Research and Inspiration

I'm a costume designer, artist, and vintage film and clothing fanatic. Professional blog at rapatoff.tumblr.com

[frostedmagnolias]

Blue Silk Taffeta Fancy Dress

mid 1890s

Augusta Auctions

[the1920sinpictures]

1913 Eli Thomas Randon, his wife Hattie Banks Randon and their son Earl Alexander Randon. From Fashion of Bygone Days Worldwide, FB.

[rosieandthemoon]

Inkwell from Tiffany’s

[mzr-hsh]

Saj Issa - Crocodile Crown

[smithsonianlibrariesarchives]

Color charts of undifferentiated (top) and specialized (bottom) plumage of different warbler species from Charles Keeler's Evolution of the colors of North American land birds (1893).

Full text here.

[rapatoffresearch]

I enjoy how much these charts look like the way we cross plot costume changes in theater or film.

[the1920sinpictures]

July 1, 1929 Cover of "Britannia and Eve" magazine featuring fashion designs by Chantal (not Chanel!), Redfern and Jenny.

[sartorialadventure]

From the Daily Mirror, 1914. The curse of the moving waistline....

[irenelichtensteinblog]

Gordon Parks, Shady Grove, Alabama, 1956

[thevaultoftheatomicspaceage]

Soviet radio optical observatory in Orgov Armenia finished in 1985

[omnia-mors-aequat-nstrwa]

Flags of the funeral procession "Memento Mori" (19th-20th centuries)

[smithsonianlibrariesarchives]

49 different seals used by artist Kawanabé Kyōsai to stamp his work over the course of his career from J. Conder's Paintings and studies by Kawanabé Kyōsai [1911].

Full text here.

[handweavers]

examples of deflected doubleweave (weaving technique)

sources, top to bottom l-r: plainweave on flickr, gist yarn, madelyn van der hoogt, margo selby, susan gilday, theloomybin

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Easter - art by J. C. Leyendecker (1928)

[sparklejamesysparkle]

"Two French Bakers" by Irving Penn, Paris, 1950.

[sparklejamesysparkle]

"𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧. 𝐈'𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐞." Remembering music legend George Michael... June 25th, 1963 - December 25th, 2016 ❤

Photos of George taken during the Faith World Tour in 1989.

[70sscifiart]

Happy Hanukkah from Jack Kirby!

[librar-y]

November 1941. Trinkets in migrant agricultural worker’s automobile. Wilder, Idaho. (x)

[rapatoffresearch]

……….I literally have that key and heart escutcheon brooch.