Violet Folklore

We Heart Etsy: Semina Filligree

Our good friend Toni has been getting Super Crafty lately, knitting new cozies for her Etsy shop, Semina Filligree! We thought you would all appreciate these lovelies, perfect for the cold months, and knit from super soft wool. Her inspiration for this collection includes vintage Chanel cloche hats, as well as Tatum O'Neal's cool headgear in the 70s movie Paper Moon. Love the wrist warmers, scarfs, and capes, too. And-- do I even need to say it?-- isn't her styling an inspiration?

 

 

 

Toni's Etsy shop is here-- go and get these cutie-pie pieces before someone else snaps them up!

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

The Queen of Lola-Land

From Sasha

I am reading a fabulous book at the moment: Temptress: From The Original Bad Girls to Women on Top (my hunny works at an art book company, so I get to indulge in some great stuff). I just finished the chapter on Lola Montez, and I can't get her out of my mind!

 

Born Eliza Gilbert in Limerick, Ireland, Lola had a quick mind and a fiery temper, and the dramatic looks to match. The life of a dutiful wife in Victorian Ireland suited her not one whit, so she left her marriage and set off for Spain to study Flamenco dancing. There she picked up Spanish, and reinvented herself as "Lola Montez", the daughter of a matador. She correctly intuited that exotic dancing was her ticket to fame and freedom, and she took her act all over Europe, picking up lovers and shocking upstanding moral people along the way. It was quite a sensation in the 1800s to publicly demonstrate "sensuous" dance movements, not to mention the flashing of ankles and possibly even knees!

Lola had affairs with Franz Liszt, Alexandre Dumas, and many other rich and powerful men, but her most scandalous liason was with the King of Bavaria, King Ludwig I. Ludwig was so bowled over by her charms that he lost all control of his heart and the purse strings of the country's treasury, even building Lola her own palace-- featuring a fountain that sprayed perfumed water! Lola ended up essentially ruling Bavaria in the stead of the aging and besotted king, and her liberal rule infuriated those who would flex their political muscle. Eventually her detractors did get the upper hand, stirring up a violent movement against Lola, and in the end Ludwig abdicated his very crown rather than severe his alliance with his controversial mistress.

 

Lola pictured with the whip she supposedly carried on her person, as a perfect accessory to her temper. Note the crown that "cupid" is handing her! 

Lola found her greatest career success in her mid-30s, when she left the shores of Europe for America. The West was wild with gold fever and a little town called Grass Valley was booming. She opened a saloon there featuring "Louis XVI cabinets, ormolu mirrors, Ludwig's jewels, Kanaka houseboys, a pet bear, a swan bed, gold leaf everywhere, one extra large deep-red-top billiard table with dragons carved on its legs, and every Governor, Senator or millionaire she could find and haul into the place." Rowdy miners loved the dance moves that had so infuriated the proper ladies of European society. Lola was a hit!

 

Letters discovered after Lola's death hint that this saloon with its notorious and powerful guests was all part of a grand plan to gain influence and assistance in order to "capture" California from the rest of the USA, cause it to declare independence, and then be rechristened "Lola-land," with herself as Queen. (How this never went off, we'll never know, but it sure was a great idea...)

 If you google "Lola Montez" you will find that modern dancers and showgirls still cite her as an influence-- she is one of those iconic women whose name and look has survived for generations. I love the idea that our sleepy little foothill town once harbored such a tigress. Maybe there is still a little Lola left around here! Rrrrrrrow!

 
 

Tales From A Gunne Parade

You all remember our Gunne Parade in Sacramento this past weekend, of course?

 

Here is the wonderful Atelier, one of the most charming clothing stores in all of Northern California. The ladies who run it have made an intimate, inspiring space filled with incredible vintage and one-of-a-kind clothing designs. It's true love right from the rosebush by the front door:

 

Hey, that's us on the sign! And recognize the clothes on that rack? It's our Trunk show! We just love how all the pretty dresses look hung up together...

(Every inch of Atelier is thoughtfully decorated, even the windows!)

Here is one of the Atelier "advertisements" for the Gunne Parade... none other than an exquisite Gunne, of course! And some more of the dreamy inside of the store:

 

The adorable children's section:

We were talking about how someone should do some kind of Gunne database... I mean, all of us agreed that we just keep seeing new Gunne designs all the time! How many dresses did this one company make? Here's a late 60s one that takes the cake:

Love those birds!

The Gunne Database might solve some of the Gunne Mysteries... like why these two very similar dresses (one is ours, one belongs to Atelier) have different labels. One is in the Bridal Collection, one is not. Huh??? (By the way that's Amber with Kara, one of the owners of Atelier. Kara also runs the fabulous Etsy shop Porkchop Rules! Check it out! Kara is wearing a Gunne skirt/vest set.)

