Extra Sugar

A few years ago, my occasional collaborator Sapphire and I transformed ourselves into anime girls to create a little humorous cartoon sequence. It was based on the premise that these typically skimpily-clad girls were drawn by male artists, and were TIRED OF IT. They’d had jack of glorified scanties and wanted to wear designer clothes. And they were prepared to fight for them!

Long-time readers of SNAP will not wonder where our costumes came from: out of my closet, which encompasses a multitude of wigs, accessories and sundry oddments as well as a vast assortment of vintage and contemporary clothes – almost anything you could imagine. A 1950s opera cloak? Tick! An 1850s velvet skating coat? Tick! A Victorian woman’s evening top hat? Edwardian underclothes? A pair of over-the-knee leather boots? A long, curly-haired pink wig? Tick, tick, tick! (Those who know my tiny apartment often exclaim, “Where do you keep it all?!”)

Once we’d worked out what our costumes were going to be, the really fun part was putting on our makeup. Sapphire had cleverly done her research and found some YouTube tutorials on transforming our boring human eyes into enormous anime eyes. I supplied an enormous quantity of makeup for the purpose (Sapphire enquiring, “Do you have white eyeliner?” “Yes!” “Liquid eyeliner?” “Yes!” “False eyelashes?” “Yes! I have everything!”). The only thing Sapphire had to bring was a pair of shoes, since she’s a size smaller than me.

Every time I put on false eyelashes for a special event – these ones are black feathers – I think they are such fun that I should wear them every day. Whenever I do wear them for several hours, I am so happy to rip them off as soon as I come home however. Everyone knows the pleasure of wriggling toes upon removing painful heels, but there is the same bliss in removing the weight of sticky curtains from one’s eyelids.

Click for larger versionWhen I opened the folder on my computer I laughed when I saw these out-takes and extras – how awesome we looked! We also took some Hipstamatic photos behind the scenes of the photoshoot: there is even one of me hurriedly repairing a pair of handmade earrings for Sapphire to wear that match her necklace. The red pom-pom headband I am wearing I also made. One of the other amusing vintage garments are the 1960s lace-trimmed petti-pants Sapphire wears under her blue dress. All the clothes we are wearing are secondhand items I sourced from various places, except for the over-the-knee socks, both of which were new, and the pink nylon tutu I have on.

You can see the original story Revenge of the Anime Girls here – I enlisted the help of a bemused male work colleague to do the hand modelling, and he was very forbearing about being kicked by two miniature women. Looking at all these behind-the-scenes photos reminds me how much fun we had. It might be time to book another date with Sapphire!

Photos: March 2013

Box Clever

Ever since I collected these vintage leather lace-up gloves from my old club one clean-up day, I have wanted to do a boxing story especially for Boxing Day. Originally I wanted to wear the gloves, but was never quick enough to organise a friend to come press the shutter for me (as I obviously could not operate a camera shutter remote wearing gloves). Finally I decided to go ahead anyway, as I love the way the laces allow the gloves to hang around the neck – a classic look not possible with modern gloves that fasten with Velcro.

Hattie Stewart, from the Bronx, New York (image from Pinterest)Researching women’s vintage boxing attire was extremely entertaining as of course with the Victorian mania for keeping women as covered up as much as possible during sporting activities, this meant donning all sorts of paraphernalia, such as silk sashes around the waist, ribbons in the hair, and pretty frilled socks and shoes. The image of Hattie Stewart from the Bronx, New York was my main inspiration for my outfit – it was the ribbons and the multi-coloured sash that sold me on it.

The only vintage items I am sporting are the gloves themselves, the silk ribbon in my hair, and a silk kimono I bought in an antique store in Vietnam years ago. I had to make do with a Gap tank and Adidas shorts, and leather fold-up ballet flats by Yosi Samra (super soft and comfortable, by the way). I laugh every time I see the lace socks paired with running shorts!

