#semi-dress

[uncharted-constellations]

The Princess and Hero of the First Great Calamity

The orange snoot is very important to me….

[tcustodisart]

It wouldn't be a Stardew Valley life without attending a festival.

[hajihiko]

Ok syke 1 tiny bday doodle

[llitchilitchi]

happy pride! no matter your gender or sexual orientation, I hope you can find happiness in your life, even if it seems impossible right now

i really wanted to paint this since about march, but haven't really found the time to do so. at last, i finished it before the end of pride month.

the two girls are dressed in traditional Slovak folk dress, or kroj (traditional folk formalwear) from Piešťany region. Piešťany and the nearby village of Krakovany have one of the most gorgeous forms of kroj in the entire country and for a long time, dolls dressed in this style of dress were gifted to foreign delegations to represent my country. the same country that won't represent people like me

it is a form of reclamation, in a way, to depict sapphic love in this dress. we're here, and have always been here, even if the rest of the people will deny us our existence. this is for all my fellow queers living through being a hot point of debate during elections. you are seen and you are loved. you are part of this country, and you are part of our culture, and the culture belongs to you just as much as to everyone else

i love you, and stay safe

[slaygentford]

the “your beloved ringleader” promo makes so much sense now that armand gave claudia his freaky fucking little handmade automaton flea circus…… his i could not prevent it ass is not beating the could have prevented it allegations

[thelilylav]

Snow White adaptations my beloved 🫶

[doctorsiren]

What would a Klapollo swap to match DefenseWorth and ProsecutorWright look like?

I accidentally turned them into Howl and The Scout 😨

[velarisdusk]

just know that if you’ve ever spam liked my stuff, i recognize your @ every time i see it and i lie awake at night thinking wistfully about what our life together would be like

[cuddlytogas]

there was some Twitter madness recently where someone left a comment on someone's art to the effect of, "Ed shouldn't wear a dress, he's a man!" which I do disagree with on principle, but unfortunately, it brought out one of my least favourite trends in the fandom

so, naturally, I had to write a twitter essay about it. and I already largely argued this in a post here, but the thread is clearer and better structured, so I thought I'd cross-post for those not on the Hellsite (derogatory). edited for formatting/structure's sake, since I no longer have to keep to tweet lengths, and incorporating a couple of points other people brought up in the replies

so

I want to point out that the wedding cake toppers in OFMD s2 aren't evidence that Ed wants to wear dresses. Gender is fake, men can wear skirts, play with these dolls how you like, but it's not canon, and that scene especially Doesn't Mean That.

People cite it often: 'He put himself in a dress by painting the bride as himself! It's what he wants!' But that fundamentally misunderstands the scene, and the series' framing of weddings as a whole. I'd argue that Ed paints the figure not from desire, but from self-hatred; it's not what he wants, but what he thinks he should, and has failed to, be.

(Yes, I am slightly biased by my rampant anti-marriage opinions, but bear with me here, because it is relevant to the interpretation of the scene, and season two as a whole.)

The show is not subtle. It keeps telling us that the institution of marriage is a prison that suffocates everyone involved. Ed's parents' cycle of abuse is passed to their son in both the violence he witnesses then enacts on his father, and the self-repression his mother teaches, despite her good intentions ("It's not up to us, is it? It's up to God. ... We're just not those kind of people. We never will be."). Stede and Mary are both oppressed by their arranged marriage, with 1x04 blunty titled Discomfort in a Married State. The Barbados widows revel in their freedom ("We're alive. They're dead. Now is your time").

But even without this context, the particular wedding crashed in 2x01 is COMICALLY evil. The scene is introduced with this speech from the priest:

"The natural condition of humanity is base and vile. It is the obligation of people of standing ... to elevate the common human rabble through the sacred transaction of matrimony."

It's upper class, all-white, and religiously sanctioned. "Vile natural conditions" include queerness, sexual freedom, and family structures outside the cisheteropatriarchal capitalist unit. "The obligation of people of standing" invokes ideas like the white man's burden, innate class hierarchy, religious missions, and conversion therapy. Matrimony is presented as both "sacred" (endorsed by the ruling religious body), and a "transaction" (business performed to transfer property and people-as-property, regardless of their desires), a tool of the oppressive society that pirates escape and destroy. That is where the figurines come from.

When Ed, in a drunk, depressive spiral, paints himself onto the bride, he's not yearning for a pretty dress. He's sort of yearning for a wedding, but that's not framed as positive. What he's doing is projecting himself into an 'ideal' image of marriage because he believes that: a) that's what Stede (and everyone) wants; b) he can never live up to that ideal because he's unlovable and broken (brown, queer, lower-class, violent, abused, etc); c) that's why Stede left. He tries to make himself fit into the social ideal by painting himself onto the closest match - long-haired, partner to Stede/groom, but a demure, white woman, a frozen, porcelain miniature - because, if he could just shrink himself down and squeeze into that box, maybe Stede would love him and he'd live happily ever after. But he can't. So he won't.

The fantasy fails: Ed is morose, turns away from the figurines, then tips them into the sea, a lost cause. He knows he won't ever fulfil that bride's role, but he sees that as a failure in himself, not the role. It's not just that "Stede left, so Ed will never have a dream wedding and might as well die." Stede left when Ed was honest and vulnerable, "proving" what his trauma and depression tell him: there's one image of love (of personhood), and he'll never live up to it because he's fundamentally deficient. So he might as well die.

This hit me from my very first viewing. The scene is devastating, because Ed is wrong, and we know it! He doesn't need to change or reduce himself to fit an image and be accepted (as, eg, Izzy demanded). Stede knows and loves him exactly as he is; it's the main thread and theme of season two!

