#pluckers

[postcard-from-the-past]

Tea pluckers from Colombo, Ceylon, modern-day Sri Lanka

British vintage postcard

[kaycambeautyshop-blog]

Get ready for the weekend with Lips. 💄💋 Friday night never looked so good.

[bitchpittt]

[undead-knick-knack]

What a wild turn of events

(the painting is "Centaures" (1868) by Eugene Fromentin)

[weirdlookindog]

Gerald Brom (b.1965) - Dream Catcher

illustration from his novel 'The Plucker' 2005

[hussyknee]

Whenever Brits are like "tea is our national drink, our culture, our personality, our mental health" I think of our hill country blanketed in a patchwork quilt of human suffering and ongoing violent colonialism and want to smash all their tea cups. Your genocidal leaf juice is nothing to be proud of. The present day tea pluckers are the descendants of the Indians you enslaved and they still live in unthinkable poverty in the line houses you built to house them like cattle. The families whose farmlands you robbed have been starving for generations. Every sip of your leaf juice is soaked in blood and you drink it like vampires.

Tea will never belong to you. It's our legacy of grief, and your shame.

Drink your tea and shut the fuck up.

[serpents-fr]

thinking about dragons with hair and feather plucking disorders

[gorgynei]

AHH YOUNG SCANLAN. FALLS OVER

[lamaisongaga]

FASHION CREDITS: JAZZ & PIANO SHOW 4.0 PART I

Lady Gaga made a triumphant return to Las Vegas where she'll be staying until July to complete another round of her highly sought-after Jazz & Piano residency shows! And of course, she brought a whole new batch of costumes styled by Sandra Amador and Tom Eerebout along with her.

First, we‘re hopping onto our virtual plane where I‘ll be taking you to Marbella, Spain to once again meet with young fashion designer Adrián Manceras who‘s kind enough to let us take a look in his atelier where he crafted Gaga‘s opening number: a fabulous cocktail dress showered in champagne sequins, finest crystals and delicate fringe trimmings!

I can‘t help but notice how Gaga sticks to the same designer when it comes to the opening number‘s look. From headpiece down to the shoes. Yet, she changes the design every time she comes back to Vegas.

Here, she‘s donning yet another insane showgirl-inspired headdress with turkey feathers and Swarovski crystals by the ever-so talented Arturo Rios who sent me this image JUST for your eyes!

The Italian-American entertainer topped her look off with a new custom pair of Laruicci crystal statement earrings

Her favorite Jimmy Choo metallic silver Anouk stiletto pumps provided the finishing touches.

The choice of purple was as unexpected as the combination of sequins, feathers (provided by Mother Plucker Feather Company), and PVC. Yet, this look struck me the most, standing out in a sea of bold fashion statements!

Delving into La Maison Gaga reveals an intriguing history behind her glamorous wardrobe. LA-based designer Michael Costello has been crafting stunning caftans for Gaga for a decade. His journey with her began in 2014 when he designed a sequined piece similar to this one for her "Cheek to Cheek! Live" performance . This collaboration marked the start of a creative partnership that has since produced numerous iconic looks, each more dazzling than the last.

Michael also collaborated with Gladys Tamez Millinery on the halo-like black feather pillbox headpiece!

New York City-based heritage jewelry brand A.JAFFE created some of the earrings, including these teardrop stunners!

Gaga surprised her audience last night with a special rendition of "Americano". It‘s been 12 years since she performed that song!

For this act of the show, Perry Meek whipped out a stunning dress even Jessica Rabbit wouldn't pass upon.

Crafted from red crystal mesh, this dress features an off-the-shoulder hourglass silhouette, trimmed with red ostrich feathers. And it comes with a matching coat!

Her Harriet wired red feather fascinator is a hand-made piece by Carrie Jenkinson Millinery ($331.79), one of the UK's leading fashion milliners.

This white-gold crescent earring set surrounded by differently cut diamonds is another A.JAFFE design.

And I hope I’m not the only one who‘s drooling over these Jimmy Choo Romy crystal-encrusted red pumps.

Then, Gaga stuns on stage in a total Giorgio Armani look which comprises this plush black velvet strapless bustier column dress with crystal band embellishment ($4,777) and the Fall/Winter 2018 Privé Haute Couture pink ostrich feather coat she previously wore for her V Magazine 2019 cover!

Gaga's MUA Sarah Tanno-Stewart collaborated with Face Lace on all the differently designed crystal eye stickers for the residency!

LG debuted a bunch of new looks on her second night and the uber-talented Michael Costello had another wonder up his sleeve when he revealed this stunner to me yesterday morning - a custom sparkly black and gold sequin silk chiffon caftan with incorporated metal belt, shoulder pads, plunging neck and daring open sides, based on Michael's upcoming "DNA" collection!

He also created her matching custom ruched faux leather gloves and feather boa in collaboration with Mother Plucker Feather Company.

What's a good jazz stage look without a fun plummeted hat to top it off? British milliner Carrie Jenkinson Millinery made sure to exceed stagewear standards with her Spring/Summer 2024 Selina feather hat (£520).

