lisastrawberry

victoriana

Went to Galveston for Dickens on the Strand a few weeks
ago. It was like a marvellous dream...

I could indulge my Victorian goob/geek out nonstop there,
as we saw so many amazing full on Victorian outfits. I want
to have a totally Victorian styled outfit, replete with big
assed hat, bustle (gotta hustle to wear that bustle!),
velvet coat, etc.. Oh, and some granny boots , in velvet if
you please.

This may be the most superficial of all the posts I've
made. So what.

Or it might not be.

This Victorian "thing" has been going on a LOOOONG time
with me. Wanna hear how it started? Ok, I will tell you
anyway.

When I was a youngster, like 9 or something, one of my
grandmothers worked as a volunteer in a Victorian restored
mansion called Ashton Villa (in Galveston, and yes part of
Dickens fest). She asked my sister and I to participate in
vignettes during the fest, meaning that we would wear
Victorian clothes (night gowns, which she'd made for us in
the Victorian style) and sit in the children's room and
play with actual Victorian toys. This was more than FUN! I
had been reading Laura Ingalls Wilder books and Little
Women, ever since I was able to, and thus was quite excited
by the prospect. It was a blast. We even got some spiced
cider and gingerbread. What a time warp.

Then, we went back to Dickens when I was in highschool one
year and I dreamed the dream more deeply since I was at
that time reading Byron, Shelley and the Brontes. I had
discovered the "goth" aesthetic, since it accorded so
easily with many of my interests...punk rawk diy ethics,
beautiful poetic lyrics and a very strong Victorian thread
to the look and feel of some of the music and musicians.

I started collecting books of 19c poetry, antiquarian books
I guess they're called. I love them. I love the engraving
on the covers and spines, the gilt edges of the pages, the
deckled edges of the papers themselves... book goob!

I am really fascinated with just about everything from this
era. I don't find it QUAINT, as some do. I find it
profoundly intriguing, since it contains so many
contradictions, so many struggles (for women, minorities,
workers' rights), and so many beautiful works of art and
fascinating personalities came about then.

I've hosted Victorian parties, but I've never felt
transported during them, the way I did at times during
Dickens fest. I want to really feel that I am going back in
time during the parties. I wonder if people would go along
with developing a character that they sustained all
evening? Is that too much to ask? Probably not, with my
group of friends.

I'll write more on this topic some other time. You better
believe it.