 

Our fearless parade leader, Nicole, with her daughter Kama! Kama did the hand drawn flyer that's in our first picture. Being 9 years old, she actually fits in those teeny tiny Gunnes, lucky girl... and check out Nicole's awesome Gunne, again one in a style we'd never seen! Those stripes!

(Nicole co-runs Atelier and has two awesome stores on Etsy-- Dig Vintage, which features clothes very similar in "boho" style to Violet Folklore, and Flaming Hag Folkwear, where she showcases her beautiful handmade jewelry.)

We were a small parade, but we made up for our size with our enthusiasm... and our noise! We brought lots of toy instruments and we played them with the wild abandon of Hari Krishnas, throughout the busy streets of the Second Saturday artwalk!

As twilight descended, all the ravens flew home... it was a never-ending river of ravens in the sky! It probably happens all year long, but it felt so totally OCTOBER!

Crossing the street is so much more fun when you are musical, and dressed up all purty.

Amber and Sasha: bright lights, big city; but we're doing our part to keep it old-fashioned!

We are just going to go ahead and call this the "First Annual" (can you call it Annual if it's the first one ever? We dunno) so let this be an inspiration for all of you to join us next year! Meanwhile, keep rockin your Gunnes, and someone please make a Gunne database... Nicole and Kara have both seen Gunnes with UNICORN prints, and we're dying to know what they look like! Sounds like a Trophy Gunne, if ever there was one. Hmmm.....

Atelier is at 1617 16th Street in wonderful Midtown Sacramento. They are open every day except Mondays.

The Most Coveted Dress

From Amber
A few weeks ago Sasha photographed herself in our Alfred Shaheen Peacock Dress. Later that day she went home and put the picture up in a blog entitled August in California: Dry Grass and Gunne Gowns, planning on putting the dress up for sale in the shop the following morning.


Well, by the time the morning rolled around our blog comment box, Flickrmail, and Etsy Convo's were filled with requests for sole buying privileges on the dress! It was the biggest response we've ever had for a piece of clothing, and we were more than a little surprised! But the print, of course, is fantastic.
The ladies fought a hard fight, but it was Izzy, the lovely woman behind the Etsy shop YeYe! Vintage Boutique, who staked the first claim. Check out her recent blog post featuring a mountainside photo shoot in which she manages to make this gorgeous dress look even more so thanks to her beautiful natural surroundings and amazing styling... 

Candace of California

From Sasha

Me and my sweet friend Candace managed to finally get together to do a photo shoot for Violet Folklore, just before she headed off to San Francisco to weave her next daydream. This girl is a child of the 60s at heart, and we have bonded over many a Rolling Stones song and felted hat. Artistic talent runs in her family, and she has extraordinarily clever hands which design amazing clothing, paintings, and beaded/stained glass/dried flower sandals. She also has a purely wacky sense of humor, which I found out the first time we hung out and watched a John Waters film. Sometimes she feels a bit like my twin sister in younger form! 
We headed down to the Yuba River, which was like bathwater after a week of scorching summer days. In the last hour before dark-- the famed "photographers hour" we took these amazing pictures. Thanks to Candace, who walked on boulders and steep sandy hills in her high heeled Anna Sui boots, and donned a fuzzy hat in the service of my strange Vision. You are truly a precious soul, and a real Artist through and through.  Enjoy!:

She comes in colors everywhere, they're in her hair... she's like a rainbow...

See you in Sam Clam's Disco, Candie!

Loud, Proud, and Dancing Like Crazy

From Sasha

Whoa! Somehow the weekend is racing towards me, and I haven't even caught up from the last one! If you're like me, a member of the technologically co-dependent generation, you don't quite feel ready to move into the future until the recent past is uploaded. 

Sidewalk Art, Dolores Street

Last weekend was Pride in San Francisco, the biggest celebration in the whole world of the awesomeness that is the gay/lesbian/bi-sexual/tran-sexual community. Gay folks may be more present than ever before in the media and American consciousness, but (as I often have to remind people), it is seldom easy in our culture to grow up gay. There is still so much shame and fear around the expression of different sexualities, if not the experience of downright social ostracization and violence. 

You might wonder why I am standing on my soap box in my fashion blog to tell you something you already know, but there is still an incredible amount of ignorance around this subject. In my small town the "cool" post-person raised is eyebrows sky-high when I told him where I was off to for the weekend, and even in the Bay Area I have known of people who have been beaten up, had rotting veggies thrown at them, etc., just for being "queer". So many of my friends are gay/lesbian, and I feel very strongly that they deserve all the rights afforded to "straight" people. This is not just a theory, it is a conviction that comes from life experience-- try counseling a dear friend who, as a lesbian mother, lost her child when her wife left her, because gay marriage isn't legal in California and she had no legal custody. I could really go on. But let's talk celebrating!