Her go-to performance shoes: the timeless Jimmy Choo Anouk black patent leather pumps ($675).

Malaysian couture design house Rizman Ruzaini joined the game by crafting a show-stopping red chiffon cape dress showered in Swarovski crystals. Thanks so much for these exclusive behind-the-seams photos!

She also brought back her Jose & Maria Barrera vintage 1993 “Crystal Evening” runway crystal necklace.

Gaga gave us an epic performance of "La Vie En Rose", dressed in rose silk satin caftan-style layered dress with stripped coque feathers, custom-made for her by Ukrainian fashion label Santa Brands.

This look was completed with a bunch of stellar accessories, including the Carrie Jenkinson Millinery Spring/Summer 2024 Valencia exploding feather fascinator (£579)...

...the Swarovski Millenia octagon-cut crystal bib necklace...

... and the Cornelia James Melissa opera-length black velvet gloves (£160).

If the dress from the third night's opening seems familiar to you, it's because she's worn this custom Natali Germanotta x Debra Cooper blue sequin fringed cocktail number back in 2019 before!

This look got a black version of the aforementioned Arturo Rios turkey feather and Swarovski crystal headpiece.

It‘s Michael Costello‘s world and we‘re just living in it! His third custom dress for our girl's third night is this uuuuuultra sexy black satin number with one-shoulder caftan silhouette, trimmed with luxurious ostrich feathers by Mother Plucker Feather Company and featuring beaded appliqués on the shoulder and waist.

It was finished off with this vintage Philip Treacy 1996 black feather firework headpiece which has already been previously worn by Gaga back in London in 2015!

For the fourth show (June 29), LG brought out another Michael Costello x Mother Plucker Feather Company confection — a black-as-the-night satin caftan, showered in small jet crystals and trimmed with feathers.

It was only a matter of time before she brought out a fairytale headpiece by milliner Piers Atkinson.

From his archives, she opted for the Fall/Winter 2021 "Triptych" collection elevated black ostrich feather pompom fascinator with beaded tassels.

[godzilla-reads]

Guess who caved and bought it.

[fruitless-vain]

It’s giving ✨ parrot cone of shame ✨

[postcard-from-the-past]

Tea Plucker from Sri Lanka, Ceylon

British vintage postcard

[minecraftdog]

sorry but his brows do NOT grow like that naturally

[semper-legens]

39. The Plucker, by Brom

Owned: No, library Page count: 143 My summary: Jack is facing the worst thing that a toy can face. He has been abandoned to the Underbed, the place where the lost toys that Thomas no longer loves are thrown. But things are getting even worse. Thomas' father has brought back a new toy from the war. And it wants to destroy everything that Jack knows and loves... My rating: 2/5 My commentary:

A library assistant peruses the shelves. They are down in the stacks, down where the old and forgotten books lie, down alone among the dust and cobwebs. Taking an armful of books, they head to the shelves, aiming to place the books back where they belong. They are just about to leave when...something catches their eye. Oversized, sticking out of its place, the cover dark and pages yellowed. A book about a toy. A strange book. But one they cannot help but take home.

So yeah, this thing's fucking weird. More under the cut!

I came into this book expecting to like it, and certain aspects of it, I did. For one, the illustrations are great. They're dark, creepy, atmospheric, and unsettling, and really add some extra spice to the story that's unfolding. The 'twisted toys' aesthetic has been done, admittedly, but this is a really good example of it. The story itself is strange and largely compelling, refusing to explain itself, and gritty and grimy where it wants to be. There's a real sense of dystopia here, of twisting up the ideas of a toy wanting to protect his owner and taking it to a desperate struggle for life and death, and I really admire that, you know?

Unfortunately, I can't overlook the rest of this weird little book. So there's two things here where the book falls down. One is that the plot is pretty bogstandard, and the characters are broad stereotypes. Jack is a Determined Hero trying to save Angel, who is a Girl. That's all her character is, she's a damsel in distress. Plot points are brought up and then kind of unceremoniously dropped - Jack being abandoned under the bed by Thomas never really comes up again, nor does Jack's social ostracism by the other toys, on account of them all dying. I feel like this story might have done a lot better as an animated short or something like that, a silent one where we can infer more from their surroundings. The secondary problem is that of race. The malevolent doll is a spirit from Africa who wants to possess/kill a child, and doesn't have much of a personality beside that. Some of the female dolls are stereotypes of Indigenous women (one Native American, the other Hawaiian) that are a bit uncomfortable. Sure, they're toys that a kid would have in the 1940s, but still. And there's a servant in the house whose entire role in the story is to sacrifice her life for the kid and is subservient to the white characters. She doesn't get fleshed out much, she just exists to empower Jack and die for Thomas. And it's lazy! Black people are either subservient (though she still has evil magic) or evil and need to be destroyed so some little white boy can live. Stereotypes on stereotypes. I was not impressed.

Next up...hoo boy. Time to flame a book that a lot of people love. Oops.

[rockerfemme]

the bassline to church fall out boy is so slick and nobody appreciates it!!!!

[drice-art]

My fan art for Jack-of-the-box by Brom 🔥