is cassandra chic???

[michael c]

i was looking through the new issue of W magazine and an image caught my eye...

http://www.wmagazine.com/fashion/2010/07/terry_richardson#slide=1

the minidress. the liquid eyeliner. the glossy black wig. for me it totally conjured up cassandra collins.

thoughts?

[Gothick]

Wow.  It's like Cassandra meets Miss Gulch (with the mutton-chop sleeves, or whatever they're called).

Some of Cassandra's clothing WAS chic in the Summer of 1968.  That lemon yellow coat-dress, or the sleeveless blue mini come to mind.  I thought the morning frock she wore for the scene where Barnabas offered to take her back if she would stop the Dream Curse (and free Vicki) was gorgeous.  Then, there are horrors such as the purple butterfly caftan, which of course I secretly adore... That one looked as if it came into the world as an attempt at a Peter Max ripoff gone horribly awry.

Wigs were chic in 1968.  I remember my Mother and my Aunt going wig shopping around that time.  They both showed up at a number of parties wearing these huge frosted pelts on their heads.  Mom gets really uncomfortable now whenever I bring this up.

Part of the idea behind the popularity of wigs may have been women who were trying to give their hair a rest from some of the unbelievably corrosive products in use back then.  I remember my mother complaining about the health of her hair.

G.

[michael c]

gothick dear i believe the shape is a "leg of mutton" sleeve. "muttonchop" would be quentin's sideburns.

as i recall lara parker was outfitted exquisitely as mrs roger collins. because she had not been with the series before the 1795 storyline she was granted a lavish new wardrobe of "present time" clothing in 1968 while the rest of the cast recycled their 66-67 duds.

wasn't green sort of her unofficial color? apple. pistachio. mint. was there some sort of symbolism there(envy)? she made her grand entrance at collinwood in some sort of boxy green cape if i recall.

there was one episode where she wore a cropped poppy red jacket and short purple skirt. it struck me as very 1980's looking. with her glossy black curls sort of joan collins as alexis-carrington-colby-ish. anyways i thought she looked fab.

b.t.w. the orange ruffled minidress the other model in the picture is wearing looks to me like one of the bizare 1970 parallel-time frocks.

[Gerard]

Green was everyone's color back in '68 - along with yellow.  It was the bright color of modernity.  If you wanted to be hip and groovy, you had green:  green clothing, green carpeting, green upholstery, with some yellow thrown in, of course.  I remember visiting a home that was just redone in green modern.  It even included an entire wall in the living room with attached lattice work that held miles of plastic green vines.  There were little, yellow, plastic flowers mixed in.  Too bad Roger and Cassandra's marriage didn't work out.  She could've remodeled Collinwood in chic, modern green plastic.  No more of that antiquated stuffy furnishing; even the afghan would've gone to GoodWill.  And to really make Barnabas suffer, she could've cast a spell of Willie making him do the same thing to the Old House.  Instead of the candleabrum sitting on the table, there would've been a lava lamp.

Gerard

[Lydia]

No more of that antiquated stuffy furnishing; even the afghan would've gone to GoodWill.

No, the afghan would have been protected by its inner border of lime green squares.

[Miss_Winthrop]

OMG I guess I've never gotten out of the 60/70's...my closet if not filled with that color, is pretty darn close to it. I've got different shades of green blouses and sweatshirts. I just finished painting my bathroom 'aloe vera' which the clerk at Menard's picked out for me.  It's truly a lime green and the color sort of bounces off the toilet, sink and bathtub to give off an eerie green look.     Vicki and Liz liked the color too.   

[Uncle Roger]

 [snow_wink]Cassandra is as chic as anyone can be who got their wardrobe from Ohrbach's.

[Nicky]

Gothy:  purple butterflies ... PURPLE BUTTERFLIES!  Dancing in a drunken haze ........

[arashi]

Everything old is new again! Green was a very popular interior decorating color in the 1920s too.

[Gothick]

Thanks, Nicky, for that reminder. (wink)

I remember when this friend's Mom got a new car, circa June 1969. The color was described as "sub-lime."  (Yes, for reals.)  It was a lurid neon chartreuse.  I wonder how long that little car lasted.  It was a sporty little thing.

Gerard, I realize I'm 2 years late to thank you for your description of that wall treatment.  Sounds like the result of somebody's acid trip.

G.