Last post, I left you just at the completion of our young set’s Speed Virginia Reel. This post is going to be a continuation of Ochre Court pictures, because there were too many I wanted to share for just one post. At the end of the ball we decided to get some young people pictures on the fabulous red carpeted stair case in the entry way, so that is where we begin Ochre Court pictures: part II.
Congregating on the stairs. If you look closely, you can see the flower clump casualty on my dress.Such a lovely group of young people.Of course, we’re all very tired after our exertions…But that doesn’t stop us from taking animal pictures!Which made us laugh pretty hard.Bill Cunningham caught us taking photos on the stairs and was very excited. BUT… We caught Bill Cunningham taking pictures of us on the stairs!Halfway up the stairs, pretending to jump!A close up…Another view. It was particularly amusing to us because we were tired and the floor below the stairs is marble, so obviously one would not actually want to jump over the railing…Okay, now we’re trying to be serious and look like we’re having casual conversations.And now we’re being elegant. Look! Bill Cunningham!Descending the stairs with camera flashes going off as though I was a celebrity!But I’m not… I’m just me, missing a flower clump… backed by young men in tails…Momentary relaxation between photos…This was the skirt puddle pose which followed the traditional jellyfish dance… (aka all of us jumping up and down in a clump and moving through the rooms before suddenly plopping and letting our skirts billow around us).While being a jellyfish I lost a second clump of flowers! I didn’t think I had sewn them on so loosely!So sad. You know it’s a good ball when your dress suffers injuries not once, but twice!Oh my! Tartan drawers to match the tartan dress!I was so happy to just BE in Ochre Court. Do you get that feeling from this picture? I’m just soaking it all in.Exuberant might be a better word for me.“I love Ochre Court THIS much!”Posing by the fireplace in the white room. Isn’t it lovely?Don’t we look fabulous???The necessary bum picture, particularly amusing when wearing hoops.One last glimpse of the back lawn before we pack up to leave.I LOVE Ochre Court. I just wanted to drink it in as much as I possibly could.
That was a long one! But you made it! Thanks for sticking with me through all those photos. I sincerely hope that you were able to get a feeling of excitement and unrestrained happiness from the pictures that matched even half of my feelings from that night. It was truly spectacular. Thanks to all my lovely friends for assisting me in having such a marvelous time.
Final tally: 66 pictures from this event between two posts out of 1047 possible Ochre Court pictures… Honestly, I don’t think I did too terribly narrowing them down, considering the possibilities!
As you may already know if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, the 1860s are my favorite period. I get super excited about them–especially the clothes! So you can imagine my absolute joy at being able to attend an 1860s ball during Newport Vintage Dance Week. But to make things even more amazingly wonderful, this particular ball was held in one of the most beautiful places we visited during the week! You can see pictures of last year’s 1860s Ochre Court Newport ball here, in an earlier post. In fact, Ochre Court is my favorite of any Newport venues I have ever entered, except maybe the Breakers… but we didn’t have a ball at the Breakers (because it is no longer open to the public, as far as I know), so for Newport 2012, Ochre Court was my top most favorite place!
Ochre Court was built in 1892 as a summer home for Ogden Goelet, a wealthy New York banker and developer, for $4.5 million. It was designed by Richard Morris Hunt, who also designed the Breakers, which is just down the street. In fact, Ochre Court is the 2nd largest Newport “cottage,” the Breakers being the largest. (All of this information came from the Newport Mansions website, which you can access by clicking the link at the beginning of the paragraph. It also has fantastic pictures, which you should check out if you’re at all interested!)
We came up the side road to enter Ochre Court. This is the side gate.As you walk in the side gate you are greeted by the grand front drive to the right.Looking down the main drive. Directly behind the camera is Ochre Court.The grand main drive is just to the right. To the left is the entry to Ochre Court.Looking up at Ochre Court. The arch at the bottom of the picture is the front entryway from the last picture.This is the grand ballroom: the first room reached upon entering Ochre Court! It is three stories high with arched galleries on the second and third floors, which are reached by means of a fabulous red carpeted staircase (pictures of that are coming soon).Pass through the grand ballroom and you emerge onto the back lawns which slope gently down toward the cliff and the water.
The neat thing about many of the balls at Newport is that multiple rooms on the same level of the mansions are open and available to us, and we are able to dance between rooms during the course of one dance!