Here I am at The Roxie on 16th Street... my friends Kymmie and Denah made a film (with me in it) called Devil's Dairymaid, which showed at the prestigious Frameline Gay/Lesbian/Trans-gender film festival, as part of the experimental film shorts program. 

There's (left to right) Inbar, Chris, and Jessie, and Amy; thanks to everyone who came out and made it a full house!!! You cheered so loud for me and that butter churn... gotta love it.

Me and my dear friend Armelle, who came down from Oregon to visit with me and our mutual friend Terese-- here we are waiting for the 24 Divisadero! 

My friends have the cutest kids... 

The girls reunited: me, Terese, and Armelle!

Andy from the SF band LSD and the Search for God (I can feel my father's comment coming here- I dunno Dad, you're going to have to ask Andy yourself!), Chris, and me... musical buddies 4 ever!

The Dyke March!

Ladies...

Rockers! These are my friends who play in the all-girl SF band Excuses for Skipping. They rocked the whole parade as it marched by!

For those of you who want to see it in action, here's a video snippet from their amazing cover of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean!:

Speaking of which, Michael Jackson is not a passing fancy in my friend Linda (the lead singer of Excuses)'s house. Here he is on the bathroom mirror, where he has been for years:

 ...and on the door to her room:

I love San Francisco. Where else do you find a kite-making camp? Hello? Oh, it's a gay olde towne! (-:

The Gunne Sax That Made The Big Time

From Sasha   So my radable-awesome friends Kymmie Sioux and Denah made the coolest short film in REAL 16mm, starring me as, what else, The Devil's Dairymaid (no I didn't have to apply for this position, I admit... it was an inside job!). Their film has been chosen to show as part of the Canyon Cinemas Queer Underground Showcase at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, this Friday night the 26th. I will be there to catch it on the big screen, and I'd love to see you there!   You might note, watching the trailer below, that one of the most important visual elements is a gorgeous white full-length Gunne Sax dress! And yes, I do spill milk VERY clumsily all over it... but I'm supposed to be kind of, um, possessed, so you have to forgive me.   The other films all look amazing too. For tickets and more info go HERE...  

Final Version - Devil's Dairymaid trailer from d.a. johnston on Vimeo.

Belles In A Garden

From Amber
Last week Mariee's mother Felicia called us up and invited us over to the house for another photo shoot!  We ended up using completely different backgrounds from the ones we used last time. This clothesline lay, perfectly, right next to the roses that we modeled our lovely new vintage finds in front of for most of the evening:


We later migrated down to their beautiful and extensive flower garden. So here are some of the new goodies that will be listed in the shop over the next few days or so, including no less than SIX pieces (listed at the bottom) which won't- because we fell in love with them (I myself gluttonously claimed four)!
 




Our favorite shot of the day, thanks to Tanner:





























Okay, now here are the pieces that we couldn't resist and decided to keep for ourselves. The li'l top is such sweet and will be and perfect for summer. I just feel like more of a mom, in a good way, in some clothes than others. This falls into that category:

 



I assure you that I have never been one for the belly shirt, but this beauty is too good to let go!I actually stopped going to belly dance class because, among many other things, I didn't have the right clothes for it. Now I do! And just in time, because I am beginning to feel the belly dance energy come back into my life. Especially after taking that Mayan Uterine Massage class at the Symposium, I've been reminded of how important uterine/abdominal/core health is for women. And I feel so much better even after 5 minutes of very amateur belly dance done in a stolen moment in front of the mirror in my bedroom.
 I adore the little blue flowers:


Yes, that's a sticker on my dirty jeans butt, from the children's library. Sasha thought it was the label of some uber chic jeans :-)




Yay, this amazing vintage jacket looks *so good* on Sash! I loved it over the slip and with the cowboy boots. Oh and the girl has a major thing for houndstooth:


Sahsa's hubby Chris loved the way this dress brought out her eyes and insisted she keep it:
 

This dress marks my first foray into the world of early 90s vintage. I just love the fit and super soft material:


Okay guys. So. In my 28 years I have referred to many, many a dress as My Favorite. And they all have been. But this one, that Sasha found and knew I would probably fall in love with, trumps them all. The fabric is so soft, the print is a dream, the fit is perfect, when I sit down it covers my whole lower body in warmth, I just adore it!!!


We literally squealed and hugged when I tried it on. It's the ultimate Summer Dress (a very important thing, of course). And it comes with a matching shawl:


So happy:


Thanks so much Felicia for the perfect photo backdrops and Sasha for bringing so many amazing garments into my life!
"A new dress changes everything" -Linda Grant

One More...

I forgot to add this one yesterday- it's so relevant to Violet Folklore what with the wildflowers and cute purses and all ;-)

Funny Stuff

From Amber

I just discovered the blog of Morgan Levy, a Nevada City native who I have had the pleasure to chat with a number of times. I knew she was a rad chick but had no idea she was creating such clever and entertaining bits of goodness.