#clothes based of costumes from Sophia

[gavalaa]

Sketches of all my redone designs for my Phantom Thieves from my AU, Icarus! Lots of info down below on the cut, so if you want to know more about the details and inspiration, feel free to keep reading!

This includes Akechi’s design for his Princely/Robin Hood attire, BEFORE his Icarus attire you might have seen from my other posts! Check out the Icarus AU tag for more info! Icarus has a main focus on Akechi and his relationship to the thieves, but the AU is actually an entire rewrite with new designs, 3rd semester and epilogue/strikers/tactica stories, hence Zenkichi and Sophia’s inclusion.

Read below for individual info:

I decided to include more motifs towards their persona’s and general vibes; and also just my own personal touches haha.

AKIRA - Not much has changed, I really like his design overall. I raised his boots to be like Arsene’s and changed his neck area.

MORGANA - I hate the OG pill shaped head, his new design is based heavily on the shape of Palico’s from Monster Hunter. Added a little more nod to Zorro/His persona motifs and also just made him cuter! Little hamburger headed cat.

RYUJI - I made him a little bulkier and gave some more weight to his outfit overall. I gave him heavier boots and a slightly buffer build to relate back more to his sporty style.

ANN - honestly was never too big on her latex outfit, I wanted to call back to a personal favorite female lead; Christine Daae, and used one of the versions of her Don Juan costume as inspiration. I remember seeing Phantom live and in many stage versions of her character, the Don Juan scene was a pure moment of female control, and she was truly working the Phantom and controlling every movement on the stage. Her presence is commanding, and I thought it was a very fitting tribute to Ann’s character as feminine strength. (I’m absolutely not referring to the movie iteration of Daae btw.)

YUSUKE - I referred to some historical art and legend of Goemon to add more elements of design to his outfit. When I color them, I want to add some really strong pops of color to his clothing to really drive the aesthetics and artistry home.

MAKOTO - Another totally redid outfit, I opted to give her a design which relates back to Popess Joan, and also Anat. I gave her a clawed hand on her right side and an uncovered hand on her left as both a nod to Anat’s hand raised in iconography of her from art history, but also to show the duality of Anat’s title as both a goddess of war, and of love. It also relates to the mythology of Joan and her nature as both a leader and a martyr. I changed her mask to a Venetian Commedia mask as well.

FUTABA - ok. I’ll be honest. I never liked her skin-tight outfit, it just doesn’t match her personality at all. Also, the high tech Egyptian feel never really sold me. I totally understand the tomb thing, but I truthfully think a dungeon/palace which was more like… tech/nerd themed would have been much more “futaba” the inspiration for this new outfit relates back to her persona, the Necromomicon, as well as her nerdy personality, and her affiliation as Alibaba (Ali Baba.) I wanted to go more lovecraftian, long sleeves and patterning designed to look more like lovecraftian tendrils, and big baggy pants and her classic shoes to match. The patterning on her undershirt will resemble a rib cage, both as a reference to her deathly “tomb” iconography, but also to Lovecraftian and Necronomicon lore. I think she matches the description of a nerdy, techie DND dungeon master more than the initial outfit, so that’s the route I took personally.

HARU - relating back to some fashions from 17th c France, where Milady’s story (the three musketeers) takes place, I kept her design relatively similar. I just gave her a little more iconography relating to the three musketeers and that general timeframe.

AKECHI - in his pre-Icarus outfit, I’ve given him a princely sort of outfit befitting of his two faced nature, and edited it to relate to Robin Hood a little more. I tried to keep it sleek and just generally very concealing and layered.

SUMIRE - i gave her some iconography relating back to one of her personas, who is an inference to Freya. I also included some more nods to classic Cinderella, with fantasy gown elements. Overall, relatively similar.

ZENKICHI - again, relatively similar, I really like his outfit. I just opened up the face some to show more personality and spiced up the outfit generally to keep it matching. honestly, les mis/Valjean was a hard one, but I also think his character could be heavily related back to Edmond Dante (Monte Cristo.) so I gave some nods to that as well.

SOPHIA - I turned her into a FINGIE!!!! I made her whole dress as a nod to her persona/to pandora’s tiles around her/the pillars. I wanted to make her small and almost unnatural since she’s an AI, and I thought having a little guy on the team would add some more variation.

[lakesbian]

i guess it's hard to get a read on how much he actually cares about palatine and dauphine or reciprocates their dislike of him? also why did he say that about "sexual favors"

(this post is about the fanfiction sword and sorcery, which you should read because it's good. it's written by tumblr users shakertwelve and nonplatonicsubtext about their estateverse au, which you can read more about in the estateposting tag on tumblr user shakertwelve's blog. would i ever lie to you about a fanfic recommendation.)

ok ahem. i've posted about alec's opinions on palatine and dauphine before bc i think the dynamic potential there is hilarious and i'm so delighted that they got put into the fic. the fancy frilly little freaques are fiiiighting!

Alec Is So Entirely 100% Certainly Without Doubt more mad about palatine and dauphine than they are about him. it would frankly be more accurate to ask how much victor and amelia reciprocate his dislike, because they are living RENT fucking free in his sad little repressed brain. but, like all of his emotions, it's just not super obvious because of how repressed he is--he feels and displays everything in a very muted way. the posts i linked get into the main bits of Why He Does Not Like Them At All, but to elaborate based on analysis of what's actually in the fic:

“Regent had a run-in with them a while back, before he joined the team,” Tattletale said. “He was new to the city, so he didn’t realize what his costume choice would make people think of.” She gestured vaguely in the direction of the Estate capes. “But he was doing things they don’t do and going to parts of town they stay out of, which caused some confusion. Eventually Dauphine and Palatine tracked him down to have a talk about it. It didn’t go well.”

as we can extrapolate from above, alec's history with them is like this:

he shows up to brockton bay as a severely maladapted, depressed, Generally Unwell cult-escapee on the young (and probably malnourished) side of 13 with effectively nothing to his name but his powers

as a weak cape without a team and zero social or systematic connections to turn to for help, he's forced to do very small-scale villainy just to scrape by enough to survive. and the entire time he is wearing his costume that veritably Screams "i am a special little prince please look at how wonderful i am." jesus christ he needs a hug.

these random cunts, palatine and dauphine, pull up and basically tell him to Fuck Off and stop Stealing Their Family's Schtick

these random cunts are also dressed fancy like him, and dauphine especially is someone alec would identify with fashion-wise, given that it's explicitly stated that her costume is princess-like. "Even with her elaborate costume, she looked more like a child’s princess doll than an actual princess." taylor rags on it, but it's still princess-like

this random fancy cunt, dauphine, is the daughter of...marquis, an incredibly successful, fancy villain with long hair who has a lot of money and lives in a mansion and, from alec's perspective, loves and cares about her dearly and buys her nicey clothes. and beyond just that, she has a brother who--instead of tormenting her & then laughing about it--wears a special fancy gleaming knight costume and bridal carries her around and is so sweet and nicey to her if anything bad happens. like, for example, alec getting pissy at her and tripping her.

we already know alec gets Insanely, Malevolently, Incandescently Jealous over someone he's engaged in hostilities w/ having a nice family. (see: him doing all that shit to sophia). we also know that he isn't very good at recognizing this jealousy in himself. (see: aisha revealing in late worm that alec only realized that he had done all that shit to sophia out of a jealous rage like a week or two later when he was talking to her about it.)

which is to say: alec sees dauphine as being Sorta Like Him, but if he had a 100% ideal family (dashing golden knight brother that takes care of her! rich fancy father who protects them and buys them nice shit! and they all live in a mansion!), and LET ME FUCKING TELL YOU. HE IS SO INSANELY JEALOUS HE HOPES THE ENTIRE ESTATE GETS HIT BY A NUCLEAR WARHEAD AND EXPLODES. ...all subconsciously, of course. he expresses this thru things like mocking her for being "a baby about a little trip" &c--insulting the vulnerability & familial care he certainly wishes he could have, while fully unaware why seeing it annoys him so much.

but i digress. keeping all of that in mind, you can see why alec would be infuriated & jealous towards them even if they were completely neutral towards him. but they weren't neutral towards him--instead, these people he views as being Like Him, But Living Out His Wildest Dreams, approached him to hassle him for accidentally appearing like he was one of them. local loving royal villain family approaches boy who is obviously projecting subconscious desire to be a beloved prince onto his costume design and goes "quit stealing our vibes," boy reacts with a parasocial grudge. his weird complexes about them shall reign eternal. he wishes he had a second, cooler palatine to beat the first, lamer palatine to death with hammers, and then bridal carry him to stand dismissively over dauphine's prostrate form as she weeps over the first, lamer palatine's corpse. and also he wants the second, cooler palatine to be hand-feeding him a bag of chips ahoy the entire time.

...i should stress again, this is alllll more or less entirely subconscious. alec doesn't know what the fuck he's feeling ever, this just comes across as a subdued vague annoyance/disdain for them.

so, why the weird "sexual favors" remark? it genuinely was not intended to be a harassing comment, nor do i think he genuinely would say he believes that marquis prostitutes his daughter if he thought about it for a second. but he does identify with dauphine in the sense that they're aesthetically similar enough for him to be extra-jealous about her. and so upon hearing "dauphine's favor," he takes the meaning of "you can have a favor from my kid" he's most used to as a child who was prostituted by his own villain father, and he projects it onto her. if i want to read into it beyond that, i think he might be unconsciously/impulsively trying to poke a hole in their family--a sort of [hopeful] "marquis sucks :)?" where he'd like to hear that marquis isn't as much of an envy-worthy dad as alec thought. meanwhile from the estate's perspective he was just a creep for no fucking reason. there are other, far more important things for lisa to be paying attention to during this scene, so i don't think she was wasting any time reading alec, but if she Was she certainly would've gotten a good show of severe mental unwellness.

[nyotaliafan-pinkmermaid]

Hetalia x the weathered head at Onigashima

Based on the song : "The Weathered Head at Onigashima" by Kamui Gakupo.

Warning : This particular story takes place after the events of the Tailor Shop on Enbizaka. In the story , there will be mentions of decapitation and murder. If you are sensitive to subjects like these,better don't read it.

New characters :

Priestess/ Tailor's actual wife : nyo!Switzerland

Lone boy: Holy Roman Empire

In the center of Onigashima , where Enbizaka was located, a severed head was displayed on an execution site. Its dark brown and bloodstained hair was blowing in the wind, smoothly flowing side to side.

"What crime did this head commited"? a traveling priestess with long blonde hair tied in two braids and green eyes asked the people. That woman's name was Adelheid Sudou and she was Probus' wife, with whom they had their daughter Erika , that died during the fire one year ago.

One of those people answered her : "It is said that a clothing store owner and her family were stabbed by this man's scissors".

*One day ago* :

[After the Enbizaka murder scandal, upseted the whole town , two soldiers caught the tailor Probus Sudou and lead him on front of the judge. The judge who was a very strict man started asking him questions.

"Are you that man? Are you Probus Sudou?"

Without losing time , Probus responded to him immediately :

"Yes sir, that's me!"

