Downton Abbey is back, lords and ladies (although I highly doubt there are very many lords that will be reading this extensively), and I'm feeling in the mood to dress just like our favorite characters on the most beloved Upstairs/Downstairs show of all time. Since my last Downton Abbey post was so popular, I figured that with Season 4 in full swing here in America, it was the perfect opportunity to showcase the fabulous styles in the new era facing our the Crawley family and their staff.
It's the 20's now and bounds and limits are being broken left and right. It's a post-war England and people are finally taking a well deserved deep breath for the first time in a long time. The style of the era calls for daring and provocative (as provocative as a Lord and Lady of the time could get, I suppose), and that means showing more skin and wearing flashier clothes. There 20's was a time of freedom and experimentation, progression and advancement, and when you have the money and means of nobility, no fashion is off limits.
That said, there are still a few rules by which to play by, at least when it comes to formal wear:
Form figure dresses were not the order of the day; loose hanging and drape-y dresses with shorter hemlineswere the main focus, as were the fabulous women who wore them.
Embellishments and adornments, such as beading and fringe, were all the rage.
Color was back in a big way after years of monochromatic colors that were meant to highlight a nation at war.
Skin was everywhere. Shoulders and clavicles were being exposed at an alarming rate. Times were a changing!
The ladies of the 20's were not unlike we ladies today, so if you have a penchant for dressing jazzy (this focuses more on evening- and formal-wear), take a cue from this post! For my most loyal and modest readers, skin is optional; place an embellished cardigan or a velvet wrap over any of these dresses to reach your roaring 20's comfort level.
Sigh. America, we lost a good one this weekend. Hannah Montana is dead. She was murdered. Since celebrity deaths are known to happen in triplicate, I really fear for the well being of Lizzie McGuire and Alex Russo (of Wizards of Waverly Place). Hilary Duff and Selena Gomez-- if you are out there and reading this, please contact your alter egos and make sure they are ok. I can only handle one fake celebrity death at a time.
When Miley Cyrus announced on SNL this weekend that Hannah Montana was dead, it was the most disturbing part of the entire episode (other than her horrible acting and poor comedic delivery). Aside from the fact that Miley came off as an ungrateful human being by "murdering" the character that gave her all her fame and fortune (and literally biting the hand that fed her for her entire young adult life), Ms. Cyrus took the liberty of destroying a character that brought so much joy and relatability to young children around the world. For what reason? Only to disassociate herself from a wholesome character she once played and to boost her hyper-sexualized "adult" persona.
I don't get it. I understand that artists wants to grow and evolve, but why does it have to be at the expense of good, happy, positive things? Hannah Montana was a good thing that made children happy. Why does that need to die? If Miley wants to traipse around in barely-there clothing while simultaneously rubbing herself, that's one thing, but why assassinate something that has only caused joy and happiness to children? In the name of being an "adult"? For the sake of being "sexy"? No, because she is selfish. This one seemingly negative association for her and her career means more than the positive association it has for every child who grew up watching a show that oozed positivity and strength for girls everywhere. Selfish, selfish Miley.
Newsflash, girl: being an adult does not mean walking around in your underwear with your crotch hanging out; being an adult means you pay rent or a mortgage; you go grocery shopping during your lunch hour because that's the only free time you have; you weed your garden because no one else will do it for you; you get a direct deposit in your bank account then watch it go out the door when the cable bill comes; you buy clothes and subsequently wear them. Apparently Miley's version of adult doesn't jive with the rest of the world, and so we are all forced to be subject to the non-stop media barrage of someone who kills off the only good thing that she ever did professionally. And for the record, not one thing Miley has done would be even remotely construed as sexy. Disturbing, yes. Sexy? Hardly.
That's why I want to tell children and adults everywhere that Hannah Montana IS NOT DEAD. She was NOT murdered. She is alive and well. I know exactly where she is, too. Read on for more on that. But kids, Hannah is not dead. I'll say it again: Hannah Montana is not dead. She never will be.
Clearly I am sad Miley "killed" Hannah on SNL; I used to watch Hannah Monatana with my nieces all the time, and to this day I have impromptu dance parties with my eight nieces to Hannah's music. I make memories with my young, impressionable, beautiful nieces using the tools that Disney and Miley have provided me-- songs about love, friendship, acceptance, happiness, kindness and staying true to yourself no matter what. While Disney acting and Disney TV leave much to the wholesome imagination, Hannah Montana was a show about a cool girl who led two very different lives-- a public one for the world to see and a private one that was just about her. For all the kids who grew up watching that show, please know that the character of Hannah Montana that Disney (and Miley) crafted so masterfully can never die because she exists forever in time as a character that delivered to children the positive messages of love and acceptance.
