Going Carny

Spending a fortnight in the imaginary embrace of life as a carny has it's drawbacks.
I guess.
For me, it means spending extra time stroking my 1930s knickers and nighties and finding new ways to wear them.
For the locals, I guess it means possibly falling over and getting a concussion.

I made a mad dash home before dark to snap off these pics.
Tonight is State of Origin night (interstate rugby league comp) and footy fans everywhere are flying flags, wearing team colours and generally getting ready for a huge night on the piss.
I wondered about the odd looks I was getting today, but realised that if people feel good in ugly league shirts, PJs, dressing gowns and strange hats while carrying slabs of beer around, I have the right to look like a carny;)).

I'm wearing a 1930s silk PJ top, 1920s tail coat - both from eBay; Saba bag; thrifted silk scarf and leather shorts; Midas leather and glitter shoes - flea market and some tricky Black Milk leg wear.
The style is based on their Wet Look Leggings, but with feet!  So they're warm, slinky and shiny all-in-one piece!

I dub thee: Cooch Dancer Shoes.

Laura Palmer brooch from The Bookhouse Girrrrl's Etsy shop.

When Carnivale aired late at night from 2003, I was knee-deep in two sets of babies' nappies and boobies leaking breast milk.
Sadly there was just no time for the grit of life in the 1930s Dust Bowl and Great Depression.
Until now.

My recent discovery of Carnivale had The Phoenix and I in its apocalyptic grip for endless nights.
Then I saw a poster for  Water for Elephants, the film set in the same era, and remembered someone had given me the book a few years ago.
So I dived in and devoured it too.

I've just emerged for air and think I've turned carny.

1930s silk knickers - eBay; black kimono worn inside out - eBay, I added the gold silk patches to the torn lining; 1980s silk sequinned top - thrifted; 1950s leopard-print hat - gift from Nelly.

My parents were born in the mid-1920s and grew up in New Zealand and Australia during the Great Depression, so it's an era I experienced second-hand.
They were sad and desperate times.
My dad left school and started working as a farm labourer at age 13.  
The same year, he bought his first pair of shoes.
My mother still doesn't throw ANYTHING away and I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s steeped in frugality and the WWII "make do and mend" ethos.
I must have seemed a strange child.

The circus and the carnival arriving in America's rural towns must have seemed a few hours of sweetness for the poor folks doing it tough.
Far from the harsh life in the Dust Bowl, my parents' generation also experienced desperate battles for their daily needs but I always suspected they sugar-coated daily life in the 1930s and 1940s.
What I love about the modern interpretations of those times, is the subversive content of what life was really like.
There was friendship, kinship and loyalty.  
On the other hand, there was rape, alcoholism, prostitution, poverty, starvation, cruelty and murder.
Bit like today huh?

When was the last time you were sartorially inspired by a book, movie or television program?
Desiree xo