Simple, lovely layers of a circle skirt, delicate lace bust, and these sleeves! Be still my young heart. Twirl as when I was a young girl in this Beauty.
WOODSTOCK
Wardrobe and styling by Daniel Laukat
Images by Samuel Nesbitt
Previously in this series:
What happened to the Pinup piece of this publication?
There’s something incredibly feminine and regal about lace. It screams 20th Century Americana which I love and adore. For some reason, Legends of the Fall comes to mind. Daniel reworked these head pieces from the same places he rescues these delicate fabrics. Working lace and fashioning it to a body the way he does truly is an art. Wearable, delicate, regal art.
If I were to style a wedding today, I would want something simple in overall shape yet intricately detailed. These beauties are just that. To wear them gives a light and airy care-free vibe that communicates oneness with self and surroundings yet awareness of an individual role and beauty in it all. That’s a pleasant state to embody on your wedding day. Barefoot feels most at home. All this a stark contrast to the oft less comfortable yet pretty footwear and huge dress with which many brides adorn themselves. I donned silk taffeta because it was the lightest weight fabric I could find while achieving the Cinderella princess “poof” I at the time desired. Now a more mature, aware, and grounded woman these earthy yet comfortably feminine looks resonate with my being. The first two dresses feature a roaring twenties aesthetic, a sort of liberating time for women. The angel sleeves below, featured in Dark Age and Renaissance looks, also scream of the nineteen sixties, a time in history of many culture shifts. Exciting it is to me that we live in a time when we can fuse all these historical fashion trends together for any amazing look and pull it all off with ease and grace. Style with all the things you like, and find someone like Daniel who can pull your dreams together.
Wardrobe and styling by Daniel Laukat
Images by Samuel Nesbitt
Previously in this series:
What happened to the Pinup piece of this publication?
During this shoot, Daniel confided in me this is his favorite wearable creation thus far. It truly is so light if feels as if wearing nothing at all. When I sat down to type this post, I realized that my previous post was the 200th published to this blog, yowza! Many more looks by Daniel in the weeks to come. Stay cool, summertime is in thick heat this week in Northern California.
The flow of this dress! I could spin for days and wear it as many, nights as well!
Wardrobe and styling by Daniel Laukat
Images by Samuel Nesbitt
Previously in this series:
What happened to the Pinup piece of this publication?
Daniel Laukat is a local Sacramento designer and maker of beautiful garments up-cycled with remnants salvaged from places where donated fabrics go just before they get thrown into landfills. Perhaps you have read the statistics to know that 80% of donated fabric items including clothing and household linens end up in our as well as other nations’ dumps. I enrolled in a sewing course in Bay Area’s Cañada college six years ago, and department chair/professor Ronda Chaney promoted for students to re-work existing garments and other fabrics to fashion a look not only for the artful challenge, but to save the environment as well. When you think about the abundance of access to such material in this country, its just the responsible thing to do. Daniel is such a maker, and I admire how he was able to turn this table cloth into a beautiful wearable garment which drapes flatteringly to the body. This one is a bit oversized on my short stature for daily wear, but it certainly is a statement piece. Reduce, reuse, recycle; make old things new. What Daniel does with fabric is what many of us in classic car culture do with metal. A passion for taking care of what already exists and working with it is a thrilling challenge as more creativity is at times required, and each creation is indeed unique.
I am in love. Even if this life is only a breath, this breath I shall cherish and hold near. Dear to my heart is every second spent in this love. I am overwhelmed. No words, only tears of deep emotion on many levels. Giving my heart to one person is terrifying, but no investment yields no returns. This man’s character and person are worth every investment and effort that can for me be made. I am his. No higher pleasure can for me be found. The story of “Adam and Eve” at creation is told of a pair of people. To me a whole point of this life is about that pair connection. Indulge sensuality with the special person in your life, and together enjoy the fruits of the core of each other. I know its a lot of tiring work. A satisfying relationship can only be discovered with a real person. Humans are fragile. I value my soulful connection to Orrin from a place of knowing life without it.