"Is it true that you murdered the clothing store owner, Sophia Miroku, her husband Antonio Miroku, her older son Lovino Miroku and her younger son Feliciano Miroku?"

"This is all true. I was the one who did it. I don't deny it!"

"And the reason , why you commited this horrible crime?"

"That woman was cheating on me with those three men. So i killed them and then her."

"Are you sure, that this is the actual reason , for your crime?"

"No matter how many times, you'll ask me this question , the answer won't change."

" So , you accept your guilt, isn't it right?"

"Of course! And I am ready to accept any punishment that will be deceived for me."

In fact no one knew, that if the tailor actually told the truth , it would lead to a bloody war, where many people would lose their lives. The terrorist and elitist Crimson Robbed Masses , was the one who caused the great fire of Enbizaka. And Sophia whose father before her, had close ties with this group , payed one of its members a large amount of money to cause that fire. She didn't want other smaller shops to antagonize her company and also lose costumers. This disaster costed many innocents' lives.

The judge had already decided that the punishment for the tailor's crime was going to be decapitation.

Few minutes later a young boy with blonde hair and blue eyes came holding a sword on his hand. He was no other than Karl the boy who was actually born from a tree and was raised by the tailor like he was his own child.

The moment that Karl was about to cut off his father figure's head he whispered :

"Please , forgive me for what i'm going to do right now".

After those words the boy took his sword and cut off the man's head, which was placed to the execution side in the town center.

Although some seconds before the execution , the judge allowed the man to see the boy , he raised as his own for a last time].

*Return to the time where this story's events are taking place* :

"This lovely man in the ballad , why did he kill those people?" Adelheid started wondering to herself.

That weathered man didn't say anything.

Yes , the head on display at Onigashima!

After losing her husband into the fire , she left to search for him , hoping he was alive and waited for her. It was then , she decided to become a priestess. Before the fire, she worked as a tailor just like him and even worked double shifts , when he was sick or busy with other things. Their marriage was genuinely a happy one and two years later , Adelheid gave birth to the fruit of her love with Probus. A lovely daughter whom they named Erika and she was the joy of their life.

Now , the priestess couldn't believe, that the severed head actually belonged to her beloved husband.

Memorial services for criminals were also part of the priestess' duties. So the next day the young woman visited the site where the head was displayed.

By the time the woman arrived , someone else was also standing there. It was a lone boy.

"Excuse me , young boy. What's your name?" Adelheid asked him ,when she noticed that child.

The boy looked at her and responded : "My name is Karl and it was me, who cut off this head".

"Are you trying to fool me, right now? " the young woman told him with a somewhat frustrated tone in her voice.

Karl stood without fear and comfirmed to Adelheid that everything he said to her was true.

"I am telling you the truth , he was a sinful man but also a pitiful one."

"Now i believe ,that you aren't trying to play any tricks on me" Adelheid said to him while the tone of her voice was calmer at this moment.

They paused for a bit and Karl explained to Adelheid, that Probus was the closest , he ever had to a parent figure. But in the end he couldn't save him. And he had a feeling of sadness , during this short speech of his.

The priestess and the boy joined their hands together and started praying for the young man's soul.

It was said that this man was such a skillfull tailor and he seawed an amazing tunic.

But now he lacked the arms to hold the scissors.

Yes , the head on display at Enbizaka!

No matter how beautiful the tunic was,

he couldn't wear it without a body.

This weathered man, didn't say anything.

Yes, the head on display at Onigashima!

Yes, the head on display at Enbizaka!

The end.

[heckofabecca]

For the color palette: Jeyne Poole in 5? Thanks!

send me palette requests!

[captainlevih]

Here is my edit of ep 10.

this episode was very interesting, i always wanted an episode on earth. we finally had a costume and good a illus,my favorite illustration was certainly Lance's I don't know why but this illus was very good and i'm really looking forward to the next episode and to see how things turn out. And about my headcannons:

Mai and Sophia have been to Earth before (specifically long before the war)

the other flirts too but this must have been Huang-Chu and Lance's first time on Earth

they ended up staying in amoris town and visiting Cozy Bear and Nina having a little cameo

and they ended up staying at a hotel near Karoll and Nath's apartment

about the illustration I didn't do it for the detail that my Ocs are not human so almost no one if not no one recognized them, so that's why no illustration and because I was too lazy sorry ;p and their clothes I wanted to highlight a little bit the style of clothes like Sophia having a Cottagecore and fairycore style and Mai having a kinda baddie and gothic style

credits: Mai's base is from this Vk group and Sophia's base is from @candysweetposts

[westerosiladies]

Arya Stark Fancast Resource

So I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve been having a hard time finding age-appropriate actors in period costumes when trying to create any content that doesn’t feature the actors from the show (not that I don’t love them all, just sometimes a change of pace is nice). That’s particularly true for characters whose book and show counterparts are significantly different in age. I thought I’d start putting together some resources for fancasts that are reasonably accurate to book descriptions, particularly after I saw the incredible Sansa Stark resource put together by BookSansaDaily.

So yeah, let’s start with Arya:

“Nine years old at the start of A Game of Thrones, Arya's appearance is more Stark than Tully, with a long face, grey eyes, and brown hair. She is skinny and athletic. She is generally regarded as plain, as exemplified by a nickname “Arya Horseface”, and is often mistaken for a boy.” (x)

RAFFEY CASSIDY - YOUNG SNOW WHITE (SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN)

Raffey Cassidy was roughly 9 years old when filming Snow White and the Huntsman. The costume design is appropriately medieval, and I've found it a particularly good resource because of the number of clips where Raffey looks disheveled and/or tomboyish. Best for AGOT and pre-ASOIAF content.

ANNA MAGUIRE - YOUNG DANIELLE (EVER AFTER: A CINDERELLA STORY)

I can’t find an accurate birthday for Anna Maguire, but given that she played a 9-year-old character two years after this film, I feel confident placing her at 7-10 during the filming of Ever After. The film is set in the Renaissance rather than the Middle Ages, but Danielle’s clothes are still reasonably appropriate. As with Snow White and the Huntsman, this is a good resource for both AGOT and pre-ASOIAF content, especially since it contains footage of Anna Maguire looking both put together and covered in mud. She’s not as long-faced as Arya should be, but she’s got the appropriate mischievous energy.

IVANA BAQUERO - OFELIA (PAN’S LABYRINTH)

Pan’s Labyrinth is set in the 1940s, well outside appropriate ASOIAF timeframes, so Ivana Baquero is best used for stills and closeups. However, the scene in which she faces the toad (pictures 1 and 4 here) has her filthy and in reasonably time-neutral underclothes, so I’ve found it useful before for the period when Arya’s on the run with the Night’s Watch or the Brotherhood. Ivana was 11 when filming, so that puts her at a more appropriate age for later novels.

ANUK STEFFAN - HEIDI (HEIDI)

Again, not a period-appropriate film, but Heidi does spend a significant amount of it running around in an undershirt, so that’s useful for taking it out of time a bit. Anuk Steffan was 10 when filming, and this movie has the added benefit of portraying her with both long and short hair, which makes it particularly ideal for content portraying both Arya Stark and Arry the Orphan. She even occasionally runs around in boys’ clothing, albeit 19th century boys’ clothing.

A FEW OTHERS

1. ARABELLA MORTON - GAEL (THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER): Arabella was 10 when filming the third Narnia movie. She doesn’t have a ton of footage, but there’s some material between her and her onscreen father that’s potentially useful for Arya and Ned, and she’s got a mischievous spirit that feels very Arya to me.

2. UNKNOWN ACTOR - YOUNG SOPHIA/ZOE (SOPHIA): I’m not sure who this actor is (if you know, please tell me!) but she plays Young Sophia/Zoe in the Russian series Sophia. Based on her height, she’s significantly older than Arya, and she only appears in one sequence, which can be found here. However, I think her face is uncommonly perfect for Arya, so I’ve used her both for gifs and for stills.

3. HARRY STOTT - LUPUS (ROMAN MYSTERIES): Harry Stott was 11-12 when filming the TV series Roman Mysteries. He’s a useful resource when fancasting Arya in disguise as Arry, particularly in the Season 2 episode titled “The Fugitive from Corinth,” where he wears the brown traveling cloak you can sort of see in the picture above.

4. TOM TAYLOR - YOUNG UHTRED (THE LAST KINGDOM): Another good Arry fancast. Tom Taylor was 13ish when filming the first season of The Last Kingdom, which has particularly good cold weather, fur-based fashion. Heads up that the character of Young Uhtred was recast for later seasons, and the other kid looks much less like Arya.

Anyway, I hope this is useful, and feel free to add any additional actors you like to cast as Arya! I’m planning to make several of these for different characters; the full set can be found here once I’ve made more.

[masterhandss]

Hamefura Idol AU! (part 2)

Here’s a completely unrelated Katarina idol art by @Sangotofura on twitter!

This is a continuation of my first post, the one that is more of an overview of the original FL game and the original descriptions of the characters. I don’t know if I want to write a story for this, since again this is just an excuse to draw, but I’m really having fun with expanding the alternate version of the world of hamefura.

It’s a lot of fun to rewrite hamefura’s story to fit in an idol setting, so I hope you guys don’t mind if I write a bit more for my dumb au dhjgfjs

More tidbits about the ‘Game’:

The game’s name, Fortune Lover: Cinderella Idol! or “Fortune Lover”, is read as “for-tune lover” by the fans (get it? tune?? pls laugh). The ‘F’ of the name is written as a fortissimo.

In the setting for Fortune Lover, the entertainment industry is the biggest industry of all time, with music being the most popular form. It has been like this for decades, and as time progressed, people’s tastes and expectations of music evolved, leading to the creation and popularity of idols.

Idol-Producers are a new project that is testing the capabilities of a idol teen, observing how their involvement in their own success can impact how they manage their time and how they can bring the absolute best out of themselves, on their own. Maria is the first idol who will be testing this new style. She is still a producer to herself, the boys, and even Sophia and Mary if you choose to have them join you. Despite being an idol, they still call Maria their “producer” and treats her like one. 

The characters in the game are in 3D CG, as the game includes the dance choreography or “MV Mode” if you perfect the score of the rhythm game. 

While Katarina’s bullying isn’t really death threatening, it’s more in line with the petty kind like verbal threats, sabotaging Maria’s idol clothes and stage equipment, paying someone to mess up her tracks during performances, badmouthing her infront of tv show producers and hosts, and stuff like that.

Katarina’s bullying isn’t as bad as it is in the original otome game, but she gets shunned by the public because behavior like that is only supposed to be done behind the curtains. The public has such a pure and honest perception of idols that they never think of the idea that the girls who smile and sing on stage actually try to stab each other in the back when the stage lights are off. Some people think that Katarina’s character is just a persona, so knowing that she is actually an ignorant and arrogant rich girl idol-wannabe, her fans lose respect for her. Katarina’s harassment of Maria is one of the few cases that are brought to light by the end of the game, and because of how much the public loves Maria by that point, they are enraged by Katarina’s behavior, making her lose support on all sides

Katarina had been in love with Gerald ever since they were children, and while Gerald has always been a popular boy among both his peers, when she found out Gerald was going to be an idol, she disliked the idea of sharing her beloved Gerald to a huge audience of people, so she became an idol to stand alongside him and to make herself worth of him by charming him as as an idol and gaining a large following herself. Despite this, Katarina didn’t strive too hard to be a talented idol, as she was too confident on herself due to the pampering of her parents.

