Mini book review and a Nickleby bonnet peek

First off, here's a book i just finished that's of note, which i read as part of my class prep for this semester!

Footnotes: On Shoes, edited by Shari Benstock and Susan Ferriss, is a collection of fourteen academic essays on the history and social significance of shoes. Topics range from the broad to the specific, from footwear as a means for establishing character in silent film, to the meaning of the brogan in African American culture and the stiletto in Latina culture, to a piece on painters who choose shoes as their subject, to a comparison of pointe shoes and lotus shoes, to the use of footwear in museum display (both in the context of the Bata Shoe Museum and at concentration camp memorial exhibits). I am a total fool for semiotic analysis of fashion--especially accessories, for obvious reasons--so much so, in fact, that i almost pursued it as a career instead of costume crafts. There was a time when i thought i might be a dramaturg with a specialization in cultural and social significance of costume. So, if that sounds like your bag, this book is for you. Not all the essays are equally great--a couple are sort of ho-hum or of dubious relevance--but overall, it's a great read. It's a particularly good commute book, in that you get through them pretty fast.

I'm up over on nicknickleby this week--my next post goes live tomorrow on the beginning process of an unusual hat we're making. It'll be kind of like when i follow a project from design to stage in here, but a bit less practical detail since it's for a general audience. I might write companion posts over here on method, we'll see how it's received.

So, in advance of that post over there, i thought i'd give y'all a sneak-peek into some bonnetry that's moved through my shop already. ( Read more... )