What is a Folly?

"A costly structure demonstrating the foolhardiness of its builder." is how the Encyclopedia of the Exquisite describes a folly and is largely true, but I think of it as more romantic than that - which is why I had Hamish Buchanan from "Highland Heat" have one on his property in The Highlands.  They were often built as little palaces to bring a smile to a lovers face, even though they weren't all that habitable.

My cutie and I frequently visit Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden in Ripon, Yorkshire, England and it has a few follies dotted around the extensive site.  The one in the picture below is the best preserved and easiest to peak through the windows.  In case you're wondering, it would make a lovely reading nook.

One of the ultimate folly dabblers is King Ludwig of Bavaria with his Neuschwanstein Castle, which literally translates to "new-swan-stone".  It was built to resemble a 13th century palace like those found in a German folktale about a German prince who morphed into a swan, but Ludwig went a bit wild on the details:

By the way, Neushchwanstein, in case you don't already know, is the model for Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland.

"It took fourteen carpenters more than four years to complete the carving in his bedroom alone.  A trapdoor in teh dining room allowed the table to be lowered into the kitchen and set while the servants remained out of sight.  The throne room was decorated in fantasy Bysantine style.  A stalactite grotto off of Ludwig's study came complete with a waterfall and an electric "moon" moving through its phases."

What is a Good Swing?

I've written a scene or two that involved a swing - "Highland Heat" and "An Invitation to the World: China" come to mind - and the Encyclopedia of the Exquisite tells where the inspiration for such a device came from, at least it has to my writing.

"A suspended seat that oscillates backward and forward." is the brief description and pretty much states the basics, but the good stuff is in the details.

"In this diversion there are very many pretty shrieks, not so much for fear of falling off as taht their petticoats should untie," The Specatator noted in 1712.  "The lover who swings his lady is to tie her clothes very close together with his hat band before she admits him to throw up her heels."

Even better were the from Honore Fragonard who made swinging appear to be a bit of naughty foreplay.  Her skirts aren't tied and her lover is looking at her, um, dainty ankles and lovely legs.  Back in the day, The Swing [to the right] by Fragonard was denied entrance into England, but it now hangs in that country's Wallace Collection.

What are Painted Ladies?

I'm betting they probably aren't what you think they are.  In the Encyclopedia of the Exquisite by Jessica Kerwin Jenkins they are described as "Made-up muses who sat for prominent artists in the 1920's."

The two women she puts in this category are Alice Prin [Kiki de Montparnasse] and Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven.  They were wild model-muses who played their roles with "guts, gusto, and striking originality, never forgetting the powerful effect of the unusual makeup."

Montparnasse modeled for artists, mainly nude, but got into her stride when she moved in with Man Ray as lover and muse for his work.  The artist took over her making her up and it's been described thusly:

"Before they went out for the night, Man Ray shaved Kiki's eyebrows, then replaced them with glued-on designs - sometimes cut like the accent over the Spanish n.  Her eyelids might be cobalt blue one day and copper the next, while her searing red lips "blazed agaisnt the plaster-white of her cheeks on which a single beauty spot was placed, with consummate art, just under one eye."

The baroness took things a bit further in Greenwich Village.  Artist George Biddle remembered meeting Elsa in 1917 and described the meeting in great detail.

"Over the nipples of her breasts were two tin tomato cans fastened with a green string around her back.  Between the tomato cans hung a very small bird cage and within it a crestfallen canary.  One arm was covered from wrist to shoulder with celluloid curtain rings, pilfered from a furniture display in Wanamaker's.  She removed her hat, trimmed with gilded carrots, beets, and other vegetables.  Her hair was close cropped and dyed vermillion."

Seriously, Lady Gaga has a long way to go before she's even in the same ballpark as these two Jazz age ladies!