Story Bought Dress

Submit to Story Bought Dress

2012-01-22T17:47:00.000-08:00

Submissions to Story Bought Dress are always welcome! Here are the guidlines for reference:

Story Bought Dress is an online zine based in New Zealand whichseeks to explore the stories of outfits and their wearers in creative ways. Thezine is particularly interested in work focussing on vintage and thriftedfashion, art, literature and cinema and pieces which blur the lines betweenforms and genres.

Pieces may take whatever form the author wishes - anythingfrom short essays and fashion blogs to creative prose, poetry, fragments andconceptual work. These may be illustrated if you wish.

Contributions from around the world are welcome. Please send your piece or any queries to storyboughtdress(at)gmail(dot)com. Please attach your piece as a word document and include a brief author note. Thank you!

Daisies Style

2011-12-13T15:11:00.000-08:00

by Andrea Quinlan

Czech director Věra Chytilová’s 1966 film Sedmikrásky or Daisies features costumes designed by Ester Krumbachová who also worked on the films Fruit of Paradise and Valerie and Her Week of Wonders.

Krumbachová said: “Costume is not about clothing. Costume, both for the film and the theatre, is an event. Something from the story must happen in the costume. I myself have developed certain tricks. For example I would make one sleeve slightly shorter than the other. No one would really notice but there is a certain discord. Costume designers should understand that they are not dressing people in trousers or hats or shirts. They should see them as a way of modelling the character that is supposed to play in the film.”

The costumes she created for Daisies are simple yet visually striking and just as playful and rebellious as the two Maries in the film. This spirit could easily inspire vintage ensembles for both night and day.

Key pieces could include:

Minidresses in bright block colours

Crowns created using vintage silk flowers

Prints such as spots and checks

Chiffon scarves

Colourful nylon petticoats and nightwear

Floral dressing gowns and lounge suits

Don’t be afraid of adding unusual handmade touches such as accessories created from tinfoil and string or veils made from net curtains.

Loosed Women

2011-11-13T14:30:00.001-08:00

by Carrie Murphy

for the hangers-on

Sableing-up alongside the night

with a smoky-eyed

slippery grin. Tongue with a fuzz like fur;

when the light hits,

a shower of sequins.

Rayon. Python.

Marathon.

Silk her up with a straw.

Tulle-ing around the morning, heels zipping

up and down. Fleece and wool

over the eyes and don’t look because she’s

poodling right out of her skirt.

Unlaced. Eyelet. Gauze and glitter.

Ombre-bronze and oops

her herringbone is showing,

slip, slit.

Tie-dyed up, reaming and seaming.

through a pleather pout. Seersucker.

She’s suede, she’s beading,

she’s shantung and

antique-ing over the edge,

a hanging thread, then

kisslock clasp.

About the Author: Carrie Murphy grew up in Baltimore, MD and received her MFA from New Mexico State University. Her chapbook, MEET THE LAVENDERS, appeared from Birds of Lace in 2011.

Girl Gang Style

2011-11-06T12:42:00.000-08:00

by Andrea Quinlan

The 1954 b-movie Girl Gang is one of those films that couldeasily have disappeared without a trace, but stills showcasing its fashion haveemerged on various blogs and Tumblrs, providing pulpy yet glamourous inspirationfor vintage inflected girl gang style.

The look is simple to create using a mixture ofvintage/thrifted finds and key modern pieces. What follows are some ideas forclothing, accessories, hair and makeup inspired by the film.

Casual co-ordinates such as slim-fitting jeans, denim, leather and baseballjackets, blouses and sneakers are the keynotes of the look, whilst lightwoollen sweaters, cardigans and knee-length wiggle skirts are deceptivelydemure.

Experiment with femme fatale accessories such as retro sunglasses, ankle socks,stockings and suspender belts.

Scarlet lipstick, black eyeliner flicked out at the edges, pin curls andquiffed ponytails created with back combing and hairspray will add thefinishing touches to this stylish and rebellious look.

Her/Your/Her Look

2011-10-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

by Andrea Quinlan

Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams

We love Wednesday Addams' sarcastic and creepy attitude as much as the way she co-ordinates black velvet schoolgirl minidresses with chipped red nail polish and braids.

To recreate her look, choose childlike dresses with high collars, cuffs and buttons.

Look out for blacks, charcoals, whites, velvets and dark floral prints.

Black tights and washed out makeup will complete your/her look.

Sue Lyon as Lolita

Lolita is our favourite sulky starlet. Her wardrobe makes us green with envy as well. As Humbert Humbert, the murderer with a fancy prose style says, "What little girl would not like to whirl in a circular skirt and scanties?".

To recreate her look you can have your pick of crisp cotton shirts, denhims, sneakers and full-skirted 1950's style dresses.

Check out the vintage stores for Lolitaish accessories like heart-shaped sunglasses, tiaras and school uniforms.

Bikinis, babydoll nighties and woolen sweaters which have been lost in the woods will complete her/your look.

Vintage Style with Story Bought Dress

2011-08-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

by Andrea Quinlan

I love 1920's style. My icons are flappers like Clara Bow, Louise Brooks and Zelda Fitzgerald. They looked so good when they were being bad.

My favourite thing to wear is 1950's dresses. I always look out for old issues of Woman's Home Journal and Woman's Weekly for inspiration. I wear my day dresses with punk rock eyeliner and glitter.

