Hey y'all! 

So, this wasn't exactly planned (well, it was, sorta). I hadn't really intended on sharing about this brainchild of mine until I had actually started the project. 

But now that I've kinda spilled the beans about this project in my monthly wrap-ups, I suppose I outta backtrack and explain about what the dickens this is all about. And if it comes to nothing later, oh well. Blogging is a journal, and there is always a chance that future me will stumble across this and actually do something about it. 

Speaking of which, I better get started before I ramble on much further. 

I am a history nerd. Actually, to be honest, my entire family are history nerds in some degree or another. At least when it comes to us kids. 

There are some of us who tend to take it a little further...case in point would be me, who actually became a historical reenactor for a couple of years. 

My brother Tyler is of the same ilk. I shouldn't have been surprised. The kid acts like me, thinks like me (mostly), has many similar hobbies to me (including sewing?!) and even LOOKs like me. Like we could be twins, almost. 

So when he suggested a couple of years ago that he and I should create a formal suit and opera dress and go to the opera in them, I was completely on board with the whole idea. If it had been any other sibling, I would have had cause for concern. Not for the dressing up aspect, mind you. It's just that Tyler is the only one besides me who has any appreciation for the opera. 

Granted, neither of us were absolutely serious about doing it right then. For one thing, we're broke millennials. And another, historical costuming is an area to which I have little experience and he none. However, both of us started following various costumers on YouTube and kept hinting to each other that "yeah, we should do this thing eventually". 

I'm not sure what it was about this year, but I decided that I was going to work towards making this dress. Or at least design this thing, if nothing else. And so, the first thing to do was figure out what opera I wanted to take inspiration from.  

Now, I'm weird when it comes to operas. I'm sure Belle Anne would be absolutely scandalized to hear this, but I don't choose operas because of the music (the vibratto really gets to me after a while) or the art form (even a romantic person like me has her limits). 

I choose them for the story. Because, yes, operas have plots. And most of them are pretty bad. Murders, adultery, suicide...just to name a few of the atrocities. 

However...I eventually got caught. By a Catholic movie of all things. You see, in Going My Way, one of the characters is an opera singer and one of the scenes in the movie is the famous aria from Bizet's Carmen. So of course, I had to look up the opera after that, which resulted in finding a copy on YouTube, which then resulted in me watching it.... 

Well, I was hooked. Except that the obsession with opera was rather cut short because of the content issues. To many, this may not seem a big deal. But I have no interest in imbibing media that could be soul damaging in any way. 

But before that obsession ended, I did find one opera that I ended up loving to pieces and still do. And that is Guiseppe Verdi's Aida. 

Aida features a story of love, jealousy, and betrayal set in Ancient Egypt. The storyline is very easy to follow along and the music is great to listen to. And besides the implied paganism, there really isn't that much immoral conduct! Plus...the name Aida is really pretty, I feel. 

The colors and aesthetics of Aida really lend themselves as well. Rather than having the harsh reds and blacks of Carmen, Aida has muted blues, teals, reds, golds, greens, and white. This is much more suited for my complexion which (if you follow color analysis) tends to fall under the Summer/Spring categories. 

Hence, Aida became the opera of choice for our operatic adventure. At present, we don't have a venue or a time to shoot for. That will come later. The important thing is that Aida is the inspiration going forward. 

Now, the next thing to determine was the time period in which to date the dress. Because as we all know, historical garments are products of their time and each has its own quirks which denote it. When taking inspiration from a specific thing, it is typically wise to take a significant date, either from the work itself or otherwise. 

In the case of Aida, I chose the opening date in the United States, which is 1873. This is an early bustle period, so the fullness is being transferred to the back but the skirts are still quite wide and pretty. 

And now, the design process can begin! 

Old-fashionably yours, 

Catherine