I regret to inform you, Miley Cyrus, that Hannah Montana is not dead at all because you are the very embodiment of your former character. The life you lead in the public, in the pictures, in magazines, and on stage cannot in any feasible way be the one you lead in private. Based on the physiology of the human body alone, your tongue cannot be in the protruding position for 24 hours a day; so while every portion of your public performances and videos involve a tongue in ejected form, I'm pretty sure that sucker is safely secured in that mouth of yours in the privacy of your own home. If it's not, then it's time to consult a physician because that's not healthy. As a general member of society with eyes, I ask that you keep the tongue firmly in it's rightful place.
But really Miley, you are Hannah Montana. You will never escape it no matter how much you try to show us your nipples. You are a public figure who is probably hurting very much in private. I'm here to tell you that we never asked for this version of Miley; no one put out a memo asking for this degenerative form of a pop star. You RUINED teddy bears for me. I can't forgive your for that.
So, no people, Hannah Montana is NOT dead. If you want to see her alive and well, just take a look at Miley. She's right there in all her latex-baring glory. I'd rather pick up a Hannah Montana CD any day than the new Miley Cyrus album, so if you are reading this and agree with me in any way, don't pick up a copy of Bangerz; if you feel the need to contribute to Miley Cyrus' fortune, go to Amazon and pick up a copy of her Hannah Montana CDs. The only way we, the public, can ensure that Hannah Montana is not dead (a larger metaphor for wholesome family fun, not gyrating 20 somethings pretending to be secure in their sexiness) is by making sure that Hannah's message is alive and well. I for one would like to see Bangerz be put 6 feet under.
Long live Hannah Montana.
PS Bring back this Miley. This is an album I would buy.
So, while this is a fashion blog, I have been known to put my two cents in on news and happenings, especially with regard to the Jewish world and Jewish culture. I don't know about you, but last night's holiday episode of Glee was especially frustrating for me, and I'm going to shout it from the rooftops till Ryan Murphy hears me.
While I appreciate the effort to include Chanukah (Hanukkah--whatever) on their holiday episode (see video below), it's getting kind of old and frustrating to see the Jews being the butt of many jokes on the show. Now, a holiday that involves very specific and popular cultural symbols (a list for you: menorah, dreidel, jelly doughnuts, Hanukkah gelt, blue and white, oil, 8 nights of presents-- I could go on) and would EASILY make for a token "Jews around the menorah" scene was instead portrayed by two men running through a backlot in Los Angeles and then hanging ornaments on a tree. A CHRISTMAS tree. For CHANUKAH.
Pardon me if I seem to be getting pissed about nothing, but apparently the Jewish culture has become nothing more than a minor acknowledgement as that OTHER holiday in December, than an actual real holiday celebrated by millions of people around the country. Hey Ryan Murphy, we couldn't even get our one token scene in an ENTIRE holiday episode? Apparently not. No, instead we got a poorly sung song with mispronounced words (it's pronounce SE - VEE - VON. I can't even make out what the Puckermans are saying in that sentence) with a bunch of frolicking showgirls and nuns (!), and a pissed-off security guard. How am I, a Jew celebrating Chanukah, supposed to relate in any way to or associate with two men running around a Los Angeles movie backlot singing a Chanukah song? How is that supposed to represent Chanukah? How did Ryan Murphy even dignify that as a sufficient portrayal of this holiday? I'm not even Christian, but I related more to the Christmas aspects of the episode by sheer fact that I am a New Yorker than I did to the Chanukah.
This was a complete disregard for everything our holiday stands for. Ryan Murphy made Chanukah into a big old joke meant to do his part to "be inclusive". Chanukah is a beautiful and highly festive holiday with lights and decorations too-- just because it doesn't involve a little green and red and have tinsel and shiny ornaments or tree doesn't make it any less valuable to the audience. I would have rather that Glee didn't acknowledge Chanukah at all than to have had that poor excuse of a musical number to satisfy the Jews (which is exactly what it felt like). I shall classify this as a #GleeFail.
It's baaacck! Finally, after months of longing and waiting, one of my favorite shows has returned, and it is evident that I can hardly contain my excitement! As a follow-up to my successful post on that other period-piece show I posted about (ahem, Downton Abbey), I decided to write one dedicated solely to the groovy sixties, essentially the main character in the show Mad Men!