Even if the player doesn’t desire to romance any of the four boys, given how the game is written and how it is programmed, the boy with the highest relationship points with Maria will confess to her by the end of the game. It would be impossible to not interact and gain points with the boys, as you gain relationship points in most areas of the games (when you “practice” your characters, when you “play” their songs, when you “give” them new clothes, when you “converse” with them in story mode, etc.). In the event that there are two characters with the exact same amount of points, the game will choose a boy for you.

Sorcier Pro.’s current president is Geoffrey Stuart (for reasons that will make sense someday) 

Katarina-Gerald and Mary-Alan aren’t engaged in this au, but are constantly in each other’s presence due to most powerful bussinessmen and celebrities being good friends with each other. 

Each girl has a specialty in a certain area: Katarina with dancing, Sophia with singing, Mary with acting/drama, and Maria (according to the official description of her in the box) with fashion coordination. Maria can be seen as more of a jack of all trades though, as she does represent the player. 

While any of the boys can trigger the condemnation event that will lead to Katarina’s social suicide, the event is specifically associated with Keith and Gerald due to the severity of her presence and bullying if you have high relationship points with the two. With Alan and Nicole, Katarina’s event only happens for a few lines, but for Keith and Gerald, it takes place in complete detail, with it’s own animated cutscene. 

Gerald’s route is also the most popular among the fans, with community surveys reporting that 53% of the game’s player base had Gerald as their final chosen love interest ( 25% with Keith, 12% with Nicol and 10% with Alan)

Monkey Girl/Past-Life Katarina

Since Maria’s name can’t be change in the game, but you can give her a “nickname” that represents the username of the player, Past-life Katarina’s name in the game is “SaruP” (or “Monkey producer” lol)

Saruchan (Monkey Girl) dies before she could finish her playthrough of the game, and all of her knowledge is based on her idol-expert best friend Acchan. She’s a bit tomboyish, and she loves to climb trees and move freely without a hint of poise or shyness, and is friendly to all genders. Her love for climbing, running, gardening with her grandma, and never ending amounts of energy gave her a pretty strong, flexible, agile and energetic body.

In Saruchan’s world, idols do exist, but aren’t portrayed in the cutesy and exaggerated manner that fiction does. Though it’s no surprise to know that in her world, almost every girl had dreamed to become an idol at one point, even herself. Acchan doesn’t find the idea interesting though, as she only lives for the idealized version of idols that exist in fiction. Acchan explains that girls their age are being brainwashed by the idealized version of idols that are presented in the media that they consume, and that they should wake up and learn to enjoy the fictional idols as they are. Despite Acchan’s realistic disapproval of idol fantasies, she does love playing idol rhythm games and gacha games, and spends her allowance on getting DLC costumes for Maria in FL. Acchan even pre-ordered tickets for herself and Saruchan for an idol concert featuring the VA of the characters, that they were supposed to attend to on the day that Saruchan dies. 

She dies the game way: on her way to school and being killed by a truck that runs her over. 

The last thing Saruchan sees before she loses consciousness forever is the wallpaper of the game’s boxart from her phone screen as it flies out of her hands. 

My Next Life as an ‘Idol’?? All Routes Lead to Doom!!!

As usual, Katarina ends up remembering her future as an 8 year old kid, and plans to prepare for her future “banishment” and humiliation. She learns to farm in order to provide for herself once she gets shunned and retreats to the countryside, and (unknowingly) meets all the characters in the game and gains their good favor before the events of the game begins. 

Her head bump still happens with Gerald, but their encounter happened in a party rather than an engagement meeting, with her tripping over a rock as she decides to run to the young man in order to introduce herself. Such introductions never got past beyond their names and few exchanges of dialogue, as the bump occurred and Katarina was immediately brought to the hospital after he called for help. 

Being a girl who wanted to be an idol at one point, Katarina wanted to use this chance to fulfill her dream of becoming one! But knowing the fate that will await her, (public humiliation, isolation, and banishment to some degree) she tries to figure out ways to avoid ruining her future.

While not as bad as death, Katarina is aware that the ending of the game implies that the blemished opinion that everyone will gain of her will lead to her leading a miserable life; one that will prevent her from gaining new allies and even studying in peace without being made fun of or called out for. It might even ruin her marriage prospects, for all she knows (it doesn’t but she’s too stupid to know that). The stakes of the bad ending aren’t life threatening, but it is personal, as Katarina always dreamed of becoming an idol as a teen and doesn’t like the idea of being able to enjoy it for a few months only to be dragged down to hell right afterwards.

The Claes is a wealthy family known for her father’s knowledge and skills when it comes to trades and business, and for her mother’s beautiful opera singing voice and celebrity presence. As usual, Katarina’s father adopts Keith for the purpose of gaining a direct heir for the business, in fear that Katarina’s future significant other might just to interested in her to gain it. 

Katarina’s plan is to learn how to farm in order to be able to support herself after her banishment, give Keith lots of love so he doesn’t end up becoming a playboy like in the game, and to train herself in dancing and singing in order to not embarrass herself like the original Katarina did. After meeting Gerald again and realizes his weakness, she eventually prepares (or buys, since the setting is modern) toy snakes that she can use to surprise him whenever the condemnation event occurs, using his shocked and panicked reaction as a way to distract the media from the claims that will surely fall upon her (since no one would have expected the calm and collected Gerald Stuart to scream like a girl at the sight of a toy snake, right? That would stay in the headlines for weeks! maybe).

As a kid, she has private singing tutors, and takes more general singing classes when she gets older. She doesn’t have dance training as a kid, but she does like to exercise and move her body around, so it slowly turned into the stamina-filled flexible body that she is used to. 

Katarina and Keith - Their meeting and impressions are mostly the same, which the difference being that Katarina used a display axe above a fireplace to break down the door, and Keith got her injured by accidentally pushing her off a pretty high cliff in the Claes grounds while they were both running and playing chase (rather than being isolated for dangerous Earth Magic, Keith as a child was a clutz who attracted danger to everyone around him, making his older brothers make fun of him for being “cursed”).

Katarina showers him with love, making him affectionate towards his step sister, in the same as he was in the original material.

When Keith finds out about Katarina’s desire to train to become an idol, he is very supportive of her, and decides to train with her in order to be able to stand by his sister on stage (as well as to generally gain the same interests as her in order to guarantee that they will stay close as they age). The contrast being that instead of becoming an idol to gain the adoration of millions of nameless faces, he now wants to become an idol to gain the love and attention of a single person, which is Katarina uwu. 

Katarina and Gerald - Gerald eventually attempts to visit Katarina to apologize for the incident, expecting her to blame him for what happened, given the personality she showed him. He was shocked to find a scar on her forehead, farming while wearing a farmer’s attire despite coming from a wealthy and esteemed family, singing and dancing to a song as she waters her vegetables. He watches for only a minute, unable to look away from the girl who danced like deflating balloon and sang off key while almost drowning her small vegetable in water. She looked weird, but she was having the time of her life, and he could see and hear it from where he stood.

 In a daze, thinking he might have entered the wrong house by accident or walked on the daughter of a maid doing chores. He walks out and leave the Claes estate without a word, and visits again after only a few days, as he couldn’t get his mind off of the oddity that he had witnessed. 

He eventually realizes that it was Katarina on his second visit, as he finds the scar of the odd farmer girl on the same girl who boasted about her family’s wealth in the party. After giving formal introductions, Gerald offers to walk around the garden to get to know each other better, in order to continue the conversation that she had originally forced on him back in the party (it was done to be polite and respectful, rather than any interest to continue). In the garden, they pass by the area that Katarina had planned to turn into her farm, and Gerald was in awe at how unorganized and messy everything looked (there was dirt everywhere, the tools were left on the floor because she had to prepare to meet him, there was more bags of manure than what was even needed etc! Katarina internally cursed at her 8 year old delicate rich girl body for not having the same arm strength as her 17 year old self). It was then that it sunk in that the adorable singing and dancing farming girl that he accidentally saw really was Katarina Claes. She wasn’t the very definition of abnormal, but she was nothing like the daughters of his father’s friends that cried when not attended to or complained when not given the best dresses and shoes. There was no shred of worry about her family’s expectations in her eyes, nor expectations of him to act like his perfect and matured self whenever they met in parties, movie premiers or social events, which made him yearn for her company. 

After finding out about Katarina’s desire to become an idol one day, Gerald secretly planned to do the same (and even have her recruited in his brother’s agency) in order to become closer to her through her love of entertainment and to have a chance to be constantly in her presence. When he found out about the charms that male idols have on their female fans, he also plans on using this as an opportunity to gain both her attention and romantic affection, by perfecting his (already maxed out) charms as male idol. 

Katarina and Mary - The two met during a part hosted by Mary’s mother in the Hunt Estate, inviting all of her mother’s old opera acquaintances, sponsors and co-workers for a formal reunion. Katarina and Keith accompanied their parents to the party, leading them to be introduced to the Hunt Family’s daughters. As usual, Katarina had the urge to “release the chocolate shark” during the party and takes an elegant leave. She eventually gets lost in the estate and finds herself in the garden. Katarina was in awe of the garden’s beauty, and stood still as she watched what seemed like beautiful siren sing by herself near a majestic fountain, with a single rose in hand. 

Mary was surprised to hear an aggressive applause after singing to herself. Katarina aggressively complimented Mary for her adorable yet elegant voice, and asked who she was seeing as a singing trainer. When Mary replied that she was not having any singing or vocal training, Katarina rains even more compliments down, claiming that “her voice was that of an angel!”. Mary denied it, so Katarina proceeded to sing the same song that she had sang, as a point of comparison to make her feel more confident in herself. Mary shyly and unexpectedly joins her, and they ended up having a small and quiet duet in the garden. Katarina’s voice sounded a bit rough and squeak-ish, but alongside Mary’s elegant and controlled singing, they didn’t sound bad at all. 

When Katarina finds out that Mary is also the one who tends to the flower garden, she proceeds to shower Mary with even more compliments, and asks her to visit and help with her own farm garden. Being complimented for having a beautiful voice and a green thumb made her feel validated and appreciated, so she often visits the Claes household in order to be in constant presence of her first and dearest friend. The rest is the same.

When Mary found out about Katarina’s dream of becoming an idol, she started taking intense vocal training as well as various exercises in order to be able to join her in her endeavor. She slowly built a more brazen and tough personality in order to be able to join and protect her friend from the rumored cold and intense reality of the idol world, as well as due to the antics of her friends. 

Katarina and Alan - From Mary, she eventually finds out that the event where Mary duets and falls in love with Alan occurred. Katarina realizes that duet must not have been that effective because she has done the same with Mary, but is confident that Mary is in love with him because Alan is a very talented and handsome individual. A few days later, the fourth Stuart son bursts into the doors of the Claes household, and demands to meet with Katarina. She learns that Alan had developed a small crush on Mary, and that he wants to challenge Katarina for her hand. Same shenanigans ensues, leading up to the piano duel where his talents in the piano was in full display to everyone in the manor. 