This is the library, which is just off of the grand ballroom.The grand ballroom.Another view of dancers in the grand ballroom.One more because it’s pretty!This room wasn’t open last year! In my head it is the white room. It is also just off of the grand ballroom. We are dancing the Newport 2012 quadrille: Les Rats.We’ve just finished a figure of the quadrille! Yay us!Taking a break in the entryway.
Okay, this next bit takes a bit of explaining. Antonia expressed it very well in her post “Speed Virginia Reel at Ochre Court.” You can read the whole description by clicking the link, but here’s the short version: “The Virginia Reel is an interesting dance…there are always people who refuse to wait for the music and push the speed…Speed Virginia Reel doesn’t even try that hard, and instead strives to be insane. It was invented by teenagers a couple of months ago…and it doesn’t even pretend to be dancing to music.” Is your interest peaked?
I hope so, because it was some of the most fun we young people had at this particular ball! It included many sweeping hoop skirts showing scandalous views of ladies’ drawers as well as a slide and fall on her bottom by none other than me! Unfortauntely, there are no pictures of me actually on the floor, so you’ll have to take my word for it (and I’m sure my fellow dancers would back me up!). Lucky for me I had two factors in my favor such that I didn’t hurt myself at all: 1-I wear a pretty hefty bum pad with my 1860s clothes to help my hoop stay paralell to the floor (I’m pretty sure I landed on this, because the floor is marble, and the fall didn’t hurt) and 2-there was so much adrenaline going around that even if it did hurt I didn’t feel it…I remember lying on the floor thinking “Yikes, I am lying on the floor,” and then jumping up again and continuing the dance! This dance was so much fun I really couldn’t rule out very many pictures, so I do hope that you don’t mind seeing a lot of Speed Virginia Reel, the all new 1860s dance craze!
Hoops and tails are flying! This is part of the grand ballroom, looking toward the dining room. We stationed ourselves in an uninhabited section of the room so as not to endanger others…Just look at those hoops flying!The corner people dance (or run…) various things together to begin the dance.Flying tails!Run!!!You can see the momentum in the swinging hoops!This part of the dance is called strip the willow. It involves the top couple turning each of the people below them till they meet at the bottom…The top couple is just beginning to run to the top to start follow the leaders.Scandalous drawers!Even more is showing in this picture. I think this is the highest any skirt went…The top couple runs down the middle of the other four couples, and the other couples have to spring apart to make space!Really, the top couple just goes all out down the middle and hopes for the best (at least in the speedy version of this dance).This picture is pretty awesome. The wind is ruffling my sails (skirt…) and I am clearly running, as I wouldn’t be able to stand at that angle without falling over otherwise…More obvious evidence of running…Look at those hoops sway!Another favorite running picture! I’m sure you can see why!I had to include this, because look at how high my skirt was swinging! It’s pretty epic!Run, run, run!Clearly, there was a lot of running and momentum in this dance.Forward and backward, all while running.Down the middle!Follow the leader!This is what was happening while the top couple circled the people below them.Evidence of my fall! You can see one of my flower clumps on the floor that’s about to be picked up so it is out of danger!Follow the leader around the column…running as fast as possible and missing a flower clump…We made it, corsets, falling and all! I’m obviously excited, because look at how far off the floor I am! I LOVE this picture! Don’t you?
There was nothing sedate about this dance. What else is there to say? I have more fabulous pictures from the end of this event… but I think I’ll do a second installment post about this event to share them. So stay tuned!
Alliterative, agreed? Ok, I’m done… Honestly, the words just came–I didn’t spend long on them! Last weekend I attended the Returning Heroes Ball hosted by the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers in Holliston, MA. As usual, it was full of fun and laughs. There were fabulous dresses all around (because of course one of the joys of a ball is to observe dresses–old and new) and wonderful refreshments as well. I don’t have pictures of other people, but I have pictures of me!… You can see a variety of people in the photos on Antonia’s blog, Experiments in Elegance…
Me, in Annabelle. I really, really love hoop skirted dresses! And flounces! Whee!!!
I recently gained a new accessory: a deep purple burnout silk velvet scarf, big enough to use as a shawl. The shawl was decommissioned from a friend’s modern wardrobe because it is rather intense for a modern look; however, it works wonderfully as a 19th century piece, I think! I’ve been waiting for about three months to try it out with this outfit… I think it is fabulous and nicely complements the purple in the flowers. Do you think it works for an 1860s look?
