Queen of frivolity and excess, Marie-Antoinette led Rococo fashion with huge, poufy hairstyles, enormous pannier skirts and all manner of decorative frills, feathers and bows. The Austrian-born royal was thrust into the heart of Versailles from a young age, and quickly learned how to dress to impress as the country’s new Queen. Often portrayed throughout…
Marie Antoinette: Rococo Queen
One of my favorite lines in the Anne of Green Gables series is when Anne is walking home one day with a kind man carrying a lamp. She describes how the light created by the lamp makes the darkness feel like the enemy. The contrast between light and dark is stark, making it difficult to…
The rich, vivid hue of ULTRAMARINE Linen came to define French painter Raoul Dufy’s art, filling coastal scenes across the Riviera with the entrancing, deepening shadows of night. Known today as one of art history’s greatest colourists Dufy embraced a joyous, technicolour approach to art, colouring paintings, prints, ceramics and textiles with tones as fresh…
Last week I shared a bit about my capsule wardrobe, or as I like to call it, my well-loved wardrobe. In response, you guys had a lot of questions about where to find sewing patterns similar to my linen tank and shorts. So, this week, I wanted to continue the conversation by sharing a few…
“No one has been more important to this history of power dressing than French King Louis XIV.” Ciara Fitzgerald, writer The visionary French King Louis XIV staged a clothing revolution in the 17th century, which would forever alter the fashion landscape. A great aesthete, Louis focussed on indulgence and luxury, seamlessly blending his ideas into…
I know what you are thinking…do we really need another mask tutorial? The short answer is no. But for those facing similar struggles as I have with the fit of most masks, I am here to share a possible solution. At the start of this pandemic, I found the available mask patterns out there leaving…
Dazzling turquoise blues like that of CERAMIC Linen sparkle across Armand Guillaumin’s canvases, lending them the sparkling vibrancy of the French countryside. A leading Impressionist painter in nineteenth-century France, Guillaumin is world-renowned for his luminous colours which capture the glistening light of his native France, from the rural scenery around Paris to the dappled Creuse…
In the last article, I spoke about expanding your colour palette by using modifiers to change the colours of natural dyes. One modifier that I am particularly fond of is Iron. Often described as saddening or dulling colours, it can be used to darker tones, changing yellow to green, beige to grey and pinks or…
Notorious King Henry VIII had a voracious appetite for life. During his reign over England from 1509 to 1547, he was married six times, divorced twice and his love of fine foods and wines saw his waistline nearly double throughout his lifetime. But of all his heady excesses, clothing was the most outwardly indulgent, leading…
First off, can I give you a hug? I’ll make us a pot of your favorite tea, switch on the floor lamp, and we can talk while the cicadas chorus their summer song in the cool evening air breezing through the open windows. I want to sit and listen to what is heavy on your…
Cold, sharp, and fresh, the pale green tinge of SEA BREEZE Linen billowed and danced through Mary Cassatt’s brightly lit scenes, forming zesty ribbons of dazzling brilliance. As one of only a handful of women associated with the French Impressionist movement Cassatt’s vision was devoted to the female realm; she silently observed the women of…
It’s 5:30 in the morning. My alarm sounds as I pull back my linen sheets, slip on my leather slides, and walk to the other side of my tiny apartment to start the coffee. It’s summertime on my brother and sis-in-law’s Wisconsin farm, the place I call home, and projects are waiting to be checked…
With her huge, dramatic collars, ghostly pallor and flaming curls of red hair, Queen Elizabeth I’s image is etched in royal history. Trained from a young age to see power and strength in public image, she cultivated a persona that was both pure and powerful. Unwed and without children, she portrayed herself as the chase,…
Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do. My name is Bruna Masalin, I’m a home-educating, mom of three. I’m a branding photographer, based in Maryland USA. Currently learning how to sew! I feel like I won the lottery because I married into a family of very talented seamstresses and master tailors. Liz Masalin is my mother-in-law…
Blushing crimson reds like that of Tawny Port Linen pulsate across Dorothea Tanning’s fantastical paintings, lending them the passionate turbulence of erotic dreams and nightmares. One of only a handful of female Surrealists to find success in mid-20th century Europe and America, Tanning conjured up brilliantly bizarre scenarios where strange creatures inhabit curious realms beyond…
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