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| Maggie, Abby, and Nicole looking gorgeous at Jane Austen Festival, 2018 |
Jane Austen Festival in Louisville, Kentucky, marks the center point of the year. This event always takes place in mid-July at Locust Grove, a wonderful 1790s house in a beautiful setting, and while the event can be *hot,* the discomfort of Kentucky-in-July is usually overridden by the beauty of the place, the costumed attendees, the fun of shopping and socializing.
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| Enjoying some lunch in the HMS Acasta encampment, fanning furiously. |
This year was a must-go, despite there being precious little time between JA Fest and Costume College, our other major annual event. This year, the festival hosted Zack Pinsent, Regency tailor extraordinaire. His presence, combined with so many other good friends and the opportunity to gather beautiful imagery for our upcoming men's collection meant that Abby and I simply *had* to go.
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| Can we just talk about this man for a moment? Zack Pinsent at Jane Austen Festival, 2018. |
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| Every good photo shoot comes with a couple fluffers, even for men. We did our shoot with Zack on Friday evening. |
While the event was oppressively hot, we donned our 1790s gowns and soldiered on. Zack looked exceedingly cool and comfortable in head-to-toe linen, but we still all needed the occasional break inside the visitor's center, where we found a convenient A/C vent.
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| Hair went alright on Saturday, despite how freakin' hot it was. I still have my 18th century mullet-ish haircut, which made the frizzing easier. |
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| Abby in her stunning Lydia Fast bonnet with antique veil. |
On Saturday evening I had the opportunity to photograph Captain Remy and Lord Fitzroy of
HMS Acasta. it's always a wonder to me how the gentlemen can appear still so put together after boiling in uniform all day long. I had stripped down to my Regency undies, my hair was an utter disaster, and I couldn't form coherent sentences by 7 pm on Saturday, but these two fellows still managed to look like *this* in front of the lens...
Sunday we had cooler weather but only because it was raining. The drizzle put the kibosh on the fabulous hats we all planned to wear, though Nicole persevered, and fashionably, with her super-big-and-bodacious-bowed Lydia Fast straw draped casually in a kerchief to protect it. I didn't get a chance to wear my Lydia Fast green satin bonnet - it remained wrapped in plastic and stowed safely in a tent. :-(
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| Silliness on Sunday in the rain. We were all a little sad not to be able to display our magnificent bonnetry for more than a few minutes. |
I didn't really get much for photos in-dress, but I'm planning to wear The Green Goblin to Costume College in a few days, so I'll report back on this gown later on, along with other Costume College goodness. For now, I better get my hemming done for the gala!
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| Droopy AF - after half a day of rain and mud, the deshabille was a bit much. Please excuse the droop! These were the only photos I got of my dress, but I'll take better ones to share in a later post soon. |
