Edwardian Barbie

Edwardian Barbie

Have you ever stopped to consider how long it takes to make an article of clothing?  Previous to the invention of sewing machines, most people only owned two sets of clothing.  (So why do we say 'Sunday best' when it was really 'Sunday better'?)

The dress Barbie is wearing is lined and interlined.  There is a foundation garment to give the skirt support.  The braid is hand-woven and the lace is hand-made in Belgium.  This garment represents many hours of careful work by a team of seamstresses, weavers, lace-makers and apprentices.
 
Barbie is going to a Harvest Ball this evening. Her new dress is a testament to her dressmaker's skills.  The gown will make it clear to all that hers is a family with a large disposable income and a high status in the community.

After I took the photo, I cleaned up all the leaves.  Unlike Barbie, I do not have staff to take care of the grounds.  I  just have a lawn and a billion leaves.

Hallowe'en Barbie

Hallowe'en is a minor festival in Canada;  I say minor because it is not a statutory holiday.  Otherwise, it is a full-fledged celebration with special decorations, traditional food (if popcorn balls and candy apples can be called food) and elaborately planned parties.

The origins of Hallowe'en are found deep in antiquity in the Celtic festival Samhain.  It was believed that the veil between the living world and the world of the dead was thinnest at summer's end making it possible for the dead to walk among us.  If one met you and you did not treat them well, you would be sorry.  (Trick or Treat!)  A disguise would serve to protect you from malevolent ancestors with a grudge.

Orange and black feature heavily: black cats, orange pumpkins carved with scary faces, old crones dressed in black, inky shadows, the glow of the autumn moon and the flames of candles.

Barbie is going to a  Hallowe'en fancy dress party in her beautiful orange and silver gown.  Note the very trendy short underskirt and the towering hair style.  Barbie does not need to hide from ghosts.  She likes the attention.

Hoop Dancer Barbie

I visited the Victoria Island attraction, Aboriginal Experiences, with a school group.  The best part of a very interesting afternoon was the performance by a very accomplished hoop dancer. This is not the hula hoop of the 50's craze or the wooden hoop you may have used in gym class.  This is not the hoop and stick small children used to play with either.

Modern hoop dancers use willow hoops to represent aspects of nature such as animals, birds, the sun and the moon.  Tony White Cloud, the father of modern hoop dancing, used 5 hoops but at the annual competition in Phoenix, Arizona dancers use 24 or possibly more.

This dance is not often seen at traditional powwows but is saved for events attended by non-natives.  Le Cirque de Soleil show Totem features it.  Barbie's outfit is more Cirque than traditional native dress and her hoops are metal not willow but you should see her dance with them!

Sixties Synthetic Knit Barbie

Sixties Synthetic Knit Barbie

For millennia,  the materials  used for clothing were natural sources including animal hair (for example, camel, goat and sheep), fur (mink, rabbit and ermine)  and silk (from the larvae of a moth).
Natural plant fibers such as cotton, linen and hemp have a long history too.

In 1880 or so, Joseph Swan invented a synthetic fiber using cellulose as a base.  Other cellulose-based fibers (rayon and viscose) were developed in the following decades.  In the early 1930's, Wallace Hume Carothers invented nylon.  And then, in 1941, John Rex Whinfield and James Tennant Dickson invented the first polyester fiber.

The synthetic fiber industry grew quickly.  Crimplene  was very popular.  It was available in many knits and colours and popular with both men and women.  It was a dream to sew with and had a beautiful hand but did not breathe so fell out of fashion as lighter fabrics were patented.

Crimplene was the signature fabric of the A-line dresses that helped define the mod sixties.  I wore  a blue one with a dog-eared collar in a school photo.  It wasn't mine and I didn't have permission to borrow it but it was such a pretty dress.  Nevertheless, when I took that dress,  I was completely ignoring one of my cardinal rules, "If it is not yours, don't touch it."

Barbie is wearing a garment made of a synthetic knit from the sixties.  It is very flattering and it actually is her dress.

Barbie in Red

Barbie in Red

Listen to some of the synonyms for red:  scarlet, claret, burgundy, vermilion, carmine, crimson, maroon, garnet, russet, cerise.  

And listen to the names of the substances used to produce the colour red:  cinnabar, cochineal, fuchsine, ruddle, madder, annatto, realgar, red lead.

And think about the colour red, vibrant, alive and imbued with the concept of the strength of muscle and blood.  It is associated with freedom in Jenny Joseph’s poem Warning, the siren song of  the feisty Red Hat Society.   We see red when we are angry.  We blush red when we are embarrassed.  Women paint their nails and lips red to attract the attention of men.

Red beacons, red warning signals, red sky at night, red as a beet, roses are red, red is the colour of my true love’s hair.  Scarlet O’Hara, Will Scarlet, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Red-Headed League and of course,  red-haired Anne of Green Gables were all part of my youthful reading.  

I have a red car.  It is old and faded now but the colour blinded me when I went to the dealership to pick it up.  The next day, I drove it to work and got my first and only speeding ticket.  I know the police officer pulled me over because of  the screaming red paint.

Red demands your attention and Barbie revels in it.

