Helsinki Burlesque Festival 2014 starting!

For some lucky ones it already started yesterday with Perle Noir's workshop, but since I was working I'm taking that workshop today! Also dropping a line in order to let you all know I probably won't be writing much until the festival is over, but stay tuned for a report of it all next week!

And thus the fun begins... <3

Finnish burlesque at the Boylesque Festival Vienna! <3

As some of you know, yesterday was the first day of the Helsinki Burlesque Festival week! We've been waiting for this for a year, but yesterday exceeded even our wildest expectations! And that's because the Finnish burlesque scene received amazing news: my gals Gigi Praline and Lola Vanilla, our gentleman Sir Willy Waterlilly and yours trully have been accepted to perform at the very first Boylesque Festival Vienna! <3 <3 <3

This means Finland will be having an almost unprecedented representation in a international festival, and just so that you can imagine how amazingly kickass this festival is going to be I can tell you that it will be hosted by none other than The World Famous *BOB*, and besides Jacques Patriaque himself (aka the mastermind behind the event) the lineup will include such first class international performers as Tigger!, Russell Bruner, Rubyyy Jones, Conchita Wurst and Tamara Mascara (and who knows who else Jacques is still hiding up his sleeve?)

So if you don't mind, I'll just go continue jumping all around the place in excitement ;-D

Fleamarket finds, Vol.2

And it seems it was a specially nice weekend for fleamarket hunting, so here you go round two! I'm only posting the items I bought (except a small arts & crafts turn-of-the-century flowerpot stand I forgot to take pictures of), Lassi found some nice jugend textiles and objects himself. 

We found this objects from a couple of fleamarkets in the countryside, which is where the best fleamarkets usually are but it also means you need a car for it. 

This lovely nurse cap/headpiece cost 1€, but I actually got it for free with the other items I bought. It's so cute! And it will fit perfectly with both my vintage aprons, since even though I'm not sure about how old this cap is the model didn't change so dramatically over the decades. 

(1950?) nurse cap

The other clothing item I found in that fleamarket is a 1920's nightgown, but I'm planning to use this one with a sash and as a summer dress. It's made of linen and it has gorgeous decorative pleats and cross-stitching on the collar and sleeves. I think this one will fit perfectly for the orientalist 1910/1920s look, since it reminds me a bit of antique greek/oriental clothing. And it only cost 10€!

1920's nightgown

I also got some lovely art deco ceramic spice jars, probably 1930s. These are quite often found in fleamarkets around Finland, but the ones with nice jugend or art deco motives are often overpriced. I'm more interested in jugend objects at the moment, but these are so pretty that I couldn't leave without them! They only cost 4€/piece, and even though one was broken and glued back I decided to also take it with me since it was half-price and still in working condition. 

1930's ceramic spice jars

Fleamarket finds, Vol.1

A quick post to show you something that Lassi found for me last Thursday while I was at work! I will probably end up writing many posts about things both Lassi and me find in fleamarkets in the future, so I have decided to start numbering them accordingly.

This is a pair of black leather and suede oxfords found in Radio Kirppis in Tampere, which is one of the fleamarkets we often check. This is a bit of an interesting pair, as the model itself looks like it's from the 1930s-40s, but Lassi believes they were made in the 1950's (and I usually trust him since he's very good at dating). The leather is a bit wrinkly, but nothing that some good Peckard's and a pair of lasts can't fix, and even the laces are original.

lovely use of different materials

Also, since the heels are rather wide and very sturdy, these are just perfect for daily wear! I will probably take them to the cobbler's for half-soles, but otherwise it feels like these babies are going to stay with me for a looong time :-)

side view and sole

Rustiqua at the Tribal Summer Camp 2014! <3

Rustiqua

And registration finally opened for the Tribal Summer Camp 2014! This will be the second edition of this event, which includes a weekend of workshops with amazing Tribal Fusion bellydance teachers, and a gala event that gathers some of the most amazing Tribal Fusion dancers in Europe!