So what were the dresses of the moment? Figure-flattering, waist-cinching, covered-but-alluring sheaths that were vibrant and colorful. Women wanted to be noticed in the sixties, recovering from a World War that cast a gloom over the country for more than two decades. It was time to have fun in the sixties! I say, it's about time we bring back some of that fun!
Lord knows I did my best to try and find as many of the following dresses with sleeves, but the fact of the matter is that times are different, and full-on modesty is not as prevalent or fashionable today as it was back then. Suffice it to say, the sixties was a time where women challenged their roles in society and started to break through that glass ceiling, so it was a great time to be a woman. The following dresses are highly reminiscent of the era--fun, flirty, daring, but still ladylike. Add a cardigan to the barer dresses, and you are set for some sensational sixties fabulosity!
Alright ladies! I know this is a blog about modest fashion, and who better to highlight modesty than the women of Downton Abbey. Downton Abbey is a show that take place during the 1910'2 and 20's in in the British countryside. It's about a British Aristocratic family living at a time when decorum and manners were not only expected, but upheld. Men stood for women when they came in a room, ladies dressed for a regular Tuesday night dinner like they would dress for any other fancy event or occasion, and most of all, men dressed like gentlemen, and women dressed like ladies.
In an effort to prove that these concepts (some of them, at least) are not completely dead, I decided to compile a few looks that remind me of this show and time period. If i got really serious, I would have done accessories too, but that's for another post. DISCLAIMER: The following looks are not normally what I would post because they are not totally tzniut, but this topic is so delicious and fun, and I just had to do a post about it! Some of these dresses are super duper expensive and way out of our price ranges (we can't all be British Aristocrats), but just so you're aware, the class of that era is not all gone.
Some of these next few dresses are way out of your budget, unless you are ready to pay a pretty penny to be a 1910's darling (there is a more affordable section below). Things to look for in the dresses of the day were attention to detail. Fabrics flowed long and effortlessly with great care given to adornments and styling. Beading and embroidery were top class, and soft, flowy silhouettes were the gowns of choice.
Lita Gown This gown from BHLDN is highly reminiscent of a Downton Abbey gown. Sheer layers with lots of soft details were a trademark of the time.
Ophelia Dress Tiers on a gown was one way you were able to add drama to the column silhouettes of the time (did you see the finale of season 2--Lady Mary in that wine colored dress). You didn't exactly have women walking around in enormous ballgowns all day, so to compensate for breadth, women adorned their dresses with as much detail and frills as possible. The tiered lace on this dress just screams Downton.
Fairy Song Gown Yet another example of how the column silhouette was used, and the beading and detail on this dress, also from BHLDN, is highly reminiscent of a true early 20th century British lady.
This gown from Marchesa highlights the attention to detail that was given to gown making back in the day. Women embraced color at that time, especially before World War I. Once the war broke out, more conservative looks became the norm.
On the more casual side, this dress has all the markings of a casual outing dress, similar to the ones you see above. Empire waist-ed dresses were the style of the times, so whether you were getting dressed for a wedding, or dinner, or a game of cricket, this was more or less how you would dress.
Now for some pieces that are slightly more accessible to the everyday lady's budget; while all of these are not gowns, they have the hints of charm and elegance that defined the early 20th century lady.
Ready For Glamour Sequined Top There is no question that beading and bedazzling was a hallmark of the evening dresses in the days of the fictional Downton Abbey. Dresses were glamorous and stunning from top to bottom. What better way to start your outfit at the top than with this sequined stunner.
Sheer overlays were the way to be modest but show some skin back in the day (and if you have been reading any of my posts, you know that sheer sleeves are way back in). This loose dress with sheer cover-up is reminiscent of the older days, but with a modern twist.
While the print is way more modern (and far too large for a 1910's gown), the cut of the dress is very Downton chic. Pair this with a pair of satin gloves and a felt hat, and you are sure to impress at any dinner in true 1910's fashion.
This Adrianna Papell fown embraces a little bit of all the 1910's style. The sheer, detail adorned sleeve, the tiered skirt, and the vibrant color make this Lady Mary, Lady Edith, and Lady Cybil approved.
Flutter Me By Dress This dress really captures the silhouette and attention to detail that was given to dresses in the early 20th century. While this one is a bit modern, there is a bit of the wistful, Downton Abbey feel to it.