Katarina knew how to play the piano (just the basics though), so she was in awe listening to someone who almost sounded like a pro! Alan runs off after Gerald compliments him, Katarina chases after him, and they got to talk behind a bush. Alan wouldn’t take her compliments, but Katarina aggressively insisted that his talents are nothing to scoff at. 

When Alan says that he’s sure that his brother can play just as good, if not better than him, Katarina speculates that it wasn’t the case, because everyone had things that they are good and bad at. Not everyone is the same, no one learns at the same pace, and that she’s sure even if Gerald can play the piano better than him (and she doubts he can in the first place), no one can play the piano like Alan can. The scores in his heart are his alone, and that nothing is more beautiful than the melody that the heart enacts. Katarina knew that the score he played wasn’t an existing one, and knowing Alan’s character from the game, it’s probably either an impromptu score or one he had composed by himself. Her guess was correct, leading Alan to be caught off guard by her compliment, almost feeling emotional as no one had ever guessed and believed that the music he played was his own, until Katarina did. 

She shows off the power of the toy snake to Alan, making him laugh and see his brother in a different light. He still constantly visited Katarina for their duels, but as time progressed, he lost the affection for Mary (as he saw her as a little sister now after interacting with her in the Claes Household) that made him want to challenge Katarina. They still followed up on those challenges, for fun rather than for sport. 

When he finds out about Katarina’s dream to become an idol, he is determined to join her in order to be able to compose songs and melodies that she can sing, intending to bring out the absolute best of his muse’s voice with his own music. Someone his age might not be fit to compose songs for an idol, so he intends to become one as well in order to gain a reputation as a competent composer. 

Katarina and Sophia - The two meets at an afternoon party hosted by the Stuarts, as a celebration for the birthday of the twins. Katarina had to “powder her noes” after a few trips to the buffet table, and leaves Keith and Mary. She’s chased down by a dog, climbs up a tree, and accidentally watches a group of kids and older bully a small girl who sounded like she was about to cry. The same events occur, up to their second encounter in the party. Katarina accidentally quotes a line from a novel that she was reading, and after realizing that Sophia understood her reference, she asked for them to meet again in order to discuss their similar interests. 

Everything is pretty much the same, the difference being that somehow idols were brought as a topic of conversation, with Sophia revealing that she is actually a huge fan of idols. Katarina, feeling reminiscent of her idol-expert best friend Acchan, tells her that she actually wants to be an idol herself and insists that Sophia tell her about everything she loves about idols. Sophia, who is surprised to also find another idol fan who is as young as her, becomes even more excited and tells her all about her love for idols: how they are able to wear such adorable outfits onstage, how they sing songs that carry so much meaning, how they carry their fan’s dreams with them when they dance and sing, how amazing it is to be able to juggle so many occupations at once, and much more. 

With both love of novels and idols, Sophia constantly finds herself in the Claes Household in order to talk to Katarina about books, idols, song recommendations etc. 

When Sophia was first told that Katarina wanted to be an idol, she was very supportive of her and announced herself as Katarina’s number one fan. As time passed, she realized she wasn’t just satisfied with just watching Katarina from afar, she wanted to sing and dance alongside her! She wants to use her knowledge of romance novels and idols to help make herself and Katarina the best idols to ever exist! She wants to sing on stage about her feelings: about how much she loves Katarina, idols and their beloved novels!

Katarina and Nicol - When he found out that someone had invited his little sister to a small book club, he was very wary, thinking that she was one of the many other girls who tried to use Sophia in order to become closer with him. He was shocked to realize that that was not the case, and that Katarina had barely seen him at all, and had opened his timid little sister’s heart. When Sophia asked Katarina if she found her appearance creepy, Nicol proceeds to explain further, expecting to see a hint of guilt or displeasure from Katarina Claes, only for both of them to be met with unyielding determination to have Sophia as a close friend. Sophia went home that day in tears, thankful to have found a friend who truly wanted to stick by her side. 

The Claes siblings often visits their home so the girls can have their book club, even bringing Mary Hunt with them occasionally. Katarina, while looking a bit flustered, is capable of having a conversation with him without averting her eyes, which was a breath of fresh air to the countless camera crew, staff, visitors and even strangers who couldn’t look him in the eyes because how of how much of a beautiful child model he was. It all leads up to the moment where Katarina compliments him with how blessed he is to have such a beautiful and wonderful family, which contrasted against the ignorant adults who pitied him for having parents who refused to abuse the potential of his beautiful face and for not being as beautiful as their son, as well as for having a freakish looking sister. 

Nicol, just like his sister, desired to constantly be in Katarina’s positive presence, and visited her often, leading them to be acquainted and friends with the entire group that Katarina enraptured. 

When he found about his sister’s and Katarina’s desire to become idols, Nicol thought of doing the same, in order to be able to continue to watch over and protect both Sophia and Katarina, as well to be able to continue being close with Katarina (as their lack of similar interests and age gap might lead her away from him, but tbh that is never gonna be a problem with Katarina). He also plans to use his influence as a child model to propel Sophia and Katarina’s careers, as a way of supporting his two favorite girls. 

Notes

I’m not sure how I feel about Gerald’s backstory, I might rewrite that if anyone kindly wants to critique it.

Instead of Mary’s green thumb, it’s her voice that leads her to Katarina and Alan, but I still think Sophia would still have a better singing voice than her, so both her voice and green thumbs both play a part in her character. Mary’s high pitched voice gets a bit deeper as she ages, while Sophia’s voice stays very high.

I really like the idea that rather than the original ambitions and goals that leads the harem to become idols in Fortune Lover, now it’s the effect of Katarina’s constant insistence and declarations of becoming an idol that leads to everyone doing the same. In this timeline, the harem probably wouldn’t have thought of (or planned early) becoming an idol if Katarina never brought it up. 

I’m writing this at midnight again, lol, but yeah I’m not planning on writing a fanfiction for this, I guess, but I do want to have an established plot so rather than chapters, I’m just writing a full overview for fun haha

When I mentioned that Sophia loved idols, I didn’t realize that I might have accidentally implied that she was just as an idol fan as Acchan was, but with actual idols this time, so I went with :DD

I’ll touch up on Idol Katarina, Anne, Maria, Sirius/Raphael and Fortune Lover 2 in the next one.

I’m really happy that there are people who actually read my previous post and said that they liked it! Feedback and suggestions are appreciated! I still need a final name for the units so help me pls hahaha.

I’ll rewrite this post when I feel like adding/changing stuff.

[idv-ask-azrael]

[my hc for the Joseph costumes]

Default (Joseph): merciless hunter in the manor. Relationships are just for entertainment or serve an ulterior motive. Calculative, arrogant, but respectful once you have proven yourself to him.

Judge (Lucifer): embraced his position as Judge and pretends to be loyal to heaven, is frustrated and upset he’s stuck in hell but doesn’t show it. Aloof, arrogant personality.

Azrael: flirting with everyone to cope with his sad past. Arrogant, picky, trust issues and actually lonely. Loves sweets and alcohol.

Apollo: dense but kind, 24/7 sunshine, only sad thing about him is his love life: he falls in love so easily but his lovers die or turn into plants very fast. The only Joseph I consider asexual.

Moonlight Gentleman: mischievous gentleman, loves to prank people, find the right spot to pet him and he becomes a good boi

Bloody Sword: 200-300 year old vampire looking for more food. Absolutely incapable of forming any kind of romantic relationship (maybe aromantic) and always looking for trouble, fights and murder victims. Arrogant, egoistic and bored. Always dressed better than you.

En Ligne: all smiles but will talk bad about you behind your back. Knows 90% of his popularity comes from his massive female fan base. Loves to kick ass. Has a massive mansion and an old, expensive car.

Hypnotist: anger issues, feels like he needs to prove his superiority 24/7, loves to be in control and is not afraid to use violence. Can't develop romantic feelings but rather develops unhealthy obsessions for people.

Ambassador: may or may not have plotted the duke's murder but most certainly knows how to use the situation to his advantage. Has a deeper relationship with the duchess Sophia (romantic or confidant) but only to achieve his own goals. He's the person who acts nice and proper and the next morning someone barely dressed stumbles out of his room and he pretends nothing happened.

Count: acts like the rich, spoiled ass he is, bff of the queen, bored 24/7, knows all the gossip, arrogant af. Buys a 600€ champagne bottle just to spill it on your clothes on purpose.

The client (DM): bi, has an affair with all the top singers and actors, sells drugs to said celebrities, unhealthy obsession with 'beauty', most likely has a botanical garden with all kinds of drugs plants

[foursideharmony]

That Thing Where We Post About Our Own Sides

I realize that the fandom is currently hanging around the intersection of We’re Not Talking About That Anymore Street and NEW CONTENT NEW CONTENT NEW CONTENT Boulevard, but I’ve been sitting on this for MONTHS and it’s about time I got it out there. Here, then, are my own Sides--names, functions, descriptions, and relationships with each other.

Sophia is my Intellect—a combination of reason, curiosity, objectivity, pragmatism, and a dash of pedantry. She is the nominal leader of my Sides, if only because she is the only one with any decent organizational skills whatsoever. She wants to learn everything and is deeply frustrated by all the things she doesn’t know, as well as any absence of sense she perceives in the actions of others. She takes on the responsibility of reining in the others’ wilder, more “unrealistic” impulses, but at her core she just wants to get along with them better. She is half the reason I have so many bookshelves, and is definitely behind my preference for linguistic precision. Her key element is Earth, the element of the tangible and material. Motto: “Catalog the world.” Fashion sense: Business casual.

