I wanna keep talking about Kiki Layne's Met Gala look & *why* it's so brilliant....
*sigh*
This silhouette is not only a bunch of checkmarks for all the gilded age girl fashion staples: the color pink, the corset buttons, the opera gloves, the close to the neck -necklace, the heavy halo of hair framing her face...
But what it subverts given Kiki's immaculate face card (honestly the best face there, argue with your momma) and her being emphatically black, not just by being a black woman, by how she is styled especially the fro!!!...
See, there was this "feminine ideal" in the gilded age called The Gibson Girl:
As drawn by Charles Gibson in the 1890's which lasted up until WWI, this was the feminine ideal of the era... Pure, beautiful, etheral, the right class, perfect.
...and WHITE.
One big signature is the huge pile of hair that formed a heavy halo on the head.
Anne, in the 1985 Anne of Green Gables, reached for this look in the concert scene here (note the pink sash, flower in her big red hair, neck hugging pearls, frilly detailing empasizing the clavicle and shoulders, and opera gloves):
and other "Gibson" girls taking the hair to pretty big halos:
even the middle-class Booker T. black women of the era adhered to this:
I mentioned the fros were *also* of the era... the exoticifed ideal of the Circassian woman:
These women were exhibited in traveling shows and given exotified backstories of having been kidnapped and sold into white slavery... from the Caucasus Mountians region, in the country of Georgia and regions south of Russia in Europe.
They were exotified as "perfection" in beauty and known for their afro-textured hair.... but again WHITE.
Now, the stylist for Miss Layne said she specifically chose the Afro as a purposeful nod to blackness within the opulence of the gilded styling... but KNOWING ALL OF THE ABOVE, her look goes well beyond just that into the startlingly subversive.
Again... Kiki is soft, she's princess pretty, she's pure, ethereal, she's feminine, delicate, all of those things usually ascribed to whiteness.... while checking off the gilded style reference points AND being a black woman.
And as we know, when it comes to the rareity of black women being seen as soft...
*every.*
* thing.* from the delicate way she is holding herself in this style, -she's wearing it, it's *not* wearing her (posture immaculate, hands delicately crossed) to again... Just her BEAUTY and her BLACK beauty in that Halo of Afro hair...
She just stomped all over that Gibson aesthetic and proved she can best that ideal with emphatic blackness....soft fro, perfect face card, and all... all while hitting the assignment pitch perfect.
And that, my friends, is why I LOVE THIS LOOK.
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Easter with König
It's another holiday, which means I'm going to make my favorite fictional Austrian go through the holidays as well. First was Fasching, now it's Easter! If I have to celebrate it, then so does König, except he gets to have a better time doing it!
I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d meet his family during Easter. It’s a tradition of his to go to his parents’ home during that time for a visit and a chat, he only sees them maybe twice a year, so he can appreciate having a small get together with them. He normally gets along well with his parents, but he’s lost most of the contact he had with them ever since he hit his mid 20’s, but he does look forward to seeing them. Naturally, he’d take you along for the ride, regardless of whether you actually know German or not. He can play interpreter for you, it’s not a problem for him. But if you know German already? All the better, that way his parents and you can just talk to each other with no problems. He does hope that you’ll get along with them, they did play an important part in his life when he was younger.
König genuinely hopes that you will like the traditional Osterjause*, though. He’s loved Easter for that reason, and for the freshly baked lambs, but mostly for the best Brettljause*. In fact, he’s probably called his mother two weeks before his visit to let her know what kind of meat and sausages to get for him and you as well so that there shall be plenty to go around. If you’re not from around, then you likely don’t know what a “Gsöchts”* or “Schweinsbratn”* is, but he will assure you that it’s something delicious. König could rave on and on about that one farmer’s “Hauswiaschtl”. In fact, if he can, he’d love to go to the farmer’s market on Friday with you just so he can get you something to eat. Not above grabbing some Bauernbrot* and Krenn* either while he’s at it. Mans needs his Krenn when eating his Osterjause. Although it will have been a while since he’s seen everyone, he will introduce you to all the farmers there since he knows a good chunk of them growing up.
Naturally, he’ll be drinking a few beers here and there as well. He’s Austrian, it’s in his blood. Will have you try everything off the plate, from the Nuss* to the low-fat Karree*. Loves having you with him and will actively try to involve you in any conversation there may be so that you get to talk as well. Again, it might be a bit awkward if you don’t know any German, especially since he’s not the most reliable translator, but you’ll get by somehow. His parents have been curious about you for a while now anyway and have been wanting to meet you.
Although he claims to be far too old for that sort of thing, he wouldn’t mind looking for an “Osterkerberl”* with you. It’s a nice tradition that he used to love as a child and he wants you to experience Austrian Easter with him, so he likely asked his mother to hide one for you somewhere around the yard so you can go find it. She won’t give you any clues as to where it could be found. It’s childish, but it’s a lot of fun. In fact, if König were to ask her to prepare a Kerberl* for you, then chances are she prepared one for him as well, for old time’s sake. And then the both of you, two fully grown adults, will run around the yard, looking for the basket. Once you found it, you had to admit it was rather cute, filled with a few hand painted eggs, some colorful chocolate, a baked lamb and some crafted chicks and bunnies. Clearly, his mother put in a lot of thought into what goes into such a small basket. In fact, even the “grass” was made of edible paper, it seemed.
König would feel somewhat stupid, looking for a basket of all things during Easter, but it did remind him of his childhood, so he wouldn’t outwardly complain. Besides, you walking up to him, all happy with your little basket, does something to him. The sight was just too adorable, so he’d likely ask you, the master sleuth, to assist him in his hunt. Once you’ve both found them, you’d return back to his parents’ apartment and continue just chatting while occasionally eating a bit of the Jause*.
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Osterjause - Food that’s been prepared for Easter. It usually consists of meat, sausage, cheese, tomatoes and horseradish.
Brettljause - Same as Osterjause except it can be eaten at any point during the year.
Gsöchts - Geselchtes - Salted and smoked meat.
Schweinsbratn - Schweinebraten - Specifically prepared roast pork, eaten cold in this context.
Hauswiaschtl - Hauswürstel - A hard sausage.
Bauernbrot - A special type of bread.
Krenn - Horseradish.
Nuss, Karree - Types of meat
Osterkerberl - Osterkörbchen - Easter basket, a basket filled with easter themed food. Sometimes has a gift in it as well, mostly for children.
Kerberl - Körbchen - A basket
Jause - In this context it refers to the Osterjause.
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They started the band under the name Rocket Baby Dolls, and Bellamy describes them as “looking like the Cure, but sounding like Rush. Call it progressive goth.” It was mainly an instrumental band, but after winning a contentious Battle of the Bands contest and getting a good response from the judges, they began to focus more on songwriting. “We wrote hundreds of songs,” he says, “but it wasn’t until I was 18 or 19 when I began to express myself more and be more confident to do that. I wound up as the lead singer by default. There was no one else in the town that wanted to sing. Back then, it wasn’t really cool to sing falsetto because Nirvana and all that stuff was in. We saw Jeff Buckley do a concert, though, and he wasn’t scared to be a high-voiced male. I think that helped me open up and not be afraid to use a more expressive and emotional vocal style.”
—Matt Bellamy, 2005
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