Fishnets & Fedoras

Eco-friendly Tango Dresses

Returning to the occasional theme of tango dresses on here (and indeed, to this blog. I really must manage more than one post a month…), there's a new company making the occasional appearance in London, offering eco-friendly tango dresses.

Knús is an Icelandic word for "hug", or embrace I suppose, and they're making their outfits from sustainable materials like bamboo. (Don't mock - I have bamboo socks and they're wonderfully comfortable.)

There's only a couple of looks on the website right now, of which this is the more conventional:

But, personally, I rather like this one:

There's also some men's looks.

Thoughts?

Fishnets are Optional

While I really don't want to start pigeon-holing this irregular blogette as a tango fashion thing, this post from Eyes Wide Shut, in which the author has a surprising bathroom fashion experience, is too good not to share:

It has to be pointed out that this milonga is one of the more casual ones. People “dress up” if they want to, but there’s dressing up (i.e.: nice shirt, pants, skirt, whatever) and then there’s dressing up as if you’re about to go on stage in Forever Tango. I am sure you’ll agree that there’s an ocean of difference between the two.

More Tango Dress History

"Dress" in the broader sense this time, with a brief history of tango fashion.

Is this a (historical) tango dress?

Back to the fun issue of tango dresses, after the abject failure of my last expedition into this territory.  People's idea of what is, and isn't, a tango dress appears to change over time. And here's how I came to that conclusion:

I was doing a little search around the web for tango dress inspiration, and a hit paydirt with one result that you can see to the right. I rather like this very traditional, but very classy effort, which was posted on a site for dressmakers to share information with each other. 

I had a hunt around the site, looking for more ideas to pass on to a tanguera of my acquaintance, and found this rather intriguing number. I don't especially like the style, but the little snippet of history was fascinating

This is styled after the dress showcased on the July 1916 cover of Vanity Fair and illustrates the dramatic change in fashion that occurred in the period between 1909 and 1916, due in part to the craze for tango dancing that spread across Europe in the period leading up to the outbreak of war (and the years that followed).

The dress creator mentions that there are more details on his blog - but there's no link! However, my Google Fu is mighty, and I tracked him down.

The three related posts are a fascinating insight into the fashions around the European tango scene in the 1910s. Well worth a read.

What Makes a Good Tango Dress?

The post about the so-called tango dress that marked my return to blogging here after a long, long absence certainly got people riled up.

So, here's a question for you: what makes a good tango dress? 

1. Here's one London tanguera's opinion from some months back.

Feel free to comment here, or post your thoughts on your own blog, email me, and I'll link them below.

Is this a tango dress?

Is this a tango dress? The name says it is. At least one site suggests that it's perfect. But I just can't imagine anyone actually tangoing in this.

Am I alone in this?

Debbi Does Shoe Bags

Debbi of An Ever Fixed Mark has declared war - war on boring shoe bags. And she's quite right. All our shoes bags have the logos of the shop we bought them from on and not much else.

She's not prepared to stand for it any more, and has gone into business making her own shoes bags. And aren't they just fabulous?

Prices start from $15 plus shipping and handling.

Here's a few more:

 

Sing for your Tango Shoes

Singing about tango shoes (with only a hint of tango itself):

Miss Tango tells a story of her encounter with the singer.

More Tango Shoes

More sexy feet
Originally uploaded by Hospy.

Because we can't get enough of them right now.

Shoe Bliss

More Latin dance shoes. Because it's the week's theme.