Solena is my Introversion/Independence—the “go it alone” facet. She is proud, stubborn (they’re all stubborn, but she tops the list), quiet, and sometimes a little rude in a standoffish way. It’s not that she doesn’t like people, but she doesn’t understand them very well. Her key element is Wood—like a lone tree atop a hill, she stands on her own, bothers no one, and asks nothing but to be unbothered in turn. Motto: “Ignore the world.” Fashion sense: Casual

Wanda is my Wonder—my inner child, the part of me that is absolutely gobsmacked by how amazing the world is. She is an unabashed sensualist, bordering on a hedonist; she loves food, music, movies, nature, culture, art, science, and fantasy. (She is the other half of the reason I have so many bookshelves.) She is also largely responsible for my spirituality—if the things we can see and prove are this astounding, imagine what the things we can’t see and prove are like! Her key element is Water, the element of emotion, change, and variety. Motto: “Experience the world.” Fashion sense: Whimsical/Fantasy (she likes “witch” clothes)

Madge is my Creativity, which makes her a multifaceted facet—she writes, sews, does all kinds of crafts, sings, and tells jokes. She usually sports at least one or two Band-aids on her fingers, from pin jabs, hot glue burns, and paper cuts. She is very much a perfectionist who often consults the other Sides to make sure she hasn’t overlooked anything. Her key element is Air, the element of ideas and freedom. Motto: “Reinvent the world.” Fashion sense: Cosplay and/or period costume

Justine is my Justice—my moral center, which is based on fairness and equity. Nothing enrages her more than bullies, cheats, and oppressors. She was pretty quiet, humming along in the background, for most of my life, but suddenly got angry and LOUD…oh, around November 2016. She is a crusader…a paladin, in D&D terms, though she’s more of a chaotic good “Holy Liberator” than a standard lawful good paladin. She means well, but she tends toward knee-jerk reactions and has trouble with the idea of compromise. Her key element is Fire, the element of will power and zeal. Motto: “Save the world.” Fashion sense: Superhero + protest buttons

Melanie is my Pessimism—a knotty ball of anxiety, depression, and cynicism. Her main talent is seeing the worst in every person, situation, or thing she encounters. She claims to be keeping my expectations low so that if there are any surprises, at least they’ll be pleasant ones, but she’s not happy and she knows it. None of the others like her much, even though they need her to balance out the team. She doesn’t like herself much either, but she’d rather be who she is than disappear, and due to her worldview, those are the only two options she can think of. Her key element is Ice, the element of stasis and gloom. Motto: “Avoid the world.” Fashion sense: Pajamas

And finally, the true villain of the piece:

Sadie is my Cruelty/Vengeance, the part of me that wants to take all my hurts and turn them back on those who hurt me, those who stood by and let it happen, and everyone else in the vicinity just in case they were thinking about fucking with me. She often tries to convince me that she’s Justine having a bad day…and she honestly might be; they’ve never been seen together. But that doesn’t mean Sadie is just another way of being righteous—she’s my ideals turned inside-out and toxic, and I shut her down as much as possible. She leaks through in little acts of pettiness and spite. Her key element is Metal—hard and sharp, sometimes appearing to shine brightly but only because there’s a light source nearby (i.e. possessing no light of its own). Motto: “Burn the world.” Fashion sense: Supervillain

Relationships:

Sophia/Solena: Get along great, but low energy. Perfect for working and studying with no distractions. Sophia reminds Solena that I can’t spend all my time alone.

Sophia/Wanda: Share a love of new experiences/information as well as science. There are plenty of activities that allow them to enjoy one another’s company. On the downside, Sophia finds Wanda a little too flighty sometimes, and Wanda finds Sophia to be a bit of a buzzkill when it comes to magic and fantasy.

Sophia/Madge: Complicated. Sophia provides Madge with a lot of inspiration and checks her work for accuracy and “correctness,” but she also holds her back from really cutting loose with wild ideas.

Sophia/Justine: Sophia does research so that Justine won’t be fooled by spurious claims that play to her biases. She also helps Justine strategize her actions. Not exactly a friendship, but a good working relationship.

Sophia/Melanie: Tense. Sophia considers Melanie’s negativity to be intensely unhealthy, but she looks to Melanie to spot problems that she can solve. Melanie, conversely, appreciates Sophia’s attempts to use rationality to ground her, but is convinced that she doesn’t properly understand where the negativity comes from.

Sophia/Sadie: These two don’t directly interact much. Sophia is too amoral to be either tempted or horrified by the prospect of revenge, so Sadie has no way to hook her.

Solena/Wanda: No major clashes, although Solena sometimes finds Wanda’s energy to be overwhelming. They both appreciate things like a walk in the woods.

Solena/Madge: Plenty of conflict here, but it’s not rancorous. Madge is the most extroverted of the crew, which naturally clashes with Solena’s definitive introversion.

Solena/Justine: Fundamental incompatibility—Justine wants to HELP ALL THE PEOPLE, while Solena's not interested in people at all and would rather stay home than march or phone bank.

Solena/Melanie: Pretty harmonious, but not always stable. Solena's preference for solitude gives Melanie space to sort through her many, many issues...but that space can easily turn into an echo chamber where the issues reinforce each other instead.

Solena/Sadie: They can agree on one thing: People suck. But even Solena finds Sadie's response to social disappointment to be monstrous. Why go out of my way to hurt people when I can just withdraw? Sadie thinks merely withdrawing is recklessly inadequate to protect me from further heartbreak.

Wanda/Madge: These two form a intoxicating feedback loop of inspiration and creation, occasionally requiring one of the others (usually Sophia, but sometimes Melanie) to step in and stop them before they drain too much of my function. A very high-energy pair.

Wanda/Justine: They don't have much to do with each other most of the time, but certain things leave them both clutching each other, breathless with awe...things like people coming together to multiply their power for good.

Wanda/Melanie: Wanda thinks Melanie is an absolute, 100% spoilsport. Melanie thinks Wanda is a naive idiot. Not much love lost here.

Wanda/Sadie: Wanda is terrified of Sadie, whose mere existence brings into question Wanda's foundational belief that the world is basically good and magical. For her part, Sadie is even more contemptuous of Wanda than Melanie is.

Madge/Justine: Almost the opposite of Sophia/Justine—these two get along very well, but Madge's fantasies tend to distract Justine from buckling down and doing the necessary work of her various missions. All the same, Madge is the one who gives Justine an end goal to aspire to.

Madge/Melanie: Another fundamental clash, but there are exceptions—Madge's perfectionism means that she sometimes appreciates a harsh critic to point out weaknesses in her work. Sometimes. Meanwhile, Melanie is holding out hope that Madge will invent some miraculous solution to my mental issues. They want to like each other better.

Madge/Sadie: Madge is actually the one best able to rein Sadie in, by feeding her outlandish revenge scenarios involving things like time travel or voodoo magic, thus distracting her from plotting more realistic forms of revenge that would definitely end badly for me.

Justine/Melanie: Justine is trying to improve the real, actual world. Melanie's constant pronouncements of doom are Not Helping.

Justine/Sadie: As previously mentioned, these two might actually be “flip Sides” of each other. They certainly never directly interact. Their ideas about how to handle wrongdoing are completely incompatible and if they did somehow meet...violence would almost certainly ensue.

Melanie/Sadie: Sadie is actively trying to recruit Melanie to her cause, and even use her as an unwitting agent to get the other Sides either on-board or shut them up. Melanie knows this, and she's terrified about it. What if Sadie succeeds? What if she's right? Whatifwhatifwhatif...

[wexarethewalkingxdead]

🌙 - What’s their sleep schedule like?

🎁 - How do they feel about their birthday/birthdays in general?

🍷- How do they feel about alcohol?

🗣️ - How do they handle public speaking?

🎮 - What’s their favorite game?

🤡 - What’s something dumb they’re embarrassed about?

🌱 - Do they have a green thumb or are they a plant killer?

🐒 - What’s their favorite animal?

🎨 - What’s their favorite color?

☂️ - How do they feel about rain?

🎶 - What’s a song they really like?

🖌️ - Do they have any hobbies?

💤 - What do they absolutely need to have to fall asleep?

🎢 - Do they like amusement parks? What’s their favorite ride?

🗺️ - What languages do they speak?

🍳 - How well can they cook?

🍪 - How well can they bake?

👗 - How comfortable would they be wearing a skirt or dress?

💝 - What gestures do they really appreciate? How do you get on their good side?

☕ - Coffee or tea?

💀 - How do they feel about horror movies?

🧸 - Do they have any stuffed animals? If so, are they decorative or do they sleep with them?

🍽️ - What’s their favorite food?

- Sophia

misc. ask meme - @secondhandmckie​.

🌙 - What’s their sleep schedule like?

Sophia's sleep schedule is pretty straight forward. She gets anywhere from six to eight hours of sleep each day. But if she doesn't get it once in a while, she's more than capable of being awake and alert on less. 

🎁 - How do they feel about their birthday/birthdays in general?

Sophia has always loved her birthday. Her Mama always did as much as she could to make sure she had a wonderful day despite her Daddy being an abusive asshole. There are even a couple birthdays she remembers where he was sober and actually good to her and her Mama and they did something special as a whole family. 

🍷- How do they feel about alcohol?

Sophia's not a fan of alcohol. She saw what it did to her father, and she just has no use for it in her life. She won't judge anyone else based on their consumption of it though. She knows that others are not her Daddy. 

🗣️ - How do they handle public speaking?

Sophia absolutely hates it and avoids it whenever necessary. 

🎮 - What’s their favorite game?

Sophia's favorite board game is Connect Four. 

🤡 - What’s something dumb they’re embarrassed about?

Sophia gets embarrassed easily so it's no wonder that Carl telling her she's pretty in front of Daryl made her run away in tears. She has no idea why it made her cry, but she had a hard time facing either of them for a few days. 

🌱 - Do they have a green thumb or are they a plant killer?

Sophia has always loved to grow flowers. She always helped her Mama with the flower beds in their yard back in Georgia. So she learned from a young age how to be gentle and tender and make something grow with love, patience, and proper care. 

🐒 - What’s their favorite animal?

Sophia's favorite animals are horses. 

🎨 - What’s their favorite color?

Purple. 

☂️ - How do they feel about rain?

Sophia's not a huge fan of it because it used to mean she was stuck inside on those days when it rained and couldn't escape from her Daddy. So she prefers sunshine to rain. 

🎶 - What’s a song they really like?

Sophia is a fan of P!nk, and her favorite song is F*ckin' Perfect. 

🖌️ - Do they have any hobbies?

Sophia likes to sew and create costumes and clothes and other things. She also has a knack for art like her Mama. 

💤 - What do they absolutely need to have to fall asleep?

She has to be covered by at least a sheet no matter how warm it is outside. 

🎢 - Do they like amusement parks? What’s their favorite ride?

Sophia hasn't ever been to an amusement park, but she did go to some of the county fairs that came to Georgia. She liked to ride the carousel. It was her favorite. That and the Ferris Wheel. 

🗺️ - What languages do they speak?

Sophia only speaks English. But she'd like to learn ASL. 

🍳 - How well can they cook?

Sophia can cook pretty well. She's been in the kitchen with her Mama helping her since she was able to push a chair up to the counter and 'help'. 

🍪 - How well can they bake?

She's an amazing baker. Just like her Mama. 

👗 - How comfortable would they be wearing a skirt or dress?

Sophia likes to feel pretty and wearing skirts or dresses makes her feel pretty. So she'd be comfortable. Very comfortable. 

💝 - What gestures do they really appreciate? How do you get on their good side?

Sophia probably only appreciates when someone treats her good and doesn't lie to her. That's all it would take to get them on her good side. 

☕ - Coffee or tea?

Neither. She doesn't like the bitter aftertaste that both leave even with sugar or milk in them. 

💀 - How do they feel about horror movies?

Sophia isn't a fan of horror movies because she feels like she's been living in one her whole life. 

🧸 - Do they have any stuffed animals? If so, are they decorative or do they sleep with them?

Sophia used to have a stuffed bear. She had to leave it behind in Atlanta. After that, she never wanted another one. 

🍽️ - What’s their favorite food?

Sophia's favorite food is Cheese Ravioli. 

[cracktheglasses]

Would you mind telling us more about your Tolstoy hate?

Sure, nonnie! 