Ooo... Purple silk velvet shawl. So cosy! (and stylish to boot!)Thanks for taking the photos, gentlemen (you know who you are)!
I’ve been trying out more complicated, poof-filled hair styles in preparation for early 20th century styling and I put some extra effort into this hair-do to try out more poof-ing. From the front my hair has it’s normal 1860s style with a center part where each from section is slightly poofed and rolled back to join the low rolled chignon at the nape of my neck (above, left and right)… but from the back this most recent style has extra poof-age!
See the extra poof at the top of my head? Poof close-up
In terms of the hair-styling itself, I think I like the extra poof as it gives more dimension and adds a regal feel to the overall look. Do you like the added poof?
I also decided to rework the hair wreath I’d made for the German Cotillion back in October (left). I’m not sure I like it as a giant mass of flowers, I might rework it again into a crescent shape like the flower piece that matches Belle, my other 1860s ball gown (above right). In terms of the flowers, giant mass or crescent shape?
I am so pleased with my re-made 1819 dress. You can get the background here or read the sewing update here! In short, the new style shares only the skirt with its former self. The new ruffles are all hand hemmed and hand sewn on. The dress seams are a mix of machine and hand sewing, depending on if I felt like digging out the sewing machine or not. All of the bodice seams are flat felled by hand. The dress closes in the back with 4 mother of pearl buttons. Oh, and let me not forget that the dress no longer has built in petticoats. Part of the re-make was to create a separate petticoat from one of the two petticoat layers built into the dress. The petticoat ties under the bust and has a single button to close the top of the bust. It is just a sleeveless, simple version of the gown. I’ll have to take pictures sometime so I can share them. But the dress… It fits! It is ruffly! It has so much more style than it did before! Just to compare, the first picture is your first glimpse of its current style, and below that is from before the re-make.
The re-made 1819 dress, with ruffles!The 1819 dress in its first incarnation.
Isn’t it more stunning than it previously was? I wore it to the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers’ 1812 Ball (ok, so my dress was a little forward thinking… maybe I have a time machine?). I had a lovely time, as expected. I made some new acquaintances and renewed some old ones, I was able to wear my recently purchased kid leather opera-length (which means over the elbow) gloves and a beautiful shawl one of my aunts gave me a few years ago, I got to practice my historic hair styling techniques (more to come on that point soon), and I danced! But let me stop writing, because really this post is about sharing pictures.
The back view of the re-made dress.Friends: don't we make a lovely group? Ok, wait, but there's a funny face...How about this one? Same group, but now I'm making the funny face. Rather a severe expression, don't you think?
I’d just like to insert a comment here: looking again at these pictures, all the ruffles on the bodice of my dress really manage to make me look much more busty than I actually am… Hm… there are a lot of ruffles going on there!
My friend made this beautiful fan to go with her dress! It's hard to see the detail in this picture, but it's absolutely lovely.Front of her new dress. She also has the super cute tiara, that is much more sparkly in person...Back of her new dress.
I’ll leave you with this image: a teaser for a soon-to-come post about the creation of this hair style!
Quite picturesque, I think. Thanks for taking the photos, Carly (and Mark)!
Well, I promised you pictures of my new hair crescent in place… and I did wear it with Belle, my dark blue ball gown, to Fezziwig’s Ball recently… but I was so caught up in the fun of the evening I forgot to stop and have someone take a still picture of the crescent! (I’m sure I will wear it again, though, so hopefully I’ll remember at that time.) This post about last year’s Fezziwig’s Ball gives you background on the theme and title of the ball.
Ready to whirl away on a dancing adventure? Look on!
As a final note, let me just say that the evening was wonderful. My favorite moment: the Grand March proceeding up and down stairs, twice! The room was so full that the leaders ran out of options and marched down the stairs!
Over the summer I built Annabelle, a white flounced 1860 ball gown, in order to have an alternative to my dark blue 1860 ball gown. My intention was to adorn Annabelle with flowers, as in my inspiration fashion plate from Godey’s Lady’s Book (Annabelle is based off of the gown on the far right); however, I did not have time over the summer to add the flowers.
