100 Years in 100 Seconds: A Century of Fashion

My dad found this while trawling though one of his many "Oo, wow, look at this cool stuff" sites. He found this one about the same time that he discovered something I already knew: thousands of women apply dead beetles to their lips every day. This is much more fascinating than dead, ground up boiled beetles, and I think it is fitting to a blog that often revolves around fashion. Take a look and be impressed.

Flying Feathers

Well, as promised, I have news of feathers for you. Yesterday, I had four feathers put in: the three pictured and one other in a different spot. They're pretty pretty pretty. Carol from Jewell's Mind Body and Bath made these and put them in. I showed them to the kids I work with, and their responses were varied. Kass loved them, and she wanted a detailed explanation of how they got there, whereas Gracie yelled at me "You got your HAIR painted?????"

Yah. Painted hair.

The most interesting discovery came when I woke up this morning. I'm not usually a tender head, but spots on my scalp were quite sore. I figured out why: the extra weight from the feathers, no matter how miniscule, is abnormal. I remember a friend talking about one party where she wore those fancy eyelash extensions, the ones with the designs on them. They weighed fractions of an ounce, but her eyelids got so tired of them that she had to take them off in short order if she wished to open her eyes. The same principle applies to my hair. Now, I'm getting more used to it, but my scalp is still a little tender. For those of you who haven't read up on feather facts, you can find a quick history here.

Now, as promised....the first Tainted Loves video blog.

Today is the Day: Feathers

Today I will be getting my hair feathered. Both my parents are very interested in what, exactly, this entails, so when I asked if my mom wanted to come my dad said he wanted to come to. So the three of us are trooping down to watch someone do my hair. Since they're both coming, I'm hoping that I can put a camera in the hands of one and a video camera in the hands of another, and they can be useful that way. Such are the dangers of being the parent of a blogger.

I promise not to get any that are too wild. I'm intending to use a basic color, so I won't have to worry about my clothes and hair not matching (plus, I hate hot pink). Check back tomorrow to see what it turns out like.

Moses Supposes His Toeses Are Roses

Roses are probably the prettiest flower that comes with thorns. I've always found it funny that these thorny plants are the symbol of love. I'm sure there is a story there, but I haven't researched it. Instead, I fell into rose-dom on etsy the other day, the same day that I came up with all the watches. So here's a rosy rundown of my favorite accessories. I was a bit eccentric in my choices, ranging from complete goth to normal stuff. So, here's a quick look at the awesomeness.

Goth

This Ikebana Cuff by ghost love jewelry caught my eye. I would love to use this as a costume piece someday. The ornate layering and long ribbons give it a feel that could be sinister or fun, depending on how it was used. A great partner to this (it also comes in a bronze) is the Rose Heart Necklace from robinhoodcouture. We talked about this vendor in my most recent Hatta post,so this should be slightly familiar.

If big jewelry isn't your thing, there is also the more sedate ScarletRose Locket. This actually comes in several color designs, including a girlie light pink and white, so don't write it off as total goth. The Victorian Cuff is a nice complement, and, like the Ikebana, does not fully encircle the wrist, and is thus a safe optioned for the big boned among us.

The final piece is a cage headpiece, and is made from duct tape. The rose looks awesome, and is accented with feathers and, of course, the net.

Girlie-Girl

Pink is the girl's color, and pink roses are always good, right? Pink is close to red, but isn't the same, and one shade is goth and the other shade is what you dress up your most feminine girls in. Tomboys don't get pink. But, here's some of the finds that made me *almost* wish I was the girlie-girlie-girl sort of person. LizHutnik starts it off with a very detailed peppermint rose ring (pictured). I usually don't like rose rings, as they make me feel like the rose just got plopped down for lack of a better idea, but this one looks like it is one well thought out, cohesive piece. Take a look through Liz's store. She has a lot of other great flower pieces. A nice hair accent to this is the Misty Dawn Bobby Pin Set. Please, don't make me embarrassed by using decorative bobby pins incorrectly. Put some hair over the normal bobby pin part of the pin. Don't cover the decoration, but please hid the fact that it is a bobby pin. The hair geeks will thank you.

Gypsy/Vintage

I like the gypsy look. Its quite fun. Pictured is the Sia Hair Flower. The flowers are set to look vintage-y, but still have that slightly wild feel to them. I think this is actually supposed to be a wedding piece, but I love it anyway.

Not to be worn with the Sia Hairpiece is the Bianca Sunshine Rosebud Belt. This belt is made of little fabric flowers, and is a great vintage add. Rosebudlips makes a lot of accessories like this. If you like this look, I recommend getting a good variety of these flowers in a pin/hairpiece combo. One of my friends works wonders with these flowers, using them as pick-me-up accents to an otherwise drab and boring dress. I've also seen her artfully disguise the fact that she's wearing the same thing two days in a row by rearranging where the flowers are located. Its her own little "stop and smell the roses" moment.

Watch out for the thorns.

West Coast Trending: Feathered Hair

As some of you may know, at the end of July I will be in Kansas and the surrounding states visiting friends, working at conferences, and generally making a nuisance of myself. Right before I go, however, I plan to utilize a Californian trend that has pretty much become a usual thing in my town, but is relatively unheard of outside of the west coast: I am going to get my hair feathered.

Hair feathering isn't exactly new, it just has taken a while to spread, mainly because it was incredibly expensive for a very long time. It started growing popular when brides started demanding feathers again, and, like any other industry, began to explode. Bridal sites began advising on where to get the best feathers, Refinery29 featured the trend, and an LA stylist put a new spin on the trend by substituting tinsel for feathers. Personally, the only reason why I would take feathers over tinsel is that its summer, and I don't have to look as professional when I'm traveling. I actually ran across the tinsel trend before I saw the feathers, which shows how much I was paying attention.

For fun, go ahead and grab a piece of paper and a pencil, and mark these statements as true/false/not usually. I'm not linking to sources for these, mainly because I'm not sure I could remember where I found all the factoids.

1. The feather is attached to your scalp with a fishhook.
2. If the feathers are real, a rooster was tortured to get them.
3. Synthetic feathers can be made to reach any length.
4. The feather is attached to a strand of hair with a small silicon bead. 
5. A good stylist can "clamp" two feathers together to make a long feather for longer hair.

Statement 1: Not usually true. While I suppose it could be done, the usual method is to use a silicon bead.
Statement 2: True. So watch out where you get your feathers. Also, for health reasons, I would suggest avoiding real feathers in the hair, since real feathers can house microscopic pests. If those pests can live on a rooster, they can live on you, too.
Statement 3: False. Feathers cannot be made longer than about a foot, and still maintain the thin width usual for feathering.
Statement 4: True. A feather will last about six weeks when applied in this manner. After that, you will molt.
Statement 5: True. A stylist who knows what he or she is doing can adjust the length of feathers to fit to your hair length.

Have you tinseled or feathered your hair? If you have, what was it like? Would you do it again?