When invited to a 1920’s party, many people are at a loss as to what to wear. At Via’s Vintage, we frequently put together 1920’s looks from the casual to very formal. 1920s clothing is a vintage category all its own. When you see the light as air chiffons studded with glistening glass beads, you know it was an amazing and decadent time to be alive.
While assembling your 1920s outfit, start by thinking about what you want to look like. Do you wish to be the classic fringed and feathered vamp? Or perhaps the cool and elegant lady? For inspiration, you can always check out an original 1920s film. They provide the best and most accurate representation of what people wore, and how they wore it. One thing you need to keep in mind is that the 20s was all about the complete head to toe look. Although there is something to be said for wafting about in the incredibly simple, yet insanely intricate gowns of the 1920s, it is really all about the jewelry, shoes, gloves, hair and makeup. Details, details, details!
If you do not have the disposition for wearing an authentic dress simply start with a loose fitting dress or slip. Many times, 30s, 40s or 60s dresses will do. They are still vintage and can look 20s if accessorized appropriately. For an evening event, opt for hair adornments rather than a cloche hat. You can use a scarf headband knotted on the side, and add a brooch at the center of the knot. Or take a sequined headband and add a comb or clip feathered hairpiece. You can accessorize with authentic jewelry, like a fabulous deco bracelet and earrings. They are easily worn again and are beautiful to own. For shoes, wear something with low heels and oval toes, Mary Janes work well. Don’t forget a handbag, something small with a handle. Finish off with gloves, fishnets or sheer hosiery and a cigarette holder, and your look will be complete.
Via’s Vintage is offering an exclusive discount on all of their inventory for attendees of The Rogue Song as well as a gift certificate for the best dressed dame at the event.
Hello from Goorin Bros., your local hat shop(Uptown), here to chat briefly about the basics of Prohibition style headwear. We’re delighted to be partnering with Tempo for The Rogue Song this year and figured we’d share our knowledge to help all of you dress your 1920s best!
In 1895, Cassel Goorin sold his first hat off a horse-drawn cart in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Cassel’s sons – the Goorin Brothers – continued the tradition when they moved the family business to San Francisco in 1949. Today, Goorin Bros. is led by Cassel’s great grandson who remains dedicated to the hat business. In other words, we know our classic hats- and luckily hats are hot again!
Fedoras, cloches, bowlers, feathered headbands are all in the mix!
There’s no way of knowing if the thanks goes to period television dramas such as Mad Men, Downtown Abbey and Boardwalk Empire, or musicians like Bruno Mars wearing throwback styles, but whatever the reason, hats are back.
Ladies, the 1920s was entirely about rebelling! During the wild ride of Prohibition, dress hemlines were shortened, along with new bobbed hairstyles to match the hat of the day: the cloche. This famous style has a rounded top and frames the face in the classic flapper style.
Gentlemen, the end of World War I brought about a switch to less formal suits in the 1920s. Tailcoats and top hats were abandoned in favor of pinstripes suits and bowlers or fedoras in fashionable circles. The bowler, a rounded top hat with a shorter brim, was worn in more formal situations. The fedora was saved for more casual circumstances and the classic 20s gangster look…
Give our website a glance for ideas, come in and visit us!
Goorin Bros is offering an exclusive discount on all of their inventory for attendees of The Rogue Song as well as a handmade hat for the best dressed fella at the event.
Minnesota Opera is excited to announce its next New Works Initiative production, The Dream of Valentino. Composed by Dominick Argento, with libretto by Charles Nolte, as a joint commission by Washington and Dallas operas, the work received its world premiere in 1994 at The Kennedy Center, where it was described by the Chicago Tribune as “visually and theatrically … a thumping success.” Eric Simonson (The Grapes of Wrath, Silent Night) directs and Maestro Christoph Campestrini (Werther) conducts this revised premiere as a part of the company’s 2013–2014 season.
This YouTube clip is of Argento’s Valentino Dances, an orchestral suite of two dances premiered at Minnesota Orchestra shortly after the opera’s premiere.