I'm very into 1930's depression chic. I have several feedsack dresses such as the floral one I'm wearing. Wearing dresses women made themselves from so little makes me feel inspired to try so much harder in everything I do.

1960's New Wave cinema is a huge influence on my look. I feel very Anna Karina in sailor dresses and pussy bow collars and Jean Seberg in jeans and pumps, even though I am far away from Paris.

I love 1970's prairie dresses like this Gunne Sax. It's true that they could be something out of a Laura Ingills Wilder book. I don't see that as a bad thing.

I enjoy wearing vintage fur. I know that fur is controversial and I certainly wouldn't ever wear a piece of modern fur, but wearing a dead animal from long ago feels like giving the animal a new life.

I love vintage lingerie. I'm a big fan of underwear as outerwear too. So many of those pieces are too gorgeous to be kept under wraps.

Woman Suit

2011-08-19T02:30:00.000-07:00

by Loredana Tiron-Pandit

I am walking fast. Maybe the headache will be blown away by the chill in the air. Maybe the nausea will be obliterated by the effort of the fast movement. But then, all the sensations may very well stay with me. After all, I am walking toward the most critical event of my whole career.

This meeting will decide my future. I have to be strong. I have to be powerful. I can envision the six dark suits around the large table trying to pierce through me and measure my worth. The five men and one woman in that conference room have to see me as the indubitable winner. The visionary leader. The trustworthy colleague. The unfailing scholar. The good listener. The compassionate authority figure. The strong-willed manager. Which I am. I'm confident about that.

What I am worried about is what they might think of the outfit I felt inspired to put together today. The '50s silk pink scarf that I bought for 5 dollars at the antique market this weekend. The flowery ruffled skirt that belonged to my mom -- she is wearing it in the photo of my first day of school. What makes me anxious is how they might judge my loose and freely greying curls. What terrifies me is how they could react when they see that I really am a woman.

About the Author: Loredana Tiron-Pandit is a writer and editor based in Massachusetts. You can visit her website at www.loritironpandit.com

Tagged

2011-08-16T01:07:00.000-07:00

by Rachel J Fenton

They fit perfectly. You can’t believe it.

‘This never happens to me.’

The assistant asks if you need a bag. Not any more, you think, and say you’ll keep them on. She kneels, and though she’s only removing the tag you still take it as a sign.

‘And your old ones?’

‘I won't be needing them anymore.’

You go back a week later. Your old ones are in the window. You can’t see the price on the tag, only the words: Once Worn; New to You. Someone inside the shop is pointing to them. You knock on the glass, shake your head and call out,

‘You don't want those, they were mine’.

She smiles.

You want to explain but it’s getting cold and you need to find a new coat – new to you – to go with the new you.

About the Author: Rachel J Fenton is a writer based in Auckland. She has poetry, fiction, art, photography, journalism and criticism housed in diverse publications, including: Blackmail Press; Otoliths; Horizon Review; The Literary Burlesque; Ramshackle Review; Ink, Sweat & Tears; Melusine; Eclectic Flash; Camroc Press Review; Tom's Voice; Camel Saloon; South Yorkshire Times; Eye of the Needle; Writer's Eye Magazine; and Airflow Magazine. She was shortlisted for the 2011 University of Maine "Ultra Short Competition"; "Fish 2010 One Page Prize" and longlisted for the 2010 "Sean O'Faolain International Short Story Prize". Links to published works can be found at: snowlikethought.blogspot.com

A Week in the Wardrobe of Story Bought Dress

2011-08-01T01:44:00.000-07:00

by Andrea Quinlan

Monday
Today I'm wearing a 1920's red velvet cape from little red riding hood. It has deep pockets for my lipstick and credit card. The series of bite marks around the base of the hood are from the big bad wolf. I think it's just the thing for a walk in the forest alone.

Tuesday
Since it's a sunny day, I have dressed up in my 1950's blue cotton dress from Alice in Wonderland. It's ideal for the tea party I am attending. You're probably wondering about the marks on my white stockings? Well those are what you get when you fall down rabbit holes.

Wednesday
Today I have accessorized my checked picnic outfit with a C.1900 poisonous red apple from Snow White. It's so luscious, but so deadly. Never fear - I won't be eating it. I'll be far too busy posing for photos and frolicking to do such a thing.

Thursday
I don't actually have a ball to go to tonight, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from wearing this 1940's pink satin ballgown from Cinderella. At least I won't turn into a pumpkin at midnight or get cuts on my feet from wearing glass slippers.

Friday
This 1930's silk dressing gown from Sleeping Beauty is the most glamourous thing to lounge around reading Harper's Bazaar in. If Princess Aurora had found such reading material, I wonder if her life would have turned out differently?

Saturday
I'm wearing a Victorian crushed crimson crinoline from Wuthering Heights today. The damp air of the moors clings to the fabric, even though the sun is shining. The sleeves still bear the tears of broken hearts and anguished love, even after hundreds of years have passed.

Sunday
I'm not actually wearing this wedding dress from Great Expectations today - I'm just posing for a photo in it. I guess that still means I'm wearing it, though. I love the cobweb necklace and beetle brooches Miss Havisham accessorized with, but I don't feel that waiting around in an attic is part of my story.