Wheelchair Fashion: Femme Fatale
You know it is very hard to write a blog post when your cat is sleeping next to you looking super adorable... I think it's a plot to prevent me from being productive. Especially as she leaves as soon as I give up on my laptop.
I think this is a blog post for which I need to set the scene.
It's night. There's fog. That film noir music starts to swell in the background. A wheelchair user rolls into the light of the single lamppost. Her face is all but obscured by the night & yet you can see the determination in the glint in her eyes and the set of her mouth. She’s hunted for the secrets only she knows. Knowledge too deadly to trust to any man.
A car passes between you and she is gone, back into the night & the safety of the shadows.
Lol. This shoot had the silliest & most convoluted backstory. My mum & I just kept adding to it all the way through planning.
So it's the cold war (or maybe the early 40's, not quite sure) I'm working as a lab assistant but am actually more qualified than my boss who is making me do all the work & then stealing my ideas & giving them to the enemy. I've been working undercover building a case against him with the government but then I discover something (I think super powers but it doesn't really matter) that I don't trust him with so I take the research & leave. But then for some reason I also don't trust my own government so....you can see how convoluted it got. Would make a great film though. Way more fun than another fast & furious sequel.
The whole story is really all about how next level badass I feel in the dress. Like Veronica Mars meets Kate Daniels meets my avatar in Secret World...and if you got all of those references you not only win a gold star you also get a high five :)
This whole look spawned from the Autumn-Winter Miss Candyfloss collection (which has a whole femme fatale, Agent Carter vibe). I loved the collection, it was so bad-ass yet it also felt like something powerful women from the 1940's/1950's would have worn. I love that there was a collection focusing on the kickassness (what? It’s a word) of the women at the time. There are so many representations of susie homemaker style women of in the 40’s & 50’s & so few of strong independent women like Agent Carter (who I know is imaginary but doesn’t feel imaginary).
Kind of cute anecdote, the first thing my littlest brother said when he saw me wearing this was that I looked like Agent Carter.....he then said I wasn't pretty enough to be Agent Carter but I'm still counting it as a compliment lol.
All I can say is I have actually had dreams where I was wearing this dress I loved it so much. It gave me badass film noir anti-hero vibes the whole time I was wearing it & I LOVED it.
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| Am I answering an invisible phone? Am I playing an invisible piano? Am I communicating in some super secret spy language? I guess we'll never know... |
I did feel very film noir down by the canal, even the weather conspired turning a morning that was supposed to be sunny & clear into one that was drizzly & very overcast. 90% of my lighting came from street lamps which made for interesting lighting & a very draining shoot.....especially when you are the only one who knows how the settings work on the camera lol.
Down by the canal has changed a lot from when I used to mooch around town in my teen years. It used to have a much more grungy graffiti & litter vibe than it does now (there used to be a tunnel with some very interesting anatomical graffiti that always made me giggle). Most of what's there now is posh apartments for people who work in town & some places to eat. Plus a courtyard with speakers hidden in the trees playing birdsong....(totally creepy btw, if you want bird song in your courtyard put up bird boxes & bird feeders...).
It was actually the second time I tried to shoot, the first time nothing worked. It was too dark & the background was wrong & so were the angles.... Mostly though it was just too busy (problems with trying to take photos somewhere urban in winter, golden hour is at 7....just as people are starting to go to work. I have been doing outfit photos for years & I have never been stared at more than during this photoshoot....
The dress was from Miss Candyfloss but I'm pretty sure it's sold out everywhere.... Sorry about that. It may be worth haunting their social media though because sometimes they do re-releases?
The petticoat I got from Vivien of Holloway. I actually don't recommend it to wheelchair users, it was quite slippy & a bit too long for my skirts. A nice petticoat but not one I'd buy again...
I got the hat from Top Vintage Boutique. I'm not sure it'll get worn a lot just because it's quite a statement, you can't be subtly vintage in a hat like that, but it's definitely cute. I particularly like that it has an alligator clip instead of a comb, a must if you have fine, slippy hair like me. Also if you recently cut most of it off... The hat stayed in place really well with only a reasonable amount of hairspray (my hair wasn't crispy afterwards...that denotes only a sensible amount of hairspray was used).
The gloves are vintage & I got them from Etsy (it's where I get all my vintage goodies).
The shoes are from Modcloth. I've been trying to find different & more interesting vintage style shoes & I've been looking at these for a while. I was a little nervous because I wasn't sure on sizing & you can't fudge with open sided shoes but I finally got the largest size 11W (I always get my shoes too long because otherwise I don't fit comfortably width wise, my comfiest B.A.I.T. shoes are a size 11). I could totally have gotten away with a size smaller, these are about a size too long on me but honestly it doesn't matter, I don't walk in them anyway. The real issue is that they are awkwardly high on my footplates. I'm going to have to think long & hard before I get any other heels this high. However cute they may be.
I think that's everything...
Is the construction super noticeable in the above photo? I thought the black & white made it less obvious but I'm not so sure now....
Something about the balcony & the construction reminded me of when I was in Venice (a long time ago). It had the same kind of feeling, especially in black & white. I colour it's just a big old mess.
You know this would make a great Halloween costume. Like I'm in costume as a 40's spy but at the same time all the pieces are re-wearable & I'm not a creepy misogynistic Halloween cliche... Plus I look awesome & confident. And warm.... You know the more I think about it the more I like it as a concept lol
Do you do anything for Halloween? It's not a big deal where I live so we don't really do anything. Mostly we watch Hocus Pocus & eat fun sized chocolate bars in the dark. That's pretty halloween-y...
You're gorgeous as always Sally. I didn't notice the building work in the background, but even if I had, it wouldn't have looked out of place. After all, lots of buildings had to be re-built in the 40's.
ReplyDeleteStunning! It DOES look like an Agent Carter outfit, which is about the highest compliment you could ever give an outfit!
ReplyDeleteSpot on - you totally do look very film noir!! These photos are fantastic and you look phenomenal in this dress. Such good color/tones on you!!
ReplyDeleteYou look incredible! Love this outfit, right up my street!
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