I hate doing my hair, that is why I’ve often hired another to fuss with it. Wearing makeup is for me uncomfortable. Never have I enjoyed the feeling of it to my face, even the ultra-light airbrush makeup I’ve used the last year for shoots and shows is something agitating to my spirit and urges me to rush the washroom to remove it upon return home. I can arrange words and deliver them jovially, enticingly, convincingly, whatever the occasion demands. I am easy in front of crowds. I enjoy vintage fashion. I am comfortable in front of the lens of a camera. I can be “me” without the makeup and hair and still enjoy cruising my car and wearing my vintage wardrobe. I don’t need to be a “public” figure and a pinup model for any of that. I am real, I enjoy real. Ladies, take all that sexiness within and direct it toward a worthy human. May you find one another and drink life to the dregs. Satisfaction does not exist in fantasy, no matter how it is created. True value to what I have to offer can only for me be enjoyed in one real mutual partnership, and I now finally have that partnership. It is beautiful.
Ladies, I know many of you reading this are married. Laying in your bed, your whole world is right there with you. Enjoy him. Invest in him, invest in one another for no greater pleasure in this life exists. Women fantasize from their books and men often seek images. Images of women and fantasy are not connections within a genuine mutually satisfying relationship. There’s somebody for everybody. If you spend all your time in fantasy, then you are not finding a person to mutually love and enjoy, a person with whom to cultivate life. Perhaps that feels safer for you.
What was I pursuing this whole time? To feel like me. To feel as an actualized human being owning and enjoying her sexuality. Sure, ultra feminine mid-century fashion helps me at times to do that, and makeup and hair enhances it all with some creative body posturing for the camera. What’s it all for, and worth? To me today, my sexuality is for and worth one amazing man. May you likewise be and discover the quality you seek. She or he is out there, keep praying. If you’re in your relationship, keep working and rediscovering emotional depths with one another. Those depths are worth your time and effort. You partnered pairs likewise keep praying for your connection for it is worth every utterance.
Big hair, this day when I’m acting like a bad-ass I can’t help but see my maternal grandmother shining through! I don’t smoke, drink, nor chew but I can shoot a bullet through you! Some days, you just need to know you aren’t going to put up with other people’s shit.
The night before I decided to launch this blog, to feature otherwise private “pinup” images my then husband and I had created, I lost a lot of sleep. I spent days and even weeks in angst over whether or not to take it all public. I vacillated between “that’s private, no one else gets to see” and “throw it to the wind, this is old-fashioned mid-century tradition thanks to the everyman’s camera allowing images of the girl next door to be a fun hobby.” As I researched “pinup”, I chose to ignore and to not share some of what I learned so that I could carry on the vintage “artful” path and focus on fun and games as if oblivious. To survive and to give myself a voice, my conscious was set aside. As a result, much has been learned. At the end of the day, however, I am a daughter of the one true king and truth always finds me. The truth is, pinup images surfaced during the 1800s and were a way for women of ill repute to advertise their sexual availability, to spread the word so to speak and drum up customers. I read this information and seriously thought to abandon the project, but I needed a platform so desperately that I put it aside and instead spoke of the mid twentieth century when the girl next door popped a pose for the troops overseas. Today, photography is what it is. In a way, I think I wanted to send a message of availability that my heart had not been claimed and as far as sexuality I was just flustered. Call it fate if you shall but I say divine intervention, not the help of this blog, changed my stars forever. I am connected with exactly what and who I desired my whole life to be connected. I guarded my heart despite many opportunities, and have much to give an incredible and very real man. Our relationship is sacred. My body is sacred. My body is meant to be enjoyed, by one person in the context of a loving and caring relationship. I have that person now, and this is all his. I desire no other. As much as I have enjoyed pinup modeling, I value more highly than all others this genuine loving connection to a man who has won my heart. My heart belongs to him, and I will fight to keep our connection because no relationship is easy. All that I have experienced in life gives me resolve to know beyond all doubt, this is sacred and worthy. I claim my heart for this man and no other.
Life brings us to crossroads. Some crossroads are traveled and met via bright and shiny yellow brick road, and others are traversed and met via jagged terrain tracked through mud and elements. Either way, decision time arrives: take the blue pill or the red pill? Choices can be daunting and downright terrifying. But choices we must make, and at times pretty quick. Maneuver this way and that, then live with it. What choices today do you face? Some experiences make us new and alter world views. Which worlds invite you?