(@/everyonegetcake suggested that Ed's yearning in these scenes includes his broader desire for the vulnerability and safety Stede offered, literalised through unattainable "fine" things like the status of gentleman in s1, or the figurine's blue dress. I'd argue, though, that these scenes don't incorporate this beyond a general knowledge of Ed's character. Ed is always pining for both literal and emotional softness, but the significance of the figurines specifically, to both Ed and the audience, is poisoned by their origin and context: there is no positive fantasy in the bride figure, only Ed's perceived deficiency.

Further, assuming that a desire for vulnerability necessarily corresponds with an explicit desire for femininity, dresses, etc, kind of contradicts the major themes of the show. OFMD asserts that there is nothing wrong with men assuming femininity (through drag, self-care, nurturing, emotional vulnerability, etc), but also that many of these traits are, in fact, genderless, and should be available to men without affecting their perceived or actual masculinity. It thematically invokes the potential for cross-gender expression in Ed's desires, especially through the transgender echoes in his relieved disposal, then comfortable reincorporation, of the Blackbeard leathers/identity. It's a rich, valuable area of analysis and exploration. But it remains a suggestion, not a canon or on-screen trait.)

Importantly, the groom figure doesn't fit Stede, either. Not just in dress: it's stiff and formal, and marriage nearly killed him. He's shabbier now, yes, but also shedding his privilege and property, embracing his queerness, and trying to take responsibility for his community. In a s1 flashback, Stede hesitantly says, "I thought that, when I did marry, it could be for love," but he would never find love in marriage. Not just because he's gay, but because marriage in OFMD is an oppressive, transactional institution that precludes love altogether. All formal marriages in OFMD are loveless.

So, he becomes a pirate, where they reject society altogether and have matelotages instead. Lucius and Pete's "mateys" ceremony is shot and framed not like a wedding, but as an honest, personal bond, willingly conducted in community (in a circle; no presiding authority, procession, or transaction).

That is how Stede and Ed can find love, companionship, and happiness: by rejecting those figurines and their oppressive exchange of property, overseen by a church that enables colonialism and abuse. Ed is loved, and deserves happiness, as he is, no paint or projection required.

ALL OF THIS IS TO SAY: draw Ed in dresses! Write him getting gender euphoria in skirts! Write trans/nb Ed, draw men being feminine! Gender is fake, the show invites exploration, that's what 'transformative works' means! But please, stop citing the cake toppers as evidence it's canon. Stop citing a scene where a depressed Māori man gets drunk and projects himself onto a rich, white, silent bride because he thinks he's innately unlovable and only people like her can find happiness, shortly before deciding to kill himself, as canon evidence it's what he wants.

(Also, please don't come in here with "lmao we're just having fun," I know, I get it. Unfortunately, I'm an academiapilled researchmaxxer, and some of youse need to remember that the word "canon" has meaning. NOW GO HAVE FUN PUTTING THAT MAN IN A PRETTY DRESS!! 💖💖)

[kimbapisnotsushi]

i think semi presents two very different sides of himself as a civil servant versus as a musician. i think the minute he clocks off he chucks off the uniform and slaps on eyeliner and hair product and pops in the piercings and shimmies into his stupid worn-down leather coat with the faux-fur trim over a faded tank top and ripped jeans and he laces up his boots and slides his guitar over his shoulders all bright-eyed and bright smile and whenever he passes by someone on the street they fall in love with him just a little

[madzillus]

Ed asked Frenchie and Wee John to help make his cake topper dreams a reality

[animepopheart]

★ 【山本蟻】 「 愛と美と12月の支配者 」 ☆ ⊳ marin // my dress-up darling ✔ republished w/permission ⊳ ⊳ follow me! insta • x • bsky

[sallymew4]

found old mob art

[csuitebitches]

Dress Codes Explained

I feel like I’ve created enough templates for your mind development, routines, habits, etc. I’m getting bored with putting out the same content in a different manner so now I’m going to start switching up my content. I’m going to focus more on how one can carry themselves, socialise, etc etc.

My first article under this segment “Cultural Education” here will be about dress codes. You will find this segment on my pinned post.

Culturally, dress codes differ from one another. The western world is generally more tolerant towards showing of skin, for instance; but if you were to attend formal events in Asia and the Middle East, I’d highly, highly recommend you opt for a more modest look.

This is a very brief breakdown on what a woman can wear and when.

Images are for examples only.

1. Casual

Meaning: low-key, but not like you just woke up.

* Sundress

* Long/ midi skirt

* Tailored pants or nice jeans (not ripped, distressed, acid wash- plain and simple)

* Tailored shorts

* Plain T-shirt (no graphics), polo t-shirt, turtleneck

* Button-down shirt

2. Dressy

Meaning: no jeans, generally use of lighter colours

* Skirt (not bum short)

* Tailored trousers

* Dress

* Co ord sets

* Jumpsuits

* Sundresses

3. Semi formal

Meaning: dressier than your corporate office job, but more casual than a formal gown.

* LBD (but not too little)

* Maxi skirt

* Cocktail dress

4. Business

Meaning: what a typical office senior person would wear.

* Suit

* Dress (modest; at least knee length; not too short)

* Dress with a jacket

* Blazer and a skirt

* Stockings (optional in summer)

* 3-4 inch heels / loafers / flats

5. Business casual

Meaning: what one would typically wear everyday to a corporate job that does NOT abide by Gen Z clothing (meaning slightly more conservative)

* Skirt, khakis, or pants

* Open-collar shirt, knit shirt or sweater (no spaghetti straps or décolleté)

* Dress (again, modest)

6. Black tie

Meaning: formal evening events, generally after 6 pm.

* Formal (floor length) evening gown (avoid slits, too tight dresses)

* Dressy cocktail dress

[sovonight]

,

[eulaliasims]

good news, I found some broody elf pictures I never posted.