Well, I finally did it... I joined instagram! In typical form, I'm several years behind the times but now that I have a decent smartphone I'm finally catching up! I'm @_merricat and you can also find a widget in my sidebar.
Please feel free to follow, I would love to follow back :)
Expect to see glimpses of antiques and old dresses, my outfits, rural Vermont life (especially dogs, flowers, and calves!) and my travels around historic New England. Hope to see you over there!!
Hi hi! This evening I thought I'd share a few glimpses of the gallery show I had this Spring. It was my senior exhibition for my minor in photography. Art has always been a side project for me, as I would hate the pressure of making it my career, and while my photography was technically for school it was also an important creative outlet so I wouldn't go mad just writing and researching my thesis all day!As you can see, the love for antique dresses, long-empty farmhouses, and rural life I've cultivated on this blog are themes in my photographs as well.
I put up 50 prints, plus some installation elements and a hand-made book with some of my Western photographs. It was such a lot of work to install everything considering my show was only up for one week, but so very satisfying to see my work have a tangible presence.
Hello friends! This is just a little shop update post... I have an extremely varied batch of items, fresh from my attic to the shop. Blog readers can take 20% off your order of $20 or more through the month of June with the coupon code "sweetheart6" ❤
There are some truly lovely pieces I'd totally be hanging on to, were it not for my overwhelming need to declutter and bring in some cash ;)
Hello friends! I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to post lately; I've been very busy this Spring with finishing my thesis* and having my first gallery show. Perhaps now that I have a spare minute, I can take some time to document my outfits again. Here is a quick outfit post from a little while ago. It was one of the first warm spring days of the year, and I was so excited to be able to lay aside the thick stockings for a change!
* I'm soon to graduate with my degree in Art History and American Studies, for which I wrote my thesis on female education and mourning rituals in Federal-era New England through the lens of schoolgirls' pictorial embroidery :)
Wearing:
1900s Edwardian child's dress
Vintage lace-trimmed slip
Crochet tights I've had for seven years(!!)
Thrifted "We Who See" Oxfords
Hello, and happy Easter Monday! Since beginning my blog four years ago, I've made it a habit to document my Easter outfit each year. It's no secret that Easter is my favorite holiday; in addition to the celebration of all things lambs, chicks, pastels, and candies, it has traditionally been the gateway to Spring at home in New England, although this year Winter is still dragging its heels. Here's this year's look, taking some inspiration from Japanese dolly kei girls and 1920s silent film ingenues!
I wore:
1940s sheer plaid gown
1920s wax blossom wedding headpiece
Vintage millinery blossoms
Antique black silk velvet ribbon as belt
Dr Martens Darcie boots
The past year or two, I have really stopped documenting my wardrobe, but I've actually never been happier with it. I might try to catch a few more outfit snaps in the future, especially as my vintage wardrobe leans mostly towards Victorian and Edwardian pieces these days--pieces which are ephemeral and forever on the verge of decay, and which I really would like to thoroughly document before they are unwearable.
This dress, though "only" about seventy years old is actually in pretty rough shape, with tearing at the shoulders and a few snags throughout the fabric. Because it's large on me, I can still wear it pretty well without stressing the fabric too much. I do retire garments when they get too close to breaking down, then relegate them to wall hangings or cut them up to make new garments or doll clothes. But I never really throw them out, and I am interested in watching the way their forms change. It's so interesting how an old dress still evokes the era it's from, but yet is never quite the way it was originally, be it a white cotton taking on an aged ecru shade or a calico pattern becoming faded and patched from decades of wash and wear. No antique garment is truly pristine and untouched, so I no longer feel guilty if I hurry it to its next form by wearing it to shreds :)
(And of course, most of my clothes are the cast-offs of farmer's wives and country girls...not priceless couture or anything)
I'm in the process of adding new stock to my Etsy shop, and just listed a pretty posy of glittering glamorous 1960s treasures, full of metallic fabrics and sequins!
I recently watched We Are What We Are... what a beautiful film! The storyline is like We Have Always Lived in the Castle meets Ric Burns' the Donner Party, equal parts gruesome and gorgeous. But the atmosphere is what got me: it perfectly captures the sublime verdant beauty of late Spring, and the Gothic qualities of of rural America. While it takes place in Upstate New York, it reminded me so very much of Vermont, too, with the otherworldly quality of the green landscape when it's cloaked in rain, and the way thegolden hour 1970s trailerpark/ramshackle Victorian buildings are smeared thinly over the weird ancient Colonial world. There are lots of gorgeous shots framed by windows, windshields, and branches, giving viewers a veiled, voyeuristic look into the sisters' insular world. Finally, the soundtrack is magical, featuring old-time country and blues.
Here's a deluge of screenshots I took; you can watch the film on Netflix instant.
Easter is my favorite holiday, 'cause it's the cutest, and I get to be a twee-as-fuck pastel-clad princess. For Easter Sunday, I
wore a 1950s daffodil-hued chiffon prom gown & a 1950s bonnet in a
dusky tulle (with flowers underneath!). My puppy dog even had a spot at the
brunch table-- adorable. I luv you, Easter!!!
When I found this cool eyelet gown at the antique mall last week for all of $15, I just had to make it mine---it reminds me so very much of the puffed-sleeve, full-skirted Southern belle/debutante gowns so many '30s and '40s boudoir dolls wear!!! My own mean-mugging boudoir dolly Lili Marlene sports a similar gown herself.
