It's me. Caitlin Marie!

I'd rather be a Centuar.

[teacupbee]

Things are brewing in the next update of Above the Clouds!

Chapter 5 - Page 3 | New readers start here…

Also, my target date for the launch of the new ATC website and Patreon page is next Monday!

If you haven’t heard of Patreon, it’s a really really cool place to be part of the creation processes of creator projects or have access to what goes into making one happen! It’s pretty cool! https://www.patreon.com

Find me at: Facebook | Twitter | Deviantart | mpagluica.com

[witchywonderworks]

The entire Book of Kells is now viewable online! 

Thank you to Trinity College in Dublin, for what must have been a huge amount of work. 

[teacupbee]

Spent this morning correcting a few things for chapter 4. It has been sent to the printers at last! Now to work on special items to accompany it. Look for the preorder announcement sooooon!

Any little bit helps. Sharing a link or wanting to purchase a printed copy are a big way to say you believe in the project! I currently travel around to different conventions and I am so grateful for every print or comic sold at my last show. It goes straight to helping with the first print run of chapter 4 and I can’t wait for you to see how the time has been spent working hard to bring it alive.

Thanks for keeping the lights on for ATC!

[scurviesdisneyblog]

The Queen of Hearts by Mary Blair (x)

[rea-michelle]

this fucking account.

[thisislostinlace]

I AM FUCKING CRYING

[best-of-memes]

Awful Fantasy’s Awfulest Tweets of 2015

[dr-archeville]

OMG

[scurviesdisneyblog]

Pocahontas preproduction sketch by Glen Keane

[bizarrism-deactivated20210929]

[fuckyeahvintageillustration]

‘The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Perie Banou’ illustrated by Charles Robinson. Published 1915 by Gay and Hancock, London.

Source

[ephemeral-elegance]

Happy Friday! What better way to celebrate than with FRIDAY FASHION FACT? Fabric patterns are, in my opinion, one of the most fascinating sides of fashion history. The designs range from stark and simplistic to incredibly elaborate, and everything in between. Most people look at a fabric pattern and assume it was created purely for the aesthetics- basically, someone just thought it was pretty. To be fair, that is often the case, particularly with modern fashion. Sometimes, though, the pattern holds deep significance. There is arguably no pattern that has more history and significance than paisley.

The origins of paisley can be traced to Persia in the 1st Century AD. At this time, the pattern was barely recognizable to the teardrop shape we are familiar today. Instead, it was shaped as a stylized tree full of flowers, inspired by the cypress tree, which believed to be the Tree of Life. The Persians dubbed the pattern “boteh” meaning tree or shrub, a name by which the pattern is still known in many areas today. In its early days, the design was mainly created in precious metals, whether through embroidery or sculpted on decorative metal objects, and it was geared towards royalty.

Throughout the centuries, the pattern spread across the Middle East, India, and Asia. Each culture developed the pattern in its own way. There is some debate as to why the curved tip was created, but most believe that it was inspired by the bent cedar tree, which in Persian tradition was symbol of resistance or stregnth. The pattern gained significant popularity in the late 16th and 17th Centuries, during the Mughal Empire, when shawls became a popular formal fashion for men. These shawls would be woven with boteh patterns at the edges, the symbolism appropriate for ceremonies at which the shawls were commonly worn.

These shawls became highly popular in Western society thanks to the East India Trading Company. The accessory was imported across Europe, where it was far more popular for women than men, yet Indian weavers could not keep up with demand. Therefore, European textile artists worked to recreate the look en masse. However, most looms could not accommodate enough colors to create the elaborate designs which European women craved. Some shawls were printed, but the effect was not nearly as luxurious. However, around the turn of the 19th Century, workers in the small Scottish town of Paisley, which at the time was known for silk production, proved themselves to be particularly skilled at creating the ornate design. Soon, Paisley became the epicenter of European shawl production, causing the pattern to be renamed as we know it today.

Paisley shawls remained popular through the Victorian Age. However, by the 1870s, technological advancements meant that detailed patterns became much more affordable, taking away much of the novelty of the elaborate paisley shawls. The paisley pattern itself did not fully fade from fashion, though. The pattern was still used from time to time in various aspects of dress. Many of the shawls, in fact, were turned into dresses and other pieces, since the shawls were so large and contained several yards of fine fabric. The pattern has had a few revivals since this time, most notably in the 1960s. It has been solidified as a classic design, and can still be found commonly today.

Have a question about fashion history that you want answered in the next FRIDAY FASHION FACT? Just click the ASK button at the top of the page!

[rejectedprincesses]

Five animated shorts for five female animation pioneers

 For this year’s Annency animation festival, the students at Gobelins made five 1-minute animations to honor five female animation pioneers.

They’re all phenomenal. If you have five minutes, please watch each of them. Warning: some hit HARD.

Mary Blair (1911-1978)

Worked for Ub Iwerks, MGM, and eventually Disney. Known for creating incredibly vibrant watercolors, which clashed with the studio aesthetic at the time. Disney eventually let her loose, and her aesthetic can be strongly seen in Cinderella, Peter Pan, and especially Alice in Wonderland.

Evelyn Lambart (1914-1999)

Hearing-impaired Canadian animator who worked with Norman McLaren on several pieces that the Canadian government would later declare masterworks. She directed her own films, making her one of the first women in animation to take the director’s chair. She was known for scratching up film stock to create “jazz” like patterns, the sort of thing you’d later see in Fantasia, Donald in Mathmagic Land, and the like.

Lotte Reininger (1899-1981)

German director who created the technique of silhouette animation, preceding Disney by 10 years. Started out making titles for movies and moved on to make her own animated feature, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, in 1926! As for the rest of her career, well - watch the short.

