Mrs. Hawking photo shoot I, part one
I have to finish the second draft of my seminar paper for the class I have to teach as part of my graduating requirements. It's slow, but it's coming. I should finish (need to finish, really) by the end of the night. But I realized it's been weeks and I never put up the pictures from the Mrs. Hawking themed photo shoot I did with some lovely compatriots. I am hereby posting some of my favorites, with a few notes on my thinking behind them.
Mrs. Hawking, version 1
Photography by Stephanie Karol
Hair and makeup by Gabrielle Geller
Directed and costumed designed by Phoebe Roberts
with Frances Kimpel as Mrs. Hawking
and Charlotte Oswald as Mary Stone
This image is in replication of those "family portraits" that were often the standard of photography back in the Victorian period. The mistress of the house, and her beloved maidservant.
Frances, while much younger than Mrs. Hawking is supposed to be, was my visual inspiration for the character. A small person, deceptively pretty with her wavy golden hair and capable of being disguised as something non-threatening, delicate, and socially expected. But, like Frances, she is fierce, agile, and much more physically powerful than you might immediately guess. The dress does a pretty good job of hiding just how ripped she, and the character, are.
Charlotte not only has the right look, she is around the right age. She is tall and strong, and I liked the idea of Mary having her statuesque Amazonian figure, her pretty face, her long dark hair, her freckles. I thought a girl of the lower classes who had to make her own way in the world should be physically capable, and I like the contrast between her kind of presence and Mrs. Hawking's. Also, a tall girl gets noticed, can't be ignored, for well or for ill. She has both the power, and the responsibility, to answer for herself.
Gigi did some age makeup to make her look older, I think it helps. I like her expression here, that even when she is pretending to be a normal woman, the intensity of her always shines through in her eyes and expression. We had a discussion about how wide eyes are a Frances thing, but narrowed, searching eyes are a Mrs. Hawking thing. Also, she never smiles. Smiles wouldn't be the done thing in period photography anyway, but it never is for her.
Frances is wearing a costume I assembled a year ago to play Irene Adler in a larp at Intercon. It is a thrifted prom dress with an interesting kind of corsety bodice over a frilly black gauze blouse. It's not totally period, but the combination of the garments gives a nice impression of the right era. The hat is an ostrich feather derby hat from the same costume. The colors, brown and black, make for a somewhat stark combination, but Mrs. Hawking is a relatively recent widow in a time with strict mourning practices (Queen Victoria was a HARDCORE mourner) so the look works out well.
Another idea through this photo shoot was to show the women in expected feminine Victorian poses while hinting at their true activities. I decided that Mary's weapon of choice should be a fireplace poker (this prop kindly lent to me by laurion) because it worked on so many levels. It's a melee weapon, suited to a woman with some height and strength advantage, effective even if she's not exactly a trained combatant. And also, Mary is a maid in a fancy house, it's something that would come easily to her hand.
Mary's costume is a bit fancy for a maid. That gorgeous lace blouse belongs to Charlotte, and though it's a little excessively adorned I love how it looks on her. The skirt is a floor length double-layered black silk, over another, heavier skirt to give it more volume. The apron is my toile one, well-used; I debated bleaching it but it's not like Mary wouldn't be using it. Also I think of blue as Mary's color. This costume too gives the right impression even if it's not perfectly correct.
Mrs. Hawking is an expert with knives. I didn't find a Bowie knife that looked right in time for this photo shoot, so instead Mrs. Hawking toys with one of her slim silver throwing knives in this image. I thought it was in keeping with the fact that she operates like a ninja, sneakily, silently, striking like lightning and disappearing without a trace.
I love this image as it depicts the thinking process of when it is time for Mrs. Hawking to put her deductive capabilities to work on a case. I picture her as a person who does not eat much but consumes prodigious amounts of tea, particularly when thinking. The tea set is mine, bone china with gold inlay. The setting is the living room at Gloucester, whose old Victorian-style house strikes me as full of possibilities.
Readying for action. I love the look in Frances's eye. I like to think that when she's in danger mode, with all her disguises cast aside and acting as a creature of pure warrior's instinct, Mrs. Hawking is the closest she can ever be to her truest self.
There are lots more. There's a whole bunch in evening dresses. :-) I will post them soon.