Classy dame, sparkle consultant, gothic enthusiast, sporadic recapper. Like a drifter, I was born to walk alone, on Livejournal, out of pure cussedness.
Santa is on strike due to global warming. All presents this year will be delivered by Sasha the Christmas Tiger. Milk and cookies may not be sufficient.
I still contend that this is, in fact, the best video on the internet, period. The sheer comedic timing. The knowledge that it cannot possibly have been constructed. The very human expression Pallas cats’ round pupils give them. And the backstory that this was literally the first footage captured by this camera in this placement, that this is the cat immediately noticing his environment has been changed and investigating with all the suspicion of a grumpy old gardener whose gnomes have been moved again…. *chef’s kiss*
Love that in a lot of classic literature people just “randomly” fall ill but bro their homes were stacked to the roof with arsenic and asbestos and lead and radium of course they were sick all the time.
And then they’re like “we took my ill wife to the seaside and her condition improved remarkably” and it’s like Edward your house has seven time bombs in it please just leave your wife at the seaside and she’ll do very well not getting mesothelioma.
Edward your wife may be entitled to financial compensation
Valkyrie tiara by Cartier for Mary Crewe-Milnes, Duchess of Roxburghe, 1935
Inspired by the winged helmets worn by the heroines of Wagner’s opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, the tiara is the last of its type ever made by Cartier.
The piece, known as a Valkyrie tiara after the eponymous figures from Norse mythology, comprises more than 2,500 cushion-shaped, single-cut, circular-cut and rose-cut diamonds, set in a gold and silver frame.
The pair of ‘en tremblant’ wings was constructed using wire-coiled springs so that they move slightly when worn. The wings can also be detached and worn separately as brooches.
The fashion for Valkyrie tiaras originated on the stage before being rapidly adopted by fashionable aristocrats at the start of the 20th century.
A notable early example — a winged tiara centring on a 33-carat diamond made by Cartier in 1909 for the wife of American banker JP Morgan — was credited with helping to fuel the craze across the Atlantic.
By the 1930s the influence of Art Deco had taken hold in the decorative arts and ornate winged headwear was no longer in demand. By 1935 requesting such a dramatic item of jewellery would have been considered very unusual.
The Duchess’s fondness for the style was sparked by seeing winged tiaras worn at balls and parties as a child, prompting her to approach Cartier more than a decade later to produce one last grand homage to the bygone fashion.
so after a couple days of scrolling through old social registers from the 1910s and 1920s, i think i have finally amassed the ultimate list of utterly insane old money names. i am going to use every single one of these as an alias in one way or another, starting with marmaduke corbyn and miss elinor vandegrift
This is the most delightfullz zany list of names imaginable. When I inevitably go on the run I shall travel under the name Talbot Olyphant.
I’m torn between Hortense Trounstine Pappenheimer and Lady Marguerite Mackenzie Montague.