Claire Parker (1906-1981)

Created the “pinscreen” animation technique, where 240,000 tiny metal rods were manually manipulated in and out of a board in order to create an animation – think tweaking pixels by hand. She and she alone owned the patent on it.

Alison de Vere (1927-2001)

One of the first women to work in British animation, and was design director for The Yellow Submarine. She went on to create many animated shorts at a commercial studio, winning prizes for virtually almost every single one of them. She is often credited as Britain’s first female animation auteur. 

(much credit must go to cartoonbrew for posting about this in the first place - thanks, y’all!)

[ephemeral-elegance]

Coronation Robes of Queen Elizabeth II, 1953

Designed by Norman Hartnell. Embroidery features the English Rose, Scottish Thistle, Northern Irish Shamrock, and Welsh Daffodil.

Diamond Diadem designed by Rundell Bridge & Rundell. Created in 1820 for George IV.

via Royal Collection Trust

[ephemeral-elegance]

In honor of Queen Elizabeth II becoming the longest reigning monarch in British history today, her coronation robes.

[mulandaily]

    Storyboards to Movie

“The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter.”

[oupacademic]

Word of the Day: pipperoo

n. A particularly remarkable or pleasing person or thing

GIF via Giphy

[coolchicksfromhistory]

Cynisca (born circa 440 BCE)

Art by Nina Holm (tumblr, deviantart, website)

Although Spartan women were famed for their athleticism, they were not allowed to participate in the original Olympic Games.  The competitions were reserved for male athletes, but there was a loophole.  The winners of the chariot racing competitions were the owners and trainers of the victorious horses, not the drivers.

In 396 BCE, Cynisca entered her horses in the four horse chariot race and won.  She is considered the first female Olympic champion.  Cynisca repeated her victory in 392 BCE.  Several other women followed her lead and won horse racing events at the ancient Olympic Games.

Cynisca was the daughter of the Spartan king Archidamus II and the sister of Agesilaus II.  After her victory, Cynisca commissioned two statues of herself, one at the Temple of Zeus in Olympia and one at the Planistai (plane-tree grove) in Sparta.  The Planistai was generally reserved for kings of Sparta and  Cynisca is believed to be the first woman honored there.  Although neither statue survives, the inscription from the Olympia statue was recorded as:

My fathers and brothers were kings of Sparta

I, Cynisca, having won with a team of swift-footed horses,

dedicated this statue. I assert that I am the only woman

in all of Greece to have taken this crown.

[ephemeral-elegance]

Time for FRIDAY FASHION FACT! I mention the French Revolution in these posts all the time. A few months ago, I discussed why this war (and others) had such a huge impact on fashion (read here.) Now I’m going to delve a little deeper, and discuss how exactly fashion morphed in the years leading up to and following the French Revolution.

There are many misconceptions surrounding this tumultuous era. Many people believe that when the monarchy fell, the extreme opulence fell simultaneously. They think that women quickly switched to simple classical gowns because Napoleon introduced the style. Of course, much of this misunderstanding has to do with a lack of knowledge of French history. As I stated in the post referenced above, dramatic changes in fashion do not happen overnight. The Revolution began in 1789, and Napoleon did not become Emperor until 1804. By the time he gained the title, women were already wearing the simplistic classical styles. In fact, the peak of the simplicity occurred right before Napoleon had a chance to become fully settled into his supreme role. So then how did this style come to be?

Classicism had actually been creeping its way into Western society for well over a century. The Renaissance brought a new-found appreciation and interest in Greek and Roman art and architecture. The Enlightenment, and the scholarly pursuits which accompanied it, were an added catalyst for widespread interest in these ancient cultures. Naturally, this interest was reflected in the art of the time. While myriad art forms were impacted, for our purposes, we’ll just talk about portraiture. Kings were depicted wearing the laurels of caesars. Women were depicted as goddesses and muses. Sometimes the classical inspiration was blatant, other times it was very subtle, such as a woman wearing soft chiton or toga-like drapery.

The first instances of neoclassical dress outside of portraits were in fancy dress. Characters from mythology were a common choice for masquerade costumes. Yet it was Marie Antoinette, who everyone thinks of as the Queen of Opulence, who in the early 1780s introduced simple, loose dress into everyday fashion with the chemise a la reine (which I previously wrote about here.) However, the classicism was taken to another level during the Directoire Era- aka, the years following the Revolution (ca. 1795-99.) Without getting into a whole history lesson, this was when France was run by a (incredibly unsuccessful) Republic, which was inspired by the governments of ancient Greece and Rome. This classical inspiration saturated French culture in many ways, but particularly the arts and fashion. Dresses became incredibly simplistic, typically cotton gowns with next to no tailoring and minimal embellishment, inspired by the pristine marble sculptures from ancient Rome. And as we all know, if the French wore a style, the rest of the Western world did, too.

Around the year 1800, when the French government was changing hands and incredibly unstable, fashion reached the apex of simplicity. The French fashion industry, along with the rest of the economy, had taken a nosedive. Additionally, times of social turmoil often result in simplistic fashion, as style seems to be frivolous when such important issues are at hand. Shortly after the turn of the 19th Century, though, when Napoleon took over and introduced a stable Empire to France, embellishment and opulence began to make its way back into fashion. That, though, is another post for another day.

Have a question about fashion history that you want answered in the next FRIDAY FASHION FACT? Just click the ASK button at the top of the page!

[disneycaptures]

“Candlelight… privacy… music. Can’t think of a better place for hand-to-hand combat.”