The Bennett Sisters, c1910–15

I haven’t done any boxing classes for a year or two – martial arts having given way to fine arts – but I still do a bit of shadow-boxing as part of my warm-up when I go running. Doing this shoot reminded me how much I miss sparring, although if I do take it up again in the New Year, I think I will be wearing more practical garments!

Photos: A few days ago

Clara Bow in Rough House Rosie, 1927Women boxing in heels in the 1920s (click through for more images of women boxing)Fraulein Kussin and Mrs Edwards fought on 7 March, 1912

Replicating Rachael

I always loved that scene in Blade Runner when Deckard scans the photograph and enlarges and enlarges to find one of the replicants reflected in a mirror. Here’s my attempt in my tiny bathroom.Before I cut off my hair last October, I decided to do a few dress-ups that required long hair. As I had also recently acquired a 70s-does-40s black crepe dress (complete with rhinestone brooch on the left shoulder), the time was ripe for a little homage to Sean Young’s Rachael in Blade Runner.

Tools for becoming RachaelSuch a tease …The first thing to do was tease my hair, which is always a difficult task because my hair is fine and soft and tends to flop pretty quickly. I don’t know – maybe I’m just not hard-core enough with my teasing and hairspray. I always shudder at doing such violence to my hair, and the thought of combing it out afterwards makes me chicken out from going all the way. I created some rather modest ‘boofs’ (that’s Aussie slang for big hair): big puffs on either side of my centre parting.

An important step in the nail polish drying process: running waterRed nail polish was required (Revlon Fire & Ice); a dunk under cold running water speeds up the drying process. The super-fun part of the makeup process was using my Majic instant eye shadow, which reminds me of that scene in The Fifth Element where Milla Jovovich uses a Chanel product to instantly apply some pretty cool eye makeup. Lots of black smudgy eyeliner and some browny-pink lipstick with some gloss over the top finished the look.

Channelling Rachel via Leeloo with Majic instant eye shadowSmudge that eyeliner, roll back that hairI don’t own any enormous-shouldered jackets similar to Rachael’s sharp jacket – I eschew shoulder pads almost entirely – except for a fitted jacket from the early 90s by old label Blasé, which is also secondhand. A rolled-up piece of office paper simulates Rachael’s cigarette. But the most important part is replicating Rachael’s defiant, dead-eyed stare just before Deckard cross-examines her.

The thing that always amused me in the film is when Rachael takes down her perfectly coiffed, smooth hair in Deckard’s apartment, and suddenly it’s corkscrew curly! How does she do that? Is it a replicant thing – they can curl their hair at will? Because – barring having a hairdresser on hand at all times – that would be a handy skill to have. 

Princess Tatiana à la Rachael

It’s a Breeze

I love fashion editorials with jumping models. I love the notion of capturing by random chance the perfect photo of a body leaping into the air, of billowing fabric in motion – whether it’s humorous or beautiful. And what a thrill when it actually happens! Of course it’s not so easy when one is the model doing the leaping, with a remote timer in one’s hand. It is comical though.

For The Polka Dot Cure story about a white and pink polka dot scarf, I really wanted just a gentle ocean breeze wafting past, ruffling the edges of the scarf. Unfortunately my fan would not cooperate. I had to resort to flinging the scarf into the air in the two-second gap before the shutter clicks, with quite a few humorous results. (When I jump, I have to time it just right – it’s funniest when I lose my balance.)

Recently I was taking photos for a cotton candy flavoured story, which necessitated tossing an enormous scarf into the air. It was a very long roll of film, but I managed to get one or two perfect shots. You’ll have to wait to see those though. Stay tuned. 

Shoo-Shoo Baby!

Click on image for larger version

Oh, I had such fun doing this ANZAC day shoot! I put on a cd and sang away to Rum and Coca Cola, Shoo-Shoo Baby, Hold Tight, Hold Tight (Want Some Sea Food Mama), and of course Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree. There’s just so much joie de vivre in their singing – no surprise they were sent off to cheer up the troops during the war. These photos made me laugh so much I had to pick out my favourites to share.