September 1860 "Dressed for a party" (Fitting title, don't you think?)
I decided to wear a be-flowered Annabelle to the Commonwealth Vintage Dancer’s German Cotillion last week. My original plan was to hand make the flowers from hand painted pink silk organza. I started on that endeavor, but the process was time consuming and so I have only made perhaps 100 flowers (first: cut 5 rounded point shapes, second: fray check the edge all around, third: gather the center of each flower). Each flower is about 1 1/2″ across. When I went to sew the flowers on the dress I realized two things that made me change my mind about using them: the flowers were too small for the scale of the dress and I would need so many more hundreds to make the look work. In the end I used purple millinery flowers, from the fantastic stash I mentioned in the post about my 1860 hair crescent, to adorn the dress. I actually really enjoy the purple flowers and the scale is far better for the overall look as well.
Annabelle with flowers!
I used matching flowers plus a few others in the pink family to create a wreath for my hair to match the dress.
Annabelle backMatching hair wreath
If you would like to see what Annabelle looked like without the flowers, you can visit the following posts and see pictures: Of Flounces and Dance Cards: Part I and Ochre Court 1860s Ball 2011. And, to finish off this post, here are a few pictures of Annabelle in action at the German!
Playing dance games at the German CotillionPlaying dance games at the German Cotillion
The Salem Light Infantry Levee and Ball was an event hosted by The Commonwealth Vintage Dancers and Salem Light Infantry in October 2011.
In 1861 the members of the Salem Light Infantry
held a ball on their return from service in the Civil War.
For a brief moment,
before joining other units and returning to battle,
they celebrated friends and fellowship.
This event was held in Hamilton Hall in Salem, Massachusetts, in the hall where the original event was held 150 years ago.
You can click here to see the event announcement. If you are interested in learning more about the Salem Zouaves you can view their website by clicking here. You can also read one of my older blog posts to learn about Civil War Zouaves in general: A waltzing Zouave?.
First, let me share with you a video of the Salem Zouaves performing a military drill during the course of the evening.
Second, let me share with you some photos of the evening. It was quite lovely!
Waltzing back in time on a fine October eveningDancers at the ballTaking a rest from dancingI met another young lady who also took a break from dancingSalem Light Infantry ZouavesWatching the Zouaves
Quinn, taking a short break from dancing at Ochre Court
Well, I am exceptionally delayed in posting about this event (it was in August), but I was inspired today to remember how fabulous this was and to reminisce… So here we are! I was able to wear Annabelle, my latest 1860s dress to this event. You can read more about this dress by clicking on this link. I have to say, I did receive one comment that I looked “like Scarlett O’Hara.” Whee! That is really a dream come true for me… you know she does wear a white flounced gown in the movie… I intentionally did not make a gown just like hers (for one thing, mine does not have red trim).
The mid-18th century ball at Ochre Court was just one event hosted by the Commonwealth Vintage Dancers during Newport Vintage Dance Week 2011 in Newport, Rhode Island. And yes, that is the Newport of fabulous historic mansions! (Newport Vintage Dance week was included in the New York Times’ Evening Hours by Bill Cunningham on August 21, 2011. Click on this link to see Mr. Cunningham’s wonderful pictures of various Newport Vintage Dance Week events!)
Aside from repeating (many, many, many times) how absolutely fabulous this event was, I don’t have a whole lot of commentary. Thus, my commentary will be confined to captions, so that way I can include a lot of pictures! Yay! I hope that you are able to look at these and be transported to this historic mansion full of hoop-skirted ladies, distinguished gentlemen, and elegant music.
This photo comes courtesy of my friend, Carly. This is the main ballroom at Ochre Court.Front stairs at Ochre Court.Ascending the red carpeted stairs to the upper levels.Ochre Court main ballroom upper levels and ceiling... Beautiful!!!Looking down on the main ballroom at Ochre Court.Oh look! There I am, watching the dancers below!Look! There's someone taking pictures! (Look at the fabulous detail around me!)Ah, now you can really appreciate the intricate detail!Time to descend the stairs and dance!And here are Terri and Carly, also descending the stairs!Dancers at Ochre Court.More dancers at Ochre Court.Dancers in the dining room at Ochre Court.Strike a pose by one of the enormous fireplaces!Carly in front of the fireplace.Taking a breather in the library at Ochre Court.Would you care to dance? Ochre Court main ballroom.One more scene at Ochre Court.Saying good bye to Ochre Court at the end of a fairytale night.