The guest stars/teachers this year are the Eslovakian troupe Rustiqua, which is one of the most respected European Tribal Fusion troupes due to its quality and very innovative choreographies. You can't even imagine how excited I am about being able to study with them! <3

As I said the registration has just opened, and you better be fast because the early-bird prices last until the end of March and the first spots have started to sell already! You can find more info about it in the facebook event page. And If you need some eye candy to convince yourself, have a look at Rustiqua's performance at last year's Tribal Fest 2013 below:

Gibson Girl outfit

So here goes one of the edwardian outfits I wore to Vapriikki Vintage a couple of weeks ago! I really enjoyed wearing this, since most of the items are original edwardian pieces and they are all full of lovely details.

The full outfit consisted of: a gorgeous white muslin shirt, a black woolen skirt, brass pendant, brown boots and cotton socks. 

picture by Lassi

The muslin shirt is one of the last original edwardian pieces I've bought, and it's already one of my favourites! Just look at that collar, it goes almost half-way up the neck, and then folds down gracefully in two lapels. The whole shirt has some delicate and simple decoration, and the muslin is an absolutely lovely material to wear, so light and soft! I got this delicious piece from the Swedish shop Tidens Melody (from which I also got a few other pieces you may be seeing in the near future! ;-) ).

The skirt is an Etsy find, and it's in absolutely perfect condition (I guess this piece is late 1910's). Made in black wool, it has some gorgeous art deco details on the waist. I've had this skirt for over a year now, but the waist was a bit too big so I haven't been able to wear it comfortably until I decided to make it smaller (no fabric cut in the process!). 

The pendant is also an Etsy find, and even though it's not an original piece it has been hand crafted by a very talented Polish jewelsmith after an original piece. The pendant came without any chains attached to it, so I used my imagination when it came to deciding how to "finish" the piece in order to be able to wear it. 

a better look at the shirt's and skirt's details
pictures by Lassi

The boots are one of my treasures. They were originally edwardian ice-skating boots, but when Lassi found them in Ebay someone had already removed the blades, so after the cobbler placed new half-soles on them they got a new life as winter boots. And let me tell you, they are the best andmost comfortable pair of winter boots I've ever had! They hug the ankle like a glove, and even though you can't really wear very thick socks with them my feet have never felt cold in them. The colour is also quite rare (most surviving boots from this period tend to be black), since it's a gorgeous and rich shade of reddish brown (foxy!).

And last but not least, the cotton Atlas socks I had bought the previous day at the Vintage Market in action!

right: you can even see a couple of "cuts" from their
previous life as skating boots!

Gig at Kirjaclub with Kitty Litter!

I had such a blast last night! (even literally, if you ask me) I absolutely adore performing with my dear Dizzy Daisies, but Sandy was performing at Kustom Kulture in Kaapelitehdas and Gigi was having a well deserved short holyday in Stockholm, so I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with my dear Kitty Litter. We were booked to perform at a place called Kirjaclub (bookclub), and it was the first time I've performed in which we weren't allowed to take the bras off! The audience was anyway absolutely lovely, and the organizers treated us like queens :-)

gorgeous Kitty Litter and the lovechild of a geisha and
a flamenco dancer about to hit the stage :-D

Because of not being able to take the bra off I was a bit limited with the choice of acts to perform (a couple of them are all about the twirling in the end, or at least something about the tassels/pasties is vital to the story), so I decided to perform my Geisha act (which I hadn't performed in a year and a half) and my Mata Hari act. I usually do full Geisha makeup and hair for the first one, but because we had a pretty fast change I opted for a lighter version of it, and my usual 1920's fingerwaves. 

I was going through my Mata Hari act and feeling specially energetic and strong about the way I was moving on stage last night, when I suddenly realized I was in mid-air with my legs trying to go in one direction and the body on the other one! That was of course followed by an epic landing on my left knee and forearm, but thanks to the adrenaline boost I managed to finish the act. Well, I guess I can now say I have also slipped and fell on stage! :-D

absolutely delicious food on the left, and my knee and
a bag of ice on the right :-D

After that we were treated to white wine, sparkly and some delicious food, which we enjoyed backstage while I applied some ice to my nicely swollen knee. I nevertheless was stubborn enough to go check our gorgeous and very talented gals Sandy Jungle, Bettie Blackheart, Kiki Hawaiji, Tinker Bell, Cherry Turbo-Cherry Dee and Vera de Vil, who were performing a late night show at Kustom Kulture Show. There was a lot of new/revamped acts, and it was the perfect way to finish such a fun day! Now looking forward to the Helsinki Burlesque Festival in two weeks...