FYI, I’m not even remotely an academic, so this isn’t going to be a well-crafted analysis, but I’ve read a lot of Tolstoy in my life. He’s arguably the Russian literary maître, or at least, up at the top with a select few, and his works are widely read in schools, beginning with his children’s books and ending with the big ones, usually The Kreutzer Sonata, Anna Karenina, and War and Peace. 

Basically, I want to talk about three things, but I suspect it’ll be WAY too much and I’ll probably need to stop: 

the characters of Natasha Rostova (from War and Peace)  and Kitty (from Anna Karenina) and my belief that Tolstoy was not capable of writing women as people. I’d talk about Anna, too, but it’s gonna be a lot

his appalling treatment of his wife, Sophia (it’s very easy to be a faux ascetic back-to-the-earth, living the simple life, sex-is-bad recluse telling others how to live properly, when your wife hand-copies and edits your manuscripts, feeds you, clothes you, and takes care of your thirteen children, wrangles publishers for you, puts up with your sex-is-bad-but-i-still-need-it-so-be-a-good-wife ways, and really, I can probably stop there, but I’ll add some more below)

and, finally, the character of Levin, the “nice guy” fuckboy self-insert Gary Stu (see “back-to-the-earth” “living the simple life with the peasants” and writing treatises on philosophy while wife deals with actual mundane problems)

Note: I haven’t read much Tolstoy in English translation, only in Russian (I don’t usually like Russian classics in translation, with few exceptions), so anything I’m quoting or paraphrasing below is going to be my own translation/memory (easily verifiable with an English edition I’m sure; I can provide links to the Russian text online). I’m not a professional literary translator, so the translations will be accurate, but they’ll also be shitty writing. 

When I first read Tolstoy, I was a bookish, confused, angry kid, reconciling myself to a frustrating, ill-fitting girlhood. I read a lot, I read all the time, and I was usually drawn to the male characters, I identified much more with them, I wanted their realities – but I knew/was told that I should model myself more after Natasha Rostova or Wendy Darling than D’Artagnan. That my reality, and eventual choices, would have to be about growing up female, whatever that meant, aside from eventually stopping running around in the woods with my bow and arrows, and embracing princess gowns. I remember wanting to dress up as Cardinal Richelieu for a costume-guessing game at a fifth grade recital, but was kindly, yet firmly steered to Anne of Austria, instead. My grandparents wanted me to be a better girl, not an irresponsible delinquent like my cousin, but the eventual valedictorian cum successful mother and wife with a respectable career (funny how that goes: my juvenile delinquent cousin ended up all of the above, but I digress). My grandfather, who had made the bow and arrows for me, didn’t actually discourage me running around in the woods, but he did hope I’d grow out of it, and held up Natasha Rostova as the graceful ideal, the girl to emulate, and I’m sure he wasn’t the only one. 

Natasha is Tolstoy’s ideal woman; at the start of the novel, a 13-year-old girl, smiling, pink-cheeked, “that delightful age where a girl is no longer a child but not yet a young woman”, thin, fresh-faced and curious. We see her next at her first ball, at 16, charming, waifish, well-behaved, a graceful dancer. She is already named a woman here, at 16, a “proper countess”. She is beautiful but doesn’t know it (oh, that trope, when will it end), and described largely via the opinions of other men at the ball, which continues as she ages. She’s 20 and Pierre Bezukhov talks her physical qualities up to Andrei Bolkonski, they discuss her: “she’s a lovely treasure, don’t overthink it, what is there to think about, marry her, my friend, marry her” – “she’s a special sort of girl, a rarity here, she’ll dance here for less than a month and skip off into a marriage.” 

Natasha is flighty, she’s a bit boy-crazy, which Tolstoy describes in this indulgent manner, you know, that’s how young women are, lovely and a little flighty and obsessed with their young woman obsessions – and this would have bothered me less if Kitty in Anna Karenina wasn’t described much in the same way, this slightly silly delightful creature, happy to be noticed. This, then, was the right way to be a girl – cute and happy and exciting and available – but not too exciting or too available, because, of course, there are too many Bad Boy Vronskys and not enough Nice Guy Levins for all. Natasha sings, she plays guitar, she hunts (several comparisons to Diana the Huntress come up), she is passionate about her interests – but her passion is frequently presented as “in her nature”, she’s got that woman’s passionate nature when she jumps into a new venture, be it dancing or hunting. 

So, we have this idealized lovely girl, much like Kitty; much like Kitty, she makes a mistake, falls for the wrong man, the bad boy: Anatole. Anatole, unlike Karenina’s Vronsky, who is interested in Anna, not Kitty, takes full advantage; he is already married, but Natasha is planning to elope with him, and breaks off her engagement to Bolkonsky. She knows she is doing the wrong thing, but she can’t stop herself, and has to make up for this transgression later in the narrative by nursing the wounded Bolkonsky until his death. This is all before she is 21; she is married at 21, to her childhood friend, Pierre Bezukhov, who has already been married, who forgives her for these transgressions as if it were his place – and then, when she is finally wife, the descriptions change. There is one particular description that struck me and stuck with me, the first time I read it, this “what the fuck”:

“… by 1820, she had three daughters and a desperately (note – Tolstoy uses ‘passionately’ as the verb here, because that is Natasha’s thing) wanted son, whom she was breastfeeding (Tolstoy emphasizes that she’s feeding him herself). She had gotten thicker, wider; it was hard to recognize the former spry, waifish Natasha in this strong mother. Her facial features had settled into a clear calm. There was no longer that fierce, perpetual fire that had been her beauty. Her soul was no longer visible, only her face and her body. Only the strong, beautiful, fertile female animal.”

Specifically, the word “самка“, which Tolstoy uses for Natasha, is sort of like saying “the female of the species”, but not quite. There is a more clinical and less reductive way to say that about a person rather than an actual animal. Specifically, that word emphasizes her fertility, reduces her to reproductive capabilities. I remember reading that and being absolutely crushed – that this already awkwardly idealized girl was suddenly not even worth that original pedestal, however shitty that had been. That her entire purpose was to become a wife and mother – and then be derided and chided for fulfilling it. You see, now married with children, she has no time, she is slovenly, she is no longer attractive: 

“…Natasha had left behind all her charms, the loveliest of which had been her singing…”

“… Natasha stopped taking care with her manners, with speaking properly, with showing herself off to her husband in flattering poses or dresses…”

“…she stopped singing, she didn’t think much before she spoke… it’s as if she had no time to take care of these things…” 

“The only subject that occupied her now was family – her husband, needing to be kept so he would belong to her and the home – and the children, who needed to be birthed, nursed, raised…”

This transformation is much the same in Kitty, when she marries Levin. In juxtaposition to the divorce of Karenin and Anna, and Anna’s involvement with Vronsky, Levin and Kitty marry for love, a pure and profound feeling, devoid of banal passion; an entire chapter describes their awkward, endearing wedding ceremony. Levin, who is not religious, expects the process to be ridiculous, farcical, but instead, both he and Kitty are touched by the words, they mix up the rings, they smile at each other, they feel uplifted, and like they’re meeting each other for the first wonderful time. But it’s telling that the final line of the chapter is the reaction of the casual observers outside of the church and at the ceremony, specifically the townswomen: “What a darling the bride is, like a dressed lamb. And yet, what a pity for our sister.”

Before the wedding, Levin gives Kitty his diaries, where he has detailed his sexual relationships with other women. Kitty is disgusted, appalled -- she doesn’t want to know these things about him, and yet he insists that she needs to forgive and accept him for this, while simultaneously thinking that he doesn’t deserve her forgiveness, that she is too pure. She cries, and says she forgives him, though what she’s read was horrible; this makes Levin even surer that she is too pure, too good, and he doesn’t deserve her. 

This scene is lifted entirely from Tolstoy’s own experience. When Tolstoy and Sophia married, he was in his mid-thirties, worldly, sexually experienced; she was 18, having been brought up the way girls from good families were brought up. After reading his diaries, where he detailed his relationships with sex workers in particular, she was appalled, yet couldn’t do anything about it. Her subsequent sexual relationship with Tolstoy, based on her own diaries, was viewed by her as largely non-consensual. 

A few chapters after Kitty and Levin’s wedding, we see that 

“Levin had been married for three months… he was happy, but not in the way he had expected to be. In every step, he found a new disappointment. He was happy, but family life was not at all what he had imagined…” 

“…he was surprised that the poetic, lovely Kitty was… able to remember and fret about the tablecloths, about furniture, about beds for guests, about serving trays, about dinners…”  

“…homemaking irrevocably pulled her in.”

“During this time, he could feel the straining chain connecting them particularly strongly, the pull of it from side to side. The honeymoon, that first month after the wedding, from which he had expected so much, was not so honeyed as it was the most difficult and humiliating period of their lives. In their subsequent days, they tried to strike from their memories the ugly, shameful events of this unhealthy time, when neither of them were in a normal mood, and rarely felt like themselves at all.”

After three months, Levin is displeased at the idleness of their existence, and blames Kitty: 

“... he knew it was not her fault, but perhaps it was the fault of her shallow, inadequate, too frivolous education...”

“...aside from an interest in homemaking (and that she had in spades), she had no other interests... she does nothing, and is absolutely happy...”

Kitty decides she will go with Levin when he receives news that his brother is dying; Levin interprets this as Kitty being bored and wanting a change of scenery. She cries, trying to convince him that she is going as a show of support for him, and Levin finally agrees to take her along, but is displeased at having given in, and thinks of himself as enslaved to her whims. In addition, he doesn’t want pure, proper Kitty to associate with “his brother’s woman”, mistress rather than wife; “the very idea of his Kitty being in the same room with the woman made him cringe in disgust and terror.”

After Kitty gives birth, Levin feels nothing but revulsion for the baby, and watches Kitty and the baby with distaste. He begins thinking about the meaning of life, about the role of religion, about faith, and every time he thinks of sharing these thoughts with Kitty, he is interrupted by the mundane tasks that Kitty has to perform -- bathing and feeding the baby, arranging for rooms for visiting family, and the like. Kitty makes sure that Tolstoy, I mean, Levin, is able to live his largely unchanged life -- philosophizing, working with his peasants, going to concerts, working on a manuscript -- while she takes care of all the banal, earthly things. Of course, she doesn’t do this by herself, as they are nobility, wealthy landowners, but still, Levin judges her for her work, for her inability to understand him, though he decides that this sort of suffering may very well be part of happiness. 

The novel ends before Kitty and Levin have any more children, however, Tolstoy insisted that he needed to have as many as possible, while Sophia was still able to carry them. He believed that breastfeeding by the mother was the most natural, best option, and so prevented her from hiring wet-nurses for any of the children -- I repeat, 13 in total -- Tolstoy was a wealthy count; they could most certainly afford the assistance. Sophia was his editor, his secretary, she put up with what she viewed as a series of rapes, she spent 13 years of her life nursing, over a decade pregnant. He spent years trying to convince her to get rid of all their possessions, to lead a Walden-esque life on the land with their peasants and his students; when she resisted, he tried to put the plan into place for himself, though, much like Levin, he still had all of the comforts and privileges afforded to him by his station. He chose to leave the rights to his literary works to his students, adherents to his philosophies, “Tolstoyans”, rather than to Sophia; she had to fight for these in court after his death. 

