Before I left for Italy, I planned a fashion meeting around visiting The Institute Library in New Haven, CT to experience the library itself as well as the Forecast divination themed art show in The Gallery Upstairs that I was an artist in. The Institute Library is Connecticut's oldest independent circulating library, and one of the last remaining membership libraries in North America. It was founded in 1826, and its mission is to fulfill its historical purpose of "mutual assistance in the attainment of useful knowledge" for its Members and the New Haven community at large through literature, civil discourse, and the arts. It's free to visit it during open hours and they have a big bowl of candy. The library offers several free talks as well as low cost concerts in the evenings sometimes. If you become a member, you can take out the books as well as participate in their weekly programs like Low Key Bridge and Friday Night Jazz in the vinyl listening library. 

Having already visited the library twice before this meeting, I knew that my main fashion prompt for the group was  going to be to dress in dark academia style. Dark Academia is a literary internet aesthetic and subculture concerned with higher education, the arts, literature, or an idealized version thereof. The aesthetic is focused on boarding school uniforms, interior design, activities such as writing, poetry, ancient art, classic literature, well as classical Greek and Collegiate Gothic architecture. The fashion of the 1930's and 1940's such as cardigans, blazers, dress shirts, plaid skirts, oxford shoes and clothing made of houndstooth and tweed with a color palette consisting mainly of black, white, beige, browns, dark green and navy blue. The subculture draws on idealized aesthetics of higher education and academia, with books and libraries featuring prominently. The subculture tends to romanticize the finding of beauty and poetry in dark themes. Classic works of literature that inspire the aesthetic include The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and poetry from Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. 

The secondary fashion prompt was to wear an outfit that included border prints or accessories that fit with the Divination exhibition theme. The color palette still leaned in the darker/autumnal direction like dark academia, but members were encouraged to explore outfits with prints and accessories that depict divination tools like tarot cards, palmistry, astrology, or gothic undertones like skull faced cameos and ornate rings. 

Now believe it or not, this was one of the first times that I made a meeting and I had absolutely not a clue as to what I was going to wear. I knew that my wardrobe had the colors required to pull off dark academia, but how was I going to put it together? I always try to challenge myself to make something unique and not repeat a coordinate and I'm proud of myself for this one. 

The base layer is a JSK from Chinese indie brand YingLuoFu. The dress has a print of a study for a classical oil painting probably made around the Baroque era of an earlier time period's victory military parade. If you look closer at the plaque in the middle, it says Fortuna in Latin. The Wheel of Fortune is one of the Major Arcana in the tarot divination system, and classical art is part of the dark academia aesthetic. So I effectively met both fashion prompts, but the majority of my coordinate is still dark academia as I am still reading as a student rather than a romanticized divination reader.  Other ways I tied in the student aesthetic include the ivory bishop sleeved blouse with the neck tie and brooch under a fitted brown double breasted vest. I am wearing dark brown suede oxfords and a matching wool beret. For accessories I am wearing a long bronze necklace with a clock dial and a dark brown satchel style purse with the cogs and dials of clock that can be turned. My outerwear is hooded mid length dark green double breasted wool cloak, which is similar looking to what nurses wore in the 1940's.  It kept me warm on a very windy day!

Where I looked like a student of a boarding school, Barbara looked like one of the professors. She is wearing a long black skirt with a cream colored button down blouse with an amazing tweed blazer over it all. She has subtle pins attached to her blazer, and a pearl necklace with a large hanging pendant balancing nicely with the other colors and textures. The round metal glasses and the light brown felted hat speak of someone who has traveled the world (whether literally or through acquired knowledge) and you won't even know class is over because you will be so engaged in the story of her experience. 

I love to see a good Ouji (prince style) coordinate and Johanna really pulls it off quite well. They are wearing a long sleeved white ruffle stand collar blouse with black ruffle bloomers. Over both the blouse and the bloomers is a long black vest that cinches at the waist. A stellar red lace jabot with a large skeleton cameo and ties hangs at the neck. There are also other cameo pins on the lapels of their vest. They have black lace wrist cuffs and a black wool hat with accessories that match the red accents in their coordinate.  Professor or student, I'm not sure. They could easily be both!

Cole looks like she stepped out of the set of the Netflix show Wednesday. Her coordinate is more modern looking, but follows the Dark Academia aesthetic of the plaid skirt with a dark colored top and a long black brocade military style coat. Accessories include high black boots with ruffled knee socks, a black choker, and a Book of Spells crossbody purse.  