Hundreds of Barbies

Right now at Cours Montreal on Peel Street you can see 1000 haute-couture Barbies in an amazing display.  There are Barbies dressed like television characters, movie stars and the roles they played. Some Barbies are dressed in clothing representing  commercial products including a very popular soft drink. 

There are Barbies walking the runway of a very posh fashion show while other impeccably garbed Barbies take photos.  Barbies of many skin tones and hair colours pose in a rainbow of colourful gowns.  Barbie is shown in traditional clothing from 6 continents.  Barbie is  displayed in groups with backdrops and props or more simply in long wall cases. 

I was very impressed by the  exquisite gowns made with  beautiful details from top-notch designers of real-people clothes.  I stand in awe of their vision and in the skill of the people who sewed the tiny garments.

The event is a fund-raiser for the Quebec Make-a-Wish Foundation and there is a very discrete donation box.  Go if you can.  You might see me.

Vow Renewal Barbie

The national divorce rate in Canada is about 40%.  Conversely, and rather obviously, 60% of marriages in Canada last a lifetime. 

  

June is the traditional month for a wedding.   The month of June was named after Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage.  Couples married in June will be showered with blessings. I know this is true because I was a June bride and we have been blissfully happy together for 37 years.

June is over now and Barbie has decided to renew her vows publicly.  It will not be an elaborate event.  Family and a few close friends will gather to witness the ceremony and to join the happy couple for a sumptuous feast.   

Oh, and they will get to see Barbie’s new dress with the darling lace jacket and intricate beading on the bodice and self-fabric belt.

Barbie on Stilts

Barbie on stilts

Many mammals, such as members of the Cervidae family, walk shortly after birth.  Of course they are not bipedal  and they are prey.  People learn to walk comparatively late, but once they master that skill, they also learn to run, skip, jump, dance and, sometimes, stilt walk.
When you were little did you own a set of stilts like these?  I never mastered them and spent a lot of time hopping on and falling off.

These are peg stilts, available in a range of heights.  Some performers wear them while riding stretch bicycles and unicycles.  The worker who taped the drywall in my house wore Dura stilts rather than climb up and down a ladder all day.

Stilts were used by the ancient Greeks.  In some parts of France and Belgium, shepherds wore stilts as they guarded their flocks and villagers wore them to traverse marshy land.

A recent innovation, spring-loaded stilts, allow the wearer to jump or run.  Barbie favours those but wears them for performances only.  

Zumba Barbie

Zumba Barbie

I am sure you have heard about Alberto “Beto” Perez who invented  Zumba during the 1990's.  The story is that he forgot his music for an aerobics class and substituted Latin music.  His class loved it and demanded more.  It is now a major exercise industry with certified instructors and dedicated music and choreography.

Wikipedia reports that approximately 15 million people take weekly Zumba classes in over 200,000 locations across 180 countries.  One of my Zumba friends says that in France, people do Zumba in the discos.  There have been Zumba classes on Parliament Hill here in Ottawa.  I love to go to Zumba.

It is excellent exercise but it feels like a party.   During a one-hour class everyone dances to the  beats of cumbia, salsa, bachata,tango and chachacha.

Henry David Thoreau said "Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes..." You can buy Zumba licensed clothing but it really isn't necessary... unless you are Barbie.

Amauti Barbie

As I write, the windchill here is -40.  Traditional people of the north dealt with cold like this without the benefit of central heating.  They are the most resourceful people on earth. They sewed clothing from the furs of the animals they hunted using the bone to make needles and sinew for thread.

In winter an amauti is worn with the fur next to the skin, and a second one is worn with the fur out.  The capacious hood is designed with an inner pouch (an amaut) so a baby can be carried safe and warm on the mother's back but can be moved to the front for feeding.

The women who made the clothing would embellish the garments with  pieces of contrasting fur or beads.  Now,  woven fabrics are often used but the basic design is retained. 

Barbie is also wearing lined pants and knitted mukluks.  The baby is, as tradition dictates, completely nude.

Polar Bear Dip Barbie

Polar Bear Dip Barbie

New Year's traditions include cleaning the bad from last year and celebrating a fresh start.  It is customary to make loud noises to scare away the bad spirits or to hold ceremonies to smoke out the traces of evil.  It may be important to tell people you love them or forgive them or both.  Some cultures require that all debts be repaid.  The events unfold with dancing, music, countdowns and a momentous kiss at midnight.  I have heard that a lot of alcohol is consumed.

These customs make a certain amount of sense (except maybe the morning-after hangover) but the idea of  going for a polar bear dip just seems foolish.  A fundraiser for charities, the participants  gather at a frozen river, hack a hole in the ice and jump in.  I'm serious.  For safety, the organizers provide a diver and first aid staff.  I'd suggest a psychiatrist would be a relevant addition to the team.

Somehow, doing a polar bear dip appears on many bucket lists and there are some enthusiasts who participate yearly!  The first question  is "Why?"  The second is "What should one wear?"  The answer to the first question is a mystery.  The answer to the second one is 'as little as possible'.  When you leave the frigid depths you don't want a lot of fabric holding the cold water against your skin.  You do want a heavy robe to wear to the water's edge and back.

Barbie is proud to assist in fund-raising and always open to new experiences.  She'd tell you how it went but her teeth are chattering too loudly.