“I have known Dominick since my first season when Minnesota Opera premiered Casanova’s Homecoming in 1985 and have always admired the freshness and vibrancy of his works,” said Artistic Director Dale Johnson. “The Dream of Valentino is the only major Argento opera that we have not staged and I thought it imperative, as we began the New Works Initiative, that we invest in producing his entire canon. After I approached Dominick to discuss this revival, he spent the summer making major changes to literally give Valentino a new beginning. By reworking the dramaturgy and focusing more on Valentino the artist, Dominick feels that the work will better embody how Hollywood uses its artists and tosses them away when they are no longer convenient.”
The Dream of Valentino is part of Minnesota Opera’s New Works Initiative, a landmark program designed to invigorate the operatic repertoire with an infusion of contemporary works. Produced as part of the Initiative: an American premiere, The Adventures of Pinocchio (Dove); two revivals, Casanova’s Homecoming (Argento) and Wuthering Heights (Herrmann); and a world premiere, the Pulitzer Prize Award-winning Silent Night (Puts). Doubt, composed by Douglas J. Cuomo with libretto by John Patrick Shanley, makes its world premiere in January 2013. Following The Dream of Valentino, a yet-to-be-announced world premiere will complete the seventh and final year of the Initiative in the 2014–2015 season. Since fundraising began in March 2008, Minnesota Opera has raised more than $6.68 million to support the New Works Initiative.
About The Dream of Valentino
Rudolph Valentino, an Italian immigrant, becomes a popular Broadway dancer after his arrival in 1913 and aspires to become a great stage actor. A Hollywood film mogul discovers him and makes a note to watch him in the future even though he is on contract with a rival studio. Valentino signs a personal contract with the famous actress Alla Nazimova. Afterwards, he proposes to the actress Jean Acker what turns out to be a disastrous marriage. He becomes an overnight sensation with the release of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and the Mogul buys out Valentino’s Metro contract. In the course of filming The Sheik, the beleaguered Mogul finds out about both Valentino’s personal contract with Nazimova and his potentially scandalous marriage with Acker. As a result, Valentino is forced against his will into his next film, which fails miserably at the box office. He loses control of his career, and drops out of Hollywood, taking up the life of an itinerant actor and dancer. Valentino dies at the age of 31 in New York as headlines proclaim his passing and propel him into legend.
About the composer
Dominick Argento, considered to be America’s pre-emininent composer of lyric opera, was born in York, Pennsylvania in 1927. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Peabody Conservatory and his Ph.D. from the Eastman School of Music. Fulbright and Guggenheim Fellowships allowed him to study in Italy and following his Fulbright, Argento became music director of Hilltop Opera in Baltimore, and taught theory and composition at the Eastman School. In 1958, he joined the faculty of the Department of Music at the University of Minnesota, where he taught until 1997. He now holds the rank of Professor Emeritus.
Following his arrival in Minnesota, Argento helped to found Minnesota Opera (then Center Opera Company) in 1963 and premiered his opera, The Masque of Angels, at the company’s opening. Since the early 1970’s Argento’s operas have been heard with increasing frequency abroad. Among these are Minnesota Opera commissions, The Voyage of Edgar Allen Poe (1976) and Casanova’s Homecoming (1984), which Robert Jacobson of Opera News called “a masterpiece.”
Dominick Argento received the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1975 for his song cycle From the Diary of Virginia Woolf. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1979 and in 1997 he was honored with the title of Composer Laureate to the Minnesota Orchestra, a lifetime appointment.
I would like to take a moment of your time to be a bit less refined and admire opera for qualities rarely discussed.
When considering the average opera singer, most in the general public think of the classic scary woman, spear in hand, wearing a horned helmet and pigtails. Hopefully these will help put that image to rest.
Enjoy! (And you’re welcome.)
Composer Kevin Puts, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Silent Night
Mezzo-soprano Roxana Constantinescu
Minnesota Opera production of Cosi fan tutte, music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Denyce Graves, Mezzo-soprano
Bass-baritone Rodolfo Nieto
- Colin Dickau, Tempo Board of Directors
Visit Minnesota Opera’s blog every week for Tempo Tuesday
provide the best and most accurate representation of what people wore, and how they wore it. One thing you need to keep in mind is that the 20s was all about the complete head to toe look. Although there is something to be said for wafting about in the incredibly simple, yet insanely intricate gowns of the 1920s, it is really all about the jewelry, shoes, gloves, hair and makeup. Details, details, details!