MUAH: Danyelle “The Hair Maverick” Johnson
I dreamed about being a mermaid when I was a little girl. Splash starring Daryl Hannah and Tom Hanks was a total favorite. Once my son was old enough to watch television for a few minutes, I finally plugged one in and we slowly enjoyed the entire series of H20: Just Add Water. Last summer when these images were taken I had plans to purchase a tail from prestigious makers in Florida, but it did not work out.
Alas, I have these legs and will never be a mermaid. What a fun summer fantasy.
Suppose I will have to settle for enjoying the beach as a total human.
MUAH: Self
More from this beach series:
Have you bowled yet this summer? This bag belonged to my grandmother. Not sure if she acquired it in the fifties, sixties or seventies but the name reads “Margie Driver” so it was one of those decades before her second marriage changed her name to “Litten”. I found these shoes in the showroom at Viva Las Vegas this year, hand cobbled by a gentleman from the UK. This adorable playsuit is made by SquareWear, formerly known as Cassandra Cadillac. The shop is in Italy, the amazing seamstress and vintage enthusiast is a German educated in England and her work is amazing. This outfit was originally intended to be worn in last year’s Miss Midnight Mass 1950s good girl vs. bad girl pageant. I was cast as a bad girl, and as as a Charlton Heston fan who repeatedly watched The Ten Commandments growing up, what could possibly be more “bad girl” than Egyptians? That’s what the fabric is, Egyptian warriors. I went with a prom dress instead. Miss Midnight Mass 2015 is fast approaching, and the theme is 1960s beachwear. These contests require preparation, and I look forward to reporting what we all come up with July 25!
MUAH: Danyelle “The Hair Maverick” Johnson
Related Posts:
Out-Law Photography: my final Mass look 2014
Midnight Mass Preshoot: report on event before images came in
Cassandra Cadillac Clothing: my first suit commissioned
Many fought and died giving birth to this nation. Any mother knows the deep sacrifice in creating and sustaining life. As we celebrate this nation’s 239th birthday, may we hold our loved ones near. I have grieved and shed tears that my children will not know the same America I grew up knowing, but then again I know one different from my parents and their parents and so on. Change is unstoppable. May we handle it with grace even in the midst of tears. I hear folks championing our governing powers for some deeds and hating them for others. Power, distractions, who knows what really goes on behind closed doors. It may be difficult for some to want to celebrate the birth of our nation, mixed bags of blessings. But I can say not one of us wants to witness nor bare the weight of her death, do you? Should you struggle to celebrate her, wrap your white knuckles around the bits that bring some peace to your heart. Since when did we need permission from our government to live our very lives?! I don’t like the eighteen billion law after laws passed to regulate every iota of citizens’ existence. Freedom. Where does it lie? Enjoyed on this soil for years, yet two constants remain same as the year of this nation’s birth: death and taxes. How free are we? Does freedom come from a government?
Those who fought and died for this nation two and a half centuries ago fought for a government for the people. Governing powers were here designed to regulate currency and protect borders. Today our governing powers seem more concerned with lining their own pockets and lives with money and power. All they seem interested in regulating is the people, with aims to keep itself in power. I am disgusted with their self-serving circus that keeps the population arguing with one another instead of dealing with the real problem: those feeding the frenzy. As long as we argue and bicker over lifestyles and “political opinion”, we aren’t directing energy toward change to benefit the people; we are playing into this circus and allowing a malady to unfold. What is to be done? I have no clue; I only see the game for what it is.
Meet Beau. He is mixed of Black Lab, Border Collie and German Short Hair. Otherwise known as a Ranch Mutt, I am told he should be smart given such a mixed background. Calm disposition has he, yet a pup who frolics in attention and is eager to be with his “pack”, our little family. Beau is young and needs lots of attention. He is my first dog and first pet ever so I am learning much about training him as well as how demanding a furry creature can be. Beau is fiercely loyal. Young pups are when handled well in these formative years. He will never have a 239th year birthday, nor will I. He will change, my family will change and as long as we have one another then we have something to hold through it all. May you find something life-giving to celebrate this weekend.
MUAH: Self
VIntage shorts from Racks Boutique, top made by Jackie Rodriguez of Southern California