Jenna's coordinate definitely towed the line between student of magic and divination and librarian with a mysterious past. The dress she is wearing is Magical Artefact Ribbon JSK by Japanese brand Metamorphose. This was a very popular dress at this meeting---3 people were wearing it and one had the matching purple color way! The printed design on this dress includes books, cats, candles, stars, and writing with a witches/magic theme. Jenna repeated the stars in her hair accessories as well as in her over the knee socks. She also incorporates a gothic leaning theme with a bird skull framed necklace and a skeleton hand with black rose corsage attached to her black wool beret. 

Jax similarly pairs the Magical Artefact JSK with a black long sleeved blouse and black shoes. They are also wearing glasses with a decorative eyeglass chain. They are carrying a satchel with a luna moth theme on it. 

Colleen has purple hair like Jenna, but is wearing the green version of Magical Artefact. She has large round metal framed glasses, a black and a gold grimoire style book cross body bag. She has kept the rest of her accessories black with subtle silver accents so the focus is truly on the print of the dress.

I was surprised at the number of people who showed up for the meeting. After we took a series of candids and individual photos with Athina, we perused the gallery space and then the volunteer that day gave us a tour of the library which included how it is organized, how to use the card catalog, the kinds of collections in each part of the library, and the really special bathroom with the hand carved wooden toilet seat. Some of us took on a side quest to Strange Ways afterwards for unique patches, pins, and gifts and then ended our day at Claire's Corner-Copia, a well known casual vegetarian restaurant with a flair for meeting a variety of dietary needs.  It was such a wonderful day and I definitely introduced several people to the library who had apparently walked by it for years and/or never knew it existed!

From February 7, 2026-March 29th, 2026, I had the pleasure of having my most recent works of art in Forecast: Reading the Signs Art Exhibition at The Gallery Upstairs in The Institute Library in New Haven, CT. The show was curated by Martha Willette Lewis and it was my very first in person group show featuring some of the tarot prints, Other World prints, and my Norse Rune Zine. This particular show was about artworks invoking divination, and all of my most recent work IS related to divination. The timing, location, and type of work requested felt heaven sent. One of my personal goals in the past four years has been to move from the craft show/vending circuit to having my work in a gallery, so this was an important first step to getting into more galleries. 

Martha selected artists from all levels whether it be emerging artists or established artists for the show. Thirty artists were in the show total, and I wasn't sure what to submit or if there was a limit, but Martha encouraged me to submit as much as I wanted. I selected Equinox II, Mother, and Dragon Moon from my Other World's Series, The World and The Devil from my Major Arcana Series, and The Norse Rune Zine, which I allowed visitors to pick up and touch. 

The opening of the exhibition was one of the coldest days of 2026 that I can remember. It was about -10 degrees Fahrenheit with the windchill that evening, and while we had periods of snow melt, there was still plenty of ice and snow piled around parking spaces in downtown New Haven. I wanted to dress up for the occasion, but what to wear on such a bitterly cold evening?

I layered a stand collar black victorian style long sleeve blouse under a blue velvet ruffle dress with black fleece lined tights and dark brown fur lined boots. I put my hair into two side front hanging braids, and wrapped ivory colored ribbons around them to protect them from the wind. I wore my Mystic Eye necklace, faux fur hat (ivory with black highlights), a cool blue makeup look, and my trusty black crown and studded satchel. Of course I wore a long black wool coat over everything as well as cashmere lined leather gloves while outside. I never actually took my hat off the entire time. It was I suppose an essential part of the look, and the gallery upstairs wasn't that warm, especially at night, so it all worked out. 

Martha asked each of the artists to bring a food item to share for the opening ceremony and also requested it to be on theme with the exhibition. I made gluten-free Gingerbread cookies. Just the sort of thing that will warm you up on a frigidly cold winter night. I pride myself on my unique cookie cutter collection, and used my crystal balls, book of spells, and gingerdead men for the occasion. 

The artwork in the exhibition was so unique. During the Opening, I was able to talk to many of the artists in the show and ask others about their interpretations of the cards or prints in my work.

One of my favorite pieces was a needle point by artist Marsha Borden. It was a play on palmistry and what different lines and fingers mean