Yehoodi is hosting a live streaming feed for the evening competitions, so if you're interested in seeing what's currently happening in the world of swing dancing, check it out!
Friday, August 24, 2012
International Lindy Hop Championships - Live Streaming
This weekend is the International Lindy Hop Championships in Washington D.C. - after only 4 years running, it has quickly established itself as one of the premier swing events.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Costume College 2012
Costume College! This post is extremely picture heavy, but I know you don't want it any other way.
For more photo goodness, visit my Flickr page. (still working on learning Lightroom, but I'm getting slightly faster!)
This is my second year attending Costume College, and I had a blast. Last year I mostly took limited classes (hands on workshops) but this year I attended more lectures. The number one thing I'm excited about now? Hat blocking! I'm on the hunt for a 21 1/2" basic block so that I can make fabulous cloches.
This year's track theme was "Golden Age of Hollywood", but a lot of my vintage and repros just feel like everyday clothes to me, so I opted to rewear some of my projects from the past year instead.
Thursday night they had a Carmen Miranda meet-and-greet cocktail party, and low and behold, in the garage I had a pretty awesome Halloween costume I made a few years back. (You might recognize the top from my Maharaja costume.) This was definitely my shiniest costume for the weekend, even if I did forget my maracas! I built the turban/headpiece over a knit ski hat, which keeps it secure on my head.
Tutti-Frutti with Lauren (Wearing History)
Ginger in a killer 30's chenille bathing cape (Scene in the Past)
Friday night was the ice-cream social - the theme was Medieval, which our group all flagrantly disregarded.
Lauren in her a-maz-ing plaid bustle dress
Ginger, in Regency
Stephanie and I both wore Edwardian and Castle bobs
Rachel, looking like a Vogue cover in her perfectly coordinated ensemble.
Everyone tried to steal her hat!
Saturday night is the Gala, where you wear your most spectacular outfit, and walk down the "red carpet" - there are quite a few onlookers who come out to see the show! Too many great costumes to even remember - I only captured a few!
My favorite photo of the weekend - love the deep colors of all the outfits! In case you're wondering, my husband and Lauren's husband are hamming it up on the other side of the camera, cracking us up.
Another Blogger photo! This time adding "American Duchess" Lauren into the mix. :)
The Nevada ladies all wore their state colors - they were so impressive!
All I can say is - Lauren's lucky we're different sizes. But the cape is ripe for stealing!
Which her husband promptly did!
Icing on the cake - Ginger's recreation of Olivia de Havilland's costume from Robin Hood (1938).
Ginger's entourage arranging the publicity photo.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Birthday Tea Party 2012
Like all of my posts, this one from my birthday is long overdue - my birthday was over a month ago! But we've been busy with all sorts of dance camps, Costume College, weddings (plus going to work!) - and for my birthday Chris bought me the fancy-pants photo editing software Lightroom, and I was determined to at least learn the basics and use it for my most recent photos, which took a while.
I'm also running low on my free space for photos through Blogger, so I started a new Flickr account. Hopefully all these new tools will makes things easier and more streamlined, but there's definitely a learning curve with them!
For my birthday this year, I wanted to have a girl's day out - a group of girlfriends joined me at the Orange Circle in Orange, CA for afternoon tea and vintage shopping. It was lovely but HOT walking around in the middle of the day! People wearing shorts and tanks thought we were crazy, but I'm glad my friends are such good sports.
And even though we brought fancy-pant cameras and I spent hours with my new software, the best photo of the day is the one I took with my iPhone and Instagrammed. Argh! ;)
Lauren's hat came from the estate of Dixie Lee, Bing Crosby's first wife. How cool is that!
I didn't need to buy a hat, because I already had one with a rhinestone shrimp on it!
Delphine, me, and Cait at the Orange Circle fountain.
So many shadows - noon is not the best time for photos!
Vintage girl with her vintage iPhone.
A local friend tipped me off to this cute Orange mural.
Delphine - fantastic dancer and newly married lady!
Lauren made her outfit, and has awesome stripe matching skillz.
Teatime! We went to Paris in a Cup, which is delightful and rather touristy, down to the fake French on the menu. Delphine, our Parisian transplant, had a good giggle at that.
Petit fours and edible orchids - it tasted kind of like lettuce.
Poor photography skills, but it shows the cute room!
And of course Charlie Cat had to sneak into the
photoshoot at the end of the day. What a ham!