the 20s and The Great Gatsby. So I set my hair with fitting finger waves and did smokey eyes - which I later covered up with a mask after a very cozy pre-party dinner with Fanny, Michael, Elegy Ellem, and Fredrik.

Here we all are, at Elegy Ellem's and Fredrik's lovely apartment. As you can see, we were extremely excited to go to Nalen and party the night away!

Nalen was decorated for Christmas, but those ornaments faded in the light of all the amazingly dressed guests! 800 people decked out in their finest - most of them keeping to the theme of the night. When you looked around it felt like we were actually welcoming the year 1924, instead of 2014! Haha!

Before we arrived, a three course dinner had taken place in Nalen's biggest ball room. We decided to skip that part this year though, and have a more intimate dinner party.

Here are the two fabulous producers of the event - Fräulein Frauke and John Paul Bichard! Miss Frauke is wearing a dress made by Fanny by the way, for her project Stage Fright! And then we have the performers of the night:

The evening's conférencière was the gorgeous Reuben R Kaye! Although I don't think he would be so interested in me - since I happen to be a girl - I still did my best hitting on him, by slamming a door straight in his face as he came running by full speed! His first reaction was that he was going to sue me, but then he said I looked lovely and gave me a kiss. So now I'm slightly confused about the outcome of this... Well, well...

The other performers on stage were Ruby Luscious! 

Contessa Blackbird!

Christopher Wonder!

Peggy de Lune!

Fräulein Frauke!

Cleo Viper!

And, not to forget, the two vey important, and very sweet stage kittens - Gabriella and Angelica!

Then, in the middle of it all, this gangster goes up on stage, invites his lovely lady to follow him, gets down on one knee, and proposes to her... As I'm a silly romantic, this gave me goose bumps! And of course he got a "yes"!

Men and Fanny also had a very romantic moment though, as you can see in the picture above! Tired but happy - and not completely sober - we then returned home to our beds, hoping Miss Frauke and Mr Bichard will make these burlesque New Year masquerades a tradition! What am I going to wear next year?!!! AAAAAAHHHH!!!!

All photos marked "Bichard", by John Paul Bichard.

The Great Gatsby Premiere Party

I'm BAACK!!! But before I tell you what happened in Paris, I'll tell you what happened the week before my little vacation, when I went to the premiere party of the long awaited movie The Great Gatsby. This party took place at Grand Hotel in Stockholm, and I was glad to had gotten invited to this splendid event. Unfortunately though, I didn't have time to actually see the movie before the party... Oh well...

As Gatsby takes place in the 1920s I wanted to style myself in a time-fitting way. I don't have anything from this decade in my closet, so I improvised a bit with a long black dress, black pearls, smoky eyes and finger waves in my hair. I had never tried doing finger waves before, but I remembered my grandma had given me these hair clips a few years ago, that actually were made for the purpose of making finger waves. So I wet the hair closest to my face with water, and then with setting lotion, and then I put in the clips. So in the pic above you can see what the set looked like. This was me on the bus. I have no idea why people stared...

And this is the finished result! I have to say I'm a bit proud of myself - and also very thankful for my grandma's hair clips... In the back I just did a simple chignon.

The party was held at Grand's "Vinterträdgården"  - the "Winter Garden" - which is a magnificent room built in the early 1900s. Here is me working the red carpet.

Here is one of the bars, and me enjoying what they served in that bar. Guess what it was...

Another bar and some very well dressed men in front of it!

Free champagne and several big buffet tables didn't exactly make the evening worse...

...and neither did the entertainment, which came in the form of the girls of Blackbird Burlesque Cabaret! Here are Pepper Potemkin and Miss Diamond doing some solo acts!

Three of the five Blackbirds - Lola van Dyke, Pepper Potemkin, and Contessa Blackbird - enjoying the decadence of champagne and cigarettes before the show - all in matching dresses sponsored by Daisy Dapper!

And here is the amazing car that was parked outside the entrance! Want!!!

Photo: midnight_maitresse

And lastly a picture of me, Fanny, and corset maker Viola Lahger. I really like this photo. It looks like it actually could have been taken in the 20s.

As I think you can guess from the pictures, the party was amazing! I couldn't stay too long though, because the day after I had to get up at the unholy hour of 4 am to go work as an extra in an early 1900s TV show. But more about that another time!

The Great Gatsby and Tiffany

I think many of you who read this blog have waited with anticipation for the movie The Great Gatsby to start showing this year. The movie takes place in the 1920s, and will be full of amazing costumes - and jewelry! These jewels have been created by none others than Tiffany & Co. The good news are that these sparkling pieces haven't been made for the movie alone, but are part of Tiffany's The Great Gatsby Collection, and can so be bought! Together with the company's release of it's latest Blue Book Collection - which is also inspired by Art Deco and the Great Gatsby - anyone (who can afford it) can feel like the ultimate flapper girl! Here are a few of the pieces from the collections.

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The Savoy headpiece, with diamonds and freshwater cultured pearls in platinum. The aigrette can be removed and used as a brooch. The 200,000 USD. The Great Gatsby Collection.

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Hand ornament with a daisy motif, made with diamonds cultured pearls and platinum. 75,000 USD. The Great Gatsby Collection.

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Art Deco-inspired ring, with tanzanites, diamonds and platinum. 25,000 USD. The Great Gatsby Collection.

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Pearl tassel necklace, with pearls and diamonds. The Great Gatsby Collection.

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Bangle with fan motif of diamonds on black lacquer and platinum. 140,000 USD. The Great Gatsby Collection.

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Two Fish bracelet in platinum and 18k gold, with sapphires, red spinels and diamonds. 350,000 USD. The Blue Book Collection.

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Bracelet with pavé diamonds and square-cut sapphires. The Blue Book Collection. 

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Platinum tiara with diamonds, which incorporates a detachable bracelet set with nine Tiffany Yellow Diamonds in 18k gold. 335,000 USD. The Blue Book Collection.

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Diamond drop earrings. 140,000 USD. The Blue Book Collection.

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Necklace with tsavorites and round and pear-shaped diamonds in platinum. The Blue Book Collection.