Article
July 1, 2011
1 comment
by Sadie

Friday Follies

NZ “new vintage” purveyor Oops Oh My seems to be a local distributor of Chic Star, a popular Chinese “new vintage” manufactory. And that’s good – I just wish they’d sell the full Chic Star range. The clothes have good reviews online. On Oops Oh My, prices are good, delivery/returns for those of us in NZ are easier with a local distributor, and they have regular and plus sizes. Oops Oh My is looking for NZ models wearing the clothes, too.

Mineral makeup divas Dollface Mineral Makeup  have created an eyeshadow color to honor Wellington burlesque teacher, dancer, and leading light Miss La Belle. Ask them about it at their web site: http://www.dollfacemineralmakeup.co.nz/

The New York Times hosts a cerebral discussion about “wild nail polish”.

A reminder that Frolic Lounge is on tomorrow, and I’m the lucky emcee. After the dress rehearsal, I can tell you this is one naughty and different burlesque show.

Can it be, another burlesque event in Wellington, so soon? Yes! Next Saturday, July 9th, at Mighty Mighty bar on Cuba Street,  is Dr. Sketchy. I doodle and sketch myself – just finished a cartooning class– so I am WILDLY EXCITED to be helping out as the hostess for a Dr. Sketchy featuring Belle’s Beauties! There are three beautiful girls, who will be dancing, then posing for drawings and paintings. Plus chocolate, plenty of tables, and prizes for Best Dressed and for the victors of two drawing contests. The bar staff at Mighty Mighty is happy to provide water glasses for brushes to gouache and watercolor artists. All that, and this may be the best-lit burlesque event you’ll ever attend.

Dr. Sketchy Wellington July 2011, with me!

I’m not the poster artist for this one; the girl on the poster, the lovely Chantal, is one of the models you can expect.

Article
May 18, 2011
0 comment
by Sadie

Getting Used To Blogging In Heels

It was hard to find my voice for this blog.

For about two months, I’ve been going, “Yes. OK. This weekend. Gonna get that blog up and Breaking in the new heights...running properly. Mmmm-hmmm!” And then another weekend would pass, with me commenting blithely on Facebook, on Twitter, on my Wellington, NZ-based fiction blog, doing freelance web work, lifting weights, sewing, baking, having adventures. But not doing what I meant to do: creating an online voice as a woman.

It was the other voices that made it so hard. Not yours, reader – the other voices that we all hear inside ourselves, even though they aren’t ours. The ones that we sometimes hear as the devil and angel on our shoulders. The angel was saying, “That introduction of yours is intellectually pretentious! Immodest!” while the devil whispered, “It’s all  too much for them, you’re too weird, they’ll never understand.”

It took some work to claim inside myself that I had the right to a space where I could talk about my femme side. With other femmes. A place to be playful and thoughtful at the same time. I wanted a ladyblog, damn it!

What I think of as a ladyblog isn’t just “women in social media.” It’s a specific online feminine presentation for the female gaze, the female voice for female listeners about what we want to talk about. This doesn’t mean that a lot of ladyblogs aren’t totally terrifying. Either someone is presenting a groomed, branded, styled persona, edited for taste and appeal, or they are serving forth nigh-insane levels of compulsive disclosure about topics like marrying, mommying, or making. I’m too clumsy for one, too private for the other. What will I bring you? We’ll find out.

A quiet, substantial portion of the ladyblog audience is on the queer continuum – I was touched and inspired by the out and proud discussions in one of my favorite style blogs, Already Pretty, in this discussion of butch style.  And on another favorite, You Look Fab, the forum members encouraged a man exploring how to present well in a dress. Just because we’re queer doesn’t mean we don’t want to talk about vintage hats or getting the right swirl on a cupcake. (The wrong swirl? Oy!) I wanted a blog that included this up front. Serving it as part of femme realness.

And here it is.