Not Florence and a Little from Column B

Pastiche is a lovely word which has always sounded like something delicious to me. (Pastiche for dessert? It must be my birthday!) Since it's a celebration, or say a collaboration with the past, nobody's the wiser and we have fun. I finally took my thrifted linen duster out for a ramble in not Florence and not 1905.
With a nod to Eleanor Lavish without her baedeker.

Green, green, green Fernandez Ranch in Martinez Ca. part of the John Muir Land Trust

The cows had churned up the paths so thoroughly, that I couldn't get very far. But the rain is sorely needed and I had boots on. Not pretty American Duchess lace-up oxfords, boots.
Since I had brought all this up with me, and I don't pack light, I was undeterred.

Craftily blurred out hiking boots

"O mio babbino caro"

If the cows stop giving milk, it's none of my doing.....

Column B
The return of the Swiss Waist, or Corselete's revenge.
My brother always asks rhetorically, "Is it a sin to like your own cooking?" No, nor is it to be pleased with an object sewn and labored over.  Since I have only worn the Swiss waist once and it needed another outing, I'm giving it the fancy treatment as a ball gown.

Overskirt of turn-of -the-century satin Ikat, liberated from another ball gown

Corselete's Revenge

OG (original gown) with the unsuspecting Lynne B.

The lace overlay is a silk chantilly so old and fine, I fear it may be a one off. I'm trying not to get too attached and enjoy the impermanence, a few waltzes and it may shatter. I can live with that, it was worth the round and round on the dance floor.
See how we all grow.

Ever Your Thimble Servant,
Miss Brilliantine

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

Mid-March can purr.
Mostly it roars, don't count on the fickle feline to give you fine days. She giveth and taketh away.
Buffeting your fine silk and new shoes, making you put a coat over it (nerve).
Then you find just the thing, waiting for you all along...... Roses!

She followed me home, and I kept her.

 Spring is coming when flowered hats fall into your hands unbidden. Then all you can think of is chiffon and the kind of mid-30's frocks and hats that go with champagne and French 75s. Swell strappy shoes with or without peep toes.

Dame Fashion proclaims that Spring is made for saucy hats that peep.

 In fairness I have to admit I live in a particularly benign climate. Not Narnia, not Narnia at all.
Enough with the Winter wonderland, if four adorable English school children come to your door, don't answer it.

My friend's backdoor in upstate New York. 1886location.com. Chantal, I grant you a Pimm's Cup.

I know "Some nerve!" also "Well, I never!"

Story with a moral-
When my mother was a girl she was sick with an anemia that would keep her in bed for weeks. Because it was the olden days and you could have your shoes made to order, her father would have them made for her. She would lie in bed with them on her feet and admire.
If you are snowy or icy or wet, wear those new shoes. If not outside, then in and wait for the lamby days.

My new American Duchess Tissots

Ever Your Thimble Servant,
Miss Brilliantine