This ball included the use of dance cards, a practice I am aware of but have never participated in. It turns out that they are much more complicated than one thinks they might be! Why are the so complicated?
Well, it all sounds quite glorious and sophisticated. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a “dance-card” as “a card bearing the names of (a woman’s) prospective dance partners at a dance.” In stories and books, a dance card is a memento one can keep so that after the ball is over she can muse about beaus and flirtations. Practically, a dance card might help a person remember who his or her next partner is, what kind of dance the next dance is, or allow a gentleman to ask for a dance later in the evening.
But wait! There are complications and confusions! Does everyone have a dance card, men and women? Does a person take off his or her gloves before writing in a dance card? (I attempted this both ways: it is quite challenging to write your name while wearing gloves…) Does one exchange dance cards with a prospective partner or ask the name of the person and write it herself? (It seems more effective to swap dance cards with your intended partner to allow for ease of spelling, etc. and, in a more romantic sense, so that you have that person’s handwriting in your dance card.) How does one attach the card to her wrist so that it doesn’t get lost? How does one attach the card to her wrist without the pencil sticking out (so that her white dress isn’t marked!)? Really, a lot of questions popped up that would not have made themselves apparent without practical application. Also, at least at this ball, not having a prearranged partner did not necessarily mean that you were not able to dance. I was able to dance most of the dances of the night, despite my somewhat empty dance card.
Interior of my Dance Card from the Nahant VIctorian Day Ball 2011
Below you can see a few historic dance card images and below that some images of the ball! If anyone has any research on the use or history of dance cards, please share. I’d love to learn more about the etiquette of dance card use!
1884 Dance Card
1912 Dance CardI believe this dance is the Contradance: Hull's Victory. (Nahant Victorian Day Ball 2011)A different view of the same dance as above.The Grand March. (Nahant Victorian Day Ball 2011)More Grand March.
Flounced 1860s dresses seem to be pure confections: cupcakes iced with lace and frothy ruffles. That is the vision in my mind while I was looking for inspiration for my latest crinoline dress.
Fashion Plate from Godey's Lady's Book September 1859 "Dressed for a Party." (The dress on the right is the inspiration for my latest gown)
I already made one 1860s dress for myself. Named Belle, it is a dark blue satin and velvet gown with a three tiered skirt. It’s very heavy and a dark color: neither of those two features seemed fitting for a summer ball in temperatures around 80 degrees! And so I decided to create an all new gown… in my head this one is named “Annabelle.” (I hope you are also amused by the name!)
"Annabelle" my new 1860s ball gown
As you can see, there is one crucial element missing… the pink flowers! My goal is to make the flowers by hand from silk organza and to be perfectly honest, I ran out of time. I just decided to wear the dress as-is and finish the flowers later. I also ran out of time to bone the front, as you can see by the wrinkles along my tummy. No worries though, as I’m sure I’ll be able to wear this gown again.
"May I have this dance?" Side view of Annabelle.
In order to be to light and breathable, Annabelle is constructed entirely of cotton. The skirt has a medium weight cotton foundation to which cotton voile flounces are attached. The bodice is three layers of cotton for the sake of being opaque: two of medium weight cotton and one layer of voile. The layers are flatlined together and treated as one piece. The flounces on the skirt and bodice are cotton voile edged in narrow white lace.
This gown was flat patterned using research from books by Janet Arnold, Norah Waugh, and Kristina Harris. View this post about patterning from my Project Journal: Women’s Tailoring to see which titles I used and get a smidgeon of bibliographic information. The skirt pattern is fairly simple: a big tube cartridge pleated at the waist. The bodice has narrow v-shape seams front and back with puffed sleeves and a flounced bertha. It is worn over a chemise, corset, double thickness bum pad, hoops, and petticoat.
While this dress is eventually intended to be a reconstruction of the dress in the 1859 fashion plate above, I was also inspired by these other, similar fashion plates for further information. Enjoy!
Fashion Plate from Godey's Lady's Book October 1859 "The Soiree"Fashion Plate from Godey's Lady's Book August 1859 "Godey's Fashions for August"
The Quintessential Clothes Pen 