The Nutcracker

No matter how old I get I always dream of being a ballerina and by accident I end up watching The Nutcracker on PBS almost every holiday season. I couldn't really tell you which ones I've seen besides Nutcracker: The Motion Picture and The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center that was on PBS tonight, choreography by Balanchine. The Balanchine was beautiful and over the top and the costumes were magnificent, but the story was off. In this version Clara is Marie and she's 10, as is the Nutcracker. They were rather great as children go, but they stayed children. I like Clara to magically mature and dance with the Prince in the magical kingdom or where ever. As it was, the pas de deux was with the Sugarplum Fairy and her Caravel and was very very good with Megan Fairchild as the Sugarplum Fairy.

The flowers have THE MOST amazing skirts. In this photo Megan Fairchild is the Dewdrop Fairy.

I've been told I should watch the San Francisco Ballet Nutcracker and after looking it up I might have seen some of it, again, I'm not sure which Nutcrackers I've seen, but 'tis the season!

San Francisco, concept: 1915 World's Fair

New York Ballet

San Francisco Ballet, this looks familiar

how amazing is this?! Totally Ballet Russe pants, and sparkles!

San Francisco, how beautiful is this?

This is the San Francisco Pas de Deux, I prefer the Balanchine (below).

This Friday the SF Ballet's Little Mermaid is on Great Performances on PBS.

need to design again

I've been neglecting my designing and esp my bridal designing. I've been meaning to bang out some wedding dresses so hopefully I will do that soon. I was told by NCSA that I need to draw everyday and they're right, but I'm not, so that's a goal.

 This is the only dress I've ever really liked from the  BYU bridal magazine.

Pinterest

I just started a Pinterest account. I haven't gotten too far, but check it out if you want to see what my computer is full of.
http://pinterest.com/belbcorinne/

1830s wig

inspiration

 While we're on the subject of wigs I figured I'd post pictures from my advanced hair and make up final I did last April. I was in an 1830s mood all semester after watching Wives and Daughters so I have a corset and petticoat to go with my hair. The stiff hair loops are a wig, as are some of the ringlets, then I pulled my own hair through and brushed them together and used my own ringlets as well. The wig had a very bad latex front which is why there's a giant leaf in the front, but looks fine to me! I loved this wigs so so much. It's a little messy in the back, but you try doing something this intricate on your own head! Upper body workout!

1970s: a great decade for wigs

A couple weeks ago I watched Poldark and skimmed through Fawlty Towers on Netflix. Poldark is set in the 1780s but was made in 1975 so it has some rippin' wigs. Fawlty Towers, a comedy series with John Cleese was also made in 1975. I realized the wigs from Poldark were bad, but never realized to what lengths hair was done in the '70s! Of course I took the liberty of capturing some stills for you. Aren't you grateful?

From Poldark. How amazing is this wig? and she wears one like this all the time. So terrible but great.

so great right? ug.

Prunella Scales from Fawlty Towers. The hair is great, esp the streak, but I'm really in love with her suit, not sarcastic at all.

Who knew the 1970s echoed the 1770s? I guess it makes sense bc of the bicentennial

check out that profile!

and from behind

Best Santas

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 I've been watching quite a few Hallmark movies recently and I gotta tell ya, there are some terrible Santa Clauses. Cheap costumes, bad wigs, awful beards, you name it. The thing with Santa is that he has  a white beard and white fur. If you get the whites wrong it just looks terrible. It's also hard to reinvent the wheel so Santa's suit can be hard to reinvent, but the quality of velvet (velvet is a must) needs to be good and the hat can't be ridiculous. Also, no shoulder-length hair, that's the worst thing I've been seeing recently. Gross. Good Santas? Tim Allen, Edward Asner and Edmund Gwenn.

mittens!

My all time favorite Santa Claus for looks is Tim Allen, from The Santa Clause movies. He has absolutely amazing hair and make up. His beard is a good length and just curly enough and I love his short hair! He's got rosy rosy cheeks and his costumes are fantastic, from him red union suit with Slavic suspenders to his suit in amazing velvet with lots of details sewn on and a really nice belt and leather mittens (I love his mittens). I also like the stages of Santa in these movies and he by far has the most casual Santa ensembles.

love the beard and hair

the sweater!

I mean come on, so great!

Edward Asner is from Elf and probably has the best sleigh of any Santa I've seen. He's also bald and has the same union suit look as Tim Allen's Santa. He's older of course, and some think he's kind of a meany, but I think he looks jolly and it's nice that his bowl of jelly belly looks like it might be all his. He has my favorite suspenders.

suspenders!

Edmund Gwenn of course is Kris Kringle form Miracle on 34th Street. The movie's not in color so I can't speak too accurately to the beard/fur coordination but it looks like if it were in color I wouldn't like it, but he's just such a nice Santa with a short beard and a very simple but classic suit. He doesn't really have too much of a tummy, but he's great all the same.

so cute

If you want to discuss Santa suits sans Santa I'd have to put a plug in for the Finale costumes from White Christmas. I just can't pass up velvet with glitz!

Edith Head being a boss.

Yul Brynner with hair

Yul Brynner could only grow the quintessential cul de sac of hair around his bald top. When he was cast as the King of Siam in The King and I he asked the costume designer what to do about his hair and she told him to shave it all off without really even thinking about it. I don't have the book with me that tells the whole story, but that's the gist of it. Aren't we glad? He looks just like everybody else with hair.
Also, totally plan on naming one of my sons Brynner.

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