I would really like to talk more about the character of Anna Karenina, because Tolstoy doesn’t even subscribe evenly to the madonna/whore dichotomy there; Anna is sort of both, sort of something else entirely. However, her sister-in-law, Dolly, is described by Levin as an uglier, older, more pathetic version of Kitty. She is interested only in her children, while her husband has affairs and spends all their money. He is disgusted by her, because her quietly putting up with her husband’s ways is clearly repulsive, fake, subservient -- not a sign of true love, as in his own home. 

I haven’t covered everything I wanted to, but I am running out of room and steam here, nonnie, so I’m wrapping this up. Please feel free to ask for my opinions on Jonathan Franzen next week!

[hotteetrend]

I Love One Woman And Several Guns shirt

Kim Kardashian certainly knew I Love One Woman And Several Guns shirt . How to turn heads after the Met Gala last night. While exiting the club Up and Down, Kardashian was spotted wearing a radiant Kool Aid blue latex dress by Thierry Mugler that was reminiscent of a saucy Cher mid-residency in Vegas. The sculpted number had a diving décolletage that scooped below the navel and the cut-out was outlined with chandelier crystals. With it, KKW sported zip-up gloves that hit the forearms and matching zip-up knee-high blue socks with platform PVC heels. For the full Cher effect, she also wore the singer’s signature accessory: a blue and silver glinting tinsel wig. I Love One Woman And Several Guns shirt, hoodie, sweater, longsleeve and ladies t-shirt

Classic Women's

Long Sleeved

Unisex Sweatshirt

Unisex Hoodie

Classic Men's

Cloth Face Mask While KKW went to extremes, her husband Kanye West didn’t opt for an outfit change and stuck to his $40 Dickies jacket that he wore on the red carpet earlier that night I Love One Woman And Several Guns shirt .Kardashian’s love affair with synthetic materials wasn’t only featured post-Met. She had initially arrived on the red carpet in a Thierry Mugler beaded nude silicon dress that highlighted her hourglass figure with a super cinched waist and ruching. To create a wet effect, the dress was dripping with a constellation of beaded chandelier-like droplets. Apparently, she was inspired by Sophia Loren’s sensually drenched dress from the 1957 film Boy on a Dolphin and had been tweeting out images of Loren just prior to stepping onto the red carpet. Forget diamonds: In Kardashian’s world, a show-stopping dress is a girl’s best friend.There was no shortage of extravagance on the Met Gala red carpet last night, but to hear cochair Lady Gaga tell it, Jordan Roth stole the show in his stately yet sumptuous Iris van Herpen look. A printed floor-length cape with a radius as tall as he is, it was a veritable coup de théâtre. That’s fitting: A Broadway tycoon with a serious fashion obsession, Roth’s musical Hadestown is the most-Tony-nominated production of the year, and his next project is Moulin Rouge. Camp, the theme of this year’s Costume Institute exhibition, as defined by Susan Sontag’s landmark 1964 essay, is a concept for which he’s well equipped.“For me, I gravitate to the performative ideas of camp, both the artifice and exaggeration, but also the metaphor of life as theater. That’s where I live,” Roth told Vogue. Van Herpen, who is Dutch and based in Amsterdam, was the right talent for this project, he continued, because “I’ve always been completely mesmerized by her pieces. Each one feels like this extraordinarily thoughtful and exquisitely executed work of art, with so many literal and figurative layers. That’s not unlike Sontag’s essay. And that’s the kind of piece I wanted to create. Also, the kind of experience I wanted to have making it.” You Can See More Product: https://trendteeshirts.com/product-category/trending/ Read the full article

[creativinn]

The Magical ABC of London: Accessibility, Base and Cuisine

In the old days, I went on city breaks and faffed about, the hotel might be hit and miss, it was often in a less than convenient location and quite regularly I arrived home without having had a decent food experience.

Time is so precious now, you don't want to waste it on transfers and traffic jams. You want to get to your destination quickly and start enjoying your break, in a nice hotel, and you want to be certain that there are plenty of interesting things on.

The elegant city of London never fails in the latter category; it has great museums and galleries, there are always interesting exhibitions and the West End has great shows.

But accessibility and cuisine can both be hit and miss.

However, I struck gold on a recent visit with Hotel Baglioni, part of an Italian hotel group. From an accessibility point of view it couldn't have been better; from Heathrow to Gloucester Road, it was simply a question of one Tube ride, no pricey Heathrow Express or sitting in a taxi in traffic. It was the Piccadilly line all the way and then a five-minute walk to the hotel, right in front of one of the pedestrian entrances to Kensington Park.

The Baglioni Hotel, London

Walk one way and you were in Kensington High Street, walk in the opposite direction and you were within minutes of Harrods and Harvey Nicks - a shopper's dream. The Royal Albert Hall and the Victoria and Albert Museum were a stroll away. So accessibility was well and truly ticked.

The hotel came into its own however on b for base. Family is everything in Italy, and Federico who greeted us at reception told us in his delightful accented English we were now part of his family and we were to treat the hotel as our home.

A very stylish home indeed. The decor is minimalist - lots of black and white - with some truly over-the-top features adding personality.

Gold leaf was in abundance, in the decor - one wall of our room was gold as were the wash hand basins in our ensuite - representing, we were told by another staff member, Alessandro, the Italian sun. Yes, they appropriated the sun but in such a charming way, you let them get away with it.

And everywhere classy black and white photos of Italian landscapes, cities and people, including iconic stars like Sophia Loren. Think Fellini and La Dolce Vita.

It was with great difficulty that we tore ourselves away from our room - getting a lift in the hotel's Maserati was a help - and headed for the V&A and an exhibition also harking back to a more glamorous age. Entitled Ocean Liners; Speed and Style, it's an account of the early days of transatlantic travel and its development into a luxury experience. This is superbly done through film, graphics, music and the re-creation of different parts of a typical ocean liner. The narrative outlines how the different shipping companies outdid each other - employing the architects of luxury hotels to design the interiors, sourcing antiques from all over the world. Clothes, luggage and jewellery worn by the wealthier travellers are exhibited and many artefacts from different liners; including Queen Mary and Titanic. Fun parts included extracts from movies filmed on board ships - Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Poseidon Adventure and more.

The V&A's permanent collections are also wonderful - and if you're looking for arty gifts, its costume jewellery is stunning and really good value.

The next day after an excellent breakfast - eggs every possible way, cold meats and cheeses, fresh fruit juices, a range of different breads and pastries and cakes, and of course excellent coffee, we got the Tube to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.

Another wonderful building and home to many world famous paintings, including Van Gogh's Sunflowers, but we were there for a specific purpose - Monet. We associate Monet with impressionism, but the artist had a huge career before impressionism and under its title Monet and Architecture, they explore his oeuvre, exemplified by paintings he did in Paris where he was born, Normandy where he grew up, and places he visited - including Amsterdam, London and the Mediterranean coast.

Some really stand out - the Rouen Cathedral paintings, painted at different times of the day are epic - but somehow he managed to infuse everything, even stolid buildings like the British Houses of Parliament with a dreamy almost haunted quality.

That afternoon, en route to the Tate Modern, for another art exhibition, we lunched on excellent street food at the market near the Southbank Centre. We had wood-fired pizzas but we could have opted for noodles, curries or burgers. Buskers and other entertainers abounded, and extended families sat around in the sunshine on benches and picnic tables munching and chilling - the atmos was great. Street food is big in London and while certain places are legendary, like Borough Market, just south of London Bridge which has been in existence since 1014 and has the best coffee shops, practically every area features a weekend food market with stalls offering cuisines including those from North Africa, Asia and South America.

That night back at the hotel, dinner at Brunello was a gastronomic delight. All the Italian staples were on offer but with chef Albert Rossetti's special twists. I still dream of his roasted lamb with truffle potatoes served with thyme sauce. His pasta dishes were pretty special too.

And it's comforting to note as you're tucking into Chef Rossetti's spaghetti al dente con pomodoro e burrata that Sophia Loren once said of her stunning figure, "everything you see I owe to spaghetti".

Get there

Baglioni Hotel in Kensington, London, has rooms from €275 per night on a B&B basis. See baglionihotels.com or call +44 (0) 2037277149.

A is for accessibility - remember, London is huge, so choose a hotel on the tube line

The Baglioni Hotel, London

C is for Cuisine — and the Brunello Restaurant in Baglioni is stunning

When I schedule a break away nowadays I submit the plan to harsh scrutiny; it has to comply with what I call the ABC of travel - accessibility, base, and cuisine.

Source

https://www.independent.ie/life/travel/europe/the-magical-abc-of-london-accessibility-base-and-cuisine-36990127.html

[lamaisongaga]

FASHION CREDITS: LADY GAGA AT THE SUPER BOWL LI

Lady Gaga fulfilled her childhood dream last night in Houston, Texas when she played the Pepsi Sugar Zero Halftime show at the NRG Stadium. The singer won over the night and set the entire world in awe when she performed her biggest hits while being surrounded by drones in collaboration with Intel, emerging down from the roof and playing the keytar and piano.

Brandon Maxwell and Sophia Phonsavahn did a stunning job styling her. The blonde hair with blush pink tips was done by Frederic Aspiras who used Matrix products, while Sarah Nicole Tanno did her glam using Marc Jacobs Beauty.

All of Gaga’s costumes for the night were custom-made by Atelier Versace. Donatella Versace even flew over to Houston to watch her close friend slay the performance of her lifetime. 

The opening and main look comprised a fully beaded, iridescent bodysuit with strong shoulder details. The piece was further showered in Swarovski crystals.

Her boots were created by two artisans! LA-based Andre No. 1 and Houston-based Al’s Handmade Boots customized Gaga’s iconic Savannah boots, originally by Penthouse.

Gaga’s also rocking the 14KT white gold mini XO stud earrings by Anne Sisteron. 

For ‘Just Dance’, Gaga added another layer to her outfit. 

She rocked an Atelier Versace oversized, cropped bulky jacket which was embroidered in thousands of chunky crystals, gold leather appliqués and shoulder pads with long, golden spikes and studs.

The Italian-American singer ended the performance with an amazing rendition of ‘Bad Romance’, wearing a custom Atelier Versace quarterback-inspired white top with three-layered shoulder pads and a silver crystal-embellished harness. 

Her white briefs were fully covered in silver rhinestones as well, just like her football that she catched by the end! Antonio Urzi worked on this piece.

As for the beauty department, Gaga’s lashes are the Miami model by Lilly Lashes...

...and her red crystal-embellished eye masks custom-made by Face Lace.

For the first time on La Maison Gaga, we’re going to take a closer look at all of Gaga’s talented dancer’s costumes! Everything here was designed and styled by Natali Germanotta — Gaga’s own sister!

All of her dancers wore bespoke black neoprene looks by Perry Meek and purple long latex vests with matching gloves made by Vex Clothing.

Some of the male dancers rocked these heavy silver spiky bomber jackets that Valerie Kreiser from Muto-Little Costumes made. Kreiser said that she accidentally sewed through her finger making these. Ouch!

Some of the dancers were decked in custom black leather and denim pieces embellished with silver-tone hardware and zippers by L.A. Roxx. 

Her ‘Just Dance’ vocalists wore black leather fringed outfits made by Diesel.

For ‘Bad Romance’, 20 of the dancers wore crystal-embellished white football attire-inspired shoulder pads by Shokra and Sean Purucker.

The white outfits were made by Ashton Michael, who’s known for his stage costumes for Beyoncé, Fifth Harmony and Jason Derulo.

Some of the daring white headpieces were designed by Los Angeles-based special effects designer Jacob Roanhaus. Check out more of his work for Gaga here.

For half of the show, all of her dancers wore the Talib black leather lace-up ankle boots by cult footwear brand Dr. Martens.

Finally, for “Bad Romance” every female dancer rocked the Steve Madden Eminent ankle boots, which are made out of black patent leather and feature a clear lucite heel.

[cinemamablog]

Three Movies to Watch Before/After “Gretel & Hansel”

I enjoyed Osgood Perkins’ latest (and first wide-release) directorial effort, Gretel & Hansel, but as I do with most slow-burn movies, I let my mind wander and I began comparing the twisted fairy tale onscreen to other movies with similar themes and aesthetics. These three films take us back in time to the ‘50s through the ‘70s, but all of them carry a sense of nighmarish dread that never grows old.

1. The Night of the Hunter (1955), directed by Charles Laughton

Charles Laughton’s first, only, and stunning directorial work follows a similar “Children in Peril” theme as Gretel & Hansel: a brother and sister flee their home due to the lack of a motherly figure (whether that’s because of poverty or murder depends on the movie) and travel a surrealistic path through nature, escaping a dangerous predator’s clutches, and finally arriving at a sense of salvation.

Both films strike a moralistic tone, each beginning with a lesson: one a cautionary tale about the dangers of gifts and the other a warning about wolves in sheep’s clothing. (Actress Lillian Gish’s opening monologue from The Night… could easily fit in as a prologue to Gretel & Hansel were its current prologue not pitch perfect and one of the film’s strongest sequences.)

Another parallel between The Night of the Hunter and Gretel & Hansel, perhaps purposeful or maybe I’m just reaching because I want to see a parallel, lies in the knuckles of the antagonists. Robert Mitchum, playing the murderous and conniving Reverend Harry Powell, has the words “Love” and “Hate” tattooed across his knuckles, which Laughton uses on camera to illustrate Powell’s inner workings, while Powell uses his knuckle tattoos to illustrate the struggle between good and evil in a persuasive sermon. In Gretel & Hansel, the witch’s knuckles blacken towards her fingertips, signaling to the children that this woman runs afoul of the natural world.

These movies capture the nightmarish qualities of folklore, one playing with a traditional Brothers Grimm story and the other borrowing from the Southern Gothic tradition and a novel by Davis Grubb.

For more insight into The Night of the Hunter, I strongly recommend the comprehensive book Heaven & Hell to Play With: The Filming of the “Night of the Hunter”

2. Viy (1967), directed by Konstantin Ershov and Georgiy Kropacyov

For a witchy double feature, Gretel & Hansel pairs nicely with the Russian classic Viy. (Now streaming on Shudder.) The plot, based on a short story by the writer Nikolai Gogol, follows a seminarian named Khoma (Leonid Kuravlyov) who murders an old hag after she literally bewitches him. In her final moments, she transforms (or more accurately, reverts) into a beautiful young woman, revealing to the audience and Khoma her supernatural powers. Khoma runs away from the scene of his crime, only for the witch’s powerful father to demand his return at once: with her dying breath, the young woman demanded for Khoma to pray for her soul. The tables have turned and she has her murderer at her mercy. Over the course of three nights, the witch psychologically tortures Khoma from beyond the grave.

Both films feature a beautiful witch disguised as a hag, though only Viy succeeds in maintaining a sense of horror when the witch reverts to her physically appealing form. While beautiful, the witch in Viy maintains an unsettling gaze and unearthly pallor, whereas the youthful version of the witch in Gretel & Hansel has TERF bangs and looks like she shopped at Hot Topic for her prom dress.

Perkins claims to have drawn inspiration for the costumes in Gretel & Hansel from Soviet uniforms, so the films also share a Eastern European sensibility in common.

Most of Viy’s second and third acts take place in a foreboding chapel set, with walls covered in worn paintings of biblical scenes and icons, and the center of the room dedicated to the coffin where the dead witch lies. This set came to mind when appreciating the awe-inspiring, underground white room in Gretel & Hansel, which also architecturally centers around an altar (or rather, a dining table) of sorts.

3. Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural (1973), directed by Richard Blackburn

Like Gretel & Hansel and The Night of the Hunter, Lemora... also employs a folk tale structure in the telling of a young child’s perilous journey into a world created by the evil doings of adults.

Gretel & Hansel especially reminded of Lemora... in how the adult men treated Gretel (played by the It remake’s Sophia Lillis), on the cusp of adulthood herself, but still just a child thrust into a dangerous world. The adults in her life frequently reference to her body and her sex, and make it clear that, to them, her worth lies in those things. In Lemora..., the seedy adults encountered by the main character, Lila (played by Cheryl Smith), along her journey also make lecherous and predatory suggestions. (Though Lila’s harassors disturb me far more, as Lila clearly has yet to enter puberty, nor has she reached a point in her life where she understands their innuendos.)

Like Gretel & Hansel’s child-eating witch, Lila discovers a vampire named Lemora with a similar appetite for young humans. While originally unsure of Lemora’s intentions, Lila finds herself in a position the audience recognizes quickly: while feigning a sense of protectiveness and motherliness, Lemora cannot hide her predatory nature, revealing herself to be as sinister as the lecherous men who make inappropriate comments to the angelic Lila.

Buy tickets to see Gretel & Hansel in theatres here.

[topworldhistory]

In the early 20th century, costumes were mostly meant to be spooky. Today, they often reflect the movies we like and the politicians we hate.

You can tell a lot about a particular era of American history by looking at its Halloween costumes—not just what people are afraid of, but also what’s popular in entertainment and who’s running for president.

Halloween has evolved into the main costume holiday in the United States. But back in the early 20th century, Halloween was only one of many holidays for which Americans dressed up, says Lesley Bannatyne, who has written several books about Halloween traditions.

“Your average person would dress up on New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Easter,” she says. “There were costumes for many occasions, and dress balls and costume masquerades were much more popular than they are now.”

In the early 20th century, Halloween costumes were geared toward spooky themes (as opposed to current events), and were mostly homemade. 

Here, women dressed as witches line up for a Halloween portrait, circa 1910. 

View the 20 images of this gallery on the original article

Halloween costumes back then were more specifically geared toward spooky themes (as opposed to current events), and mostly homemade. The goal wasn’t necessarily to dress up as a particular creature or character, but rather to conceal identity in a spooky way that evoked themes like ghosts, witches, pumpkins, black cats and the moon.

“There would be moon symbols, darker fabrics for some costumes; anything that you could get and make that would kind of suggest or replicate something dark and otherworldly,” she says. 

Costumes in the early 19th century and beyond also sometimes sought to portray other cultures—and races—in a way that is now recognized to be insensitive and often racist. Americans culturally appropriated turbans and other symbols of the “Far East,” reflecting contemporary fascination with Egypt as an “exotic” place. White Americans wore blackface to portray African Americans in a tradition that's steeped in a history of racism and that continues today. 

READ MORE: How the History of Blackface Is Rooted in Racism

While people used makeup and costumes to take on different personas, it was usually a homemade effort. The only commercial costumes available in the early 20th century were paper masks or aprons for children. The goal wasn’t necessarily to look like a ghost or a goblin, but to look creepy and hide the identity of the person beneath the mask. Disguises were especially important for kids and teens, who often spent Halloween night playing tricks by throwing flour at people, stealing neighbors’ fences or even stealing dead bodies.

This changed during the Great Depression, particularly after 1933. That Halloween, hundreds of teenage boys flipped over cars, sawed off telephone poles and engaged in other acts of vandalism across the country. Concerned adults started organizing neighborhood activities like trick-or-treating, haunted houses and costume parties to keep young people from making trouble. This new focus also led to new types of costumes for kids.

A girl wears a Mickey Mouse mask in this undated photo from the 1930s.

“As Halloween became more about entertaining children and keeping children occupied, the costumes became things that children enjoyed,” Bannatyne says. This included characters from popular radio shows, comics and movies, like Mickey and Minnie Mouse. These costumes represented “things that [children] might have seen and enjoyed, rather than an abstract expression of night.”

Big department store companies like Sears started selling box costumes aimed at children, but these were considered expensive luxuries during the Great Depression. Most families continued to make their own Halloween outfits using costume patterns, even for Mickey and Minnie.

PHOTOS: The Best Halloween Costumes Inspired by History

In the 1950s, mass-produced box costumes became more affordable, so more kids began to use them to dress up as princesses, mummies, clowns or more specific characters like Batman and Frankenstein’s monster. There were cowboy costumes, and there were also the type of “Indian costumes” that Native Americans found offensive (and still find offensive).

The 1970s saw some more adult changes to Halloween costumes. This is the period when Americans began wearing presidential masks, particularly the most famous one of all: Richard Nixon’s. The first newspaper report of a presidential mask was in 1969, when a protester wore a Nixon mask to an anti-war march the day before Nixon’s inauguration. Later that year, at a White House Halloween party thrown by Nixon’s daughter Tricia, a female guest showed up wearing a mask of former president Lyndon B. Johnson.

After the Watergate scandal, it was the Nixon mask that became the more popular Halloween costume. The scandal caused Americans to become more cynical about their government, and as new politicians took office or ran for president, stores began to sell masks of those politicians’ faces too. Even so, the Nixon mask continued to be one of the most popular presidential masks long after he was gone.

A Dracula, skeleton and werewolf pose in this 1985 photo.

Over the next few decades, a variety of other costume trends related to pop culture emerged. Halloween costumes in the 1970s and ‘80s became more gruesome with the rise of slasher horror movies. These movies also cemented Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees masks as classic horror costumes. Major fantasy and sci-fi movies had a big influence, too. Fans dressed up as C-3PO, Darth Vader and Princess Leia from Star Wars, and kids particularly liked dressing up as the titular alien in E.T.

READ MORE: 6 Horror Movies Inspired by Real Stories

"Sexy" costumes for women were common from the 1960s onward and in the 1990s, “sexy” versions of store-bought costumes became an established commercial product. Manufacturers also sold costumes based on highly charged current events. In 1995, the year of the O.J. Simpson trial, costume shops sold masks of both Simpson and the presiding Judge Ito.

In a less controversial trend, costume companies have also marketed costumes inspired by TV shows. For example, in 2019, new Golden Girls costumes for Blanche, Dorothy, Rose and Sophia became available—although it’s probably easier (and definitely cheaper) to put together a DIY version with mom’s old clothes.

from Stories - HISTORY https://ift.tt/2VnUFEU October 09, 2019 at 01:57AM