First of all a disclaimer: I'm not saying that any of what follows is an accurate historical or cultural representation of any particular cultural tradition. Everything is my 'artistic' interpretation of different elements and something I did for fun.
The wonderful L'Amusette arranged their annual 18th century spring ball last Saturday and this year's theme was the "Wonders of the Orient". For once, I had no last minute sewing to do, all my clothes were ready months before and I even managed to apply the theme to what I chose to wear. Win!
I knew of the theme long beforehand so I had ample time to think and plan. As a sort of tradition since the very first spring ball, I've always worn Regency, so I knew that I would wear my newest Regency ball gown,
the Fée Verte dress. However, I wanted to do something else for my headwear than the turban, the most obvious nod towards the orientalist theme.
Enter the most amazing and über-oriental tiara ever.
I looked at a ton of pictures of different Asian styles and tried to combine some elements in my headdress. I even put together
a pinboard for them. The starting point of my tiara was this little
crown tutorial which I tweaked a little. I took the basic lotus flower piece and made five of them, all separate. I then attached them to a tiara base I had twined out of thick beadwork wire. I added a bit of this and that and I must say that I'm happy with the result. The tiara got a lot of compliments at the ball, so I think I succeeded :)
Here are some photos from the ball by Sanna of
Rococo Atelier and Markku Arvonen.
 |
Dress made of an Indian saree, lotus flowers, pearls, curlicue pokey-out-ear-thingies with hanging fringe, sort of byzantine inspired pendilia (the longer hanging down bits), kanzashi ornament, Indian style beaded fringe on the forehead, Chinese (and a little bit Japanese inspired) makeup. Oriental enough, what do you think? |
 |
I made that hanging kanzashi style ornament too that is just inside the left side frame of the photo. |
 |
Here you can sort of see what I did with my hair. I made two buns with bun rats, no frills or curls or anything. I also wanted something wider because a single bun just looked so small and lonely with the tiara. |
 |
I added some fabric flowers in the front and poked a kanzashi style ornament through one bun. |
 |
A Regency wedgie, or keeping my dress from trailing on the boggy grass. |
 |
I'm wearing a lot of non-historical makeup, trying to evoke an orientalist look. Yes, the blusher is where it is on purpose. |
 |
See my bracelets? They are genuinely oriental; enameled metal pieces that my uncle brought from China. |
 |
The organisers had outdone themselves and had even done up one room of the venue as an oriental boudoir/tent. |
 |
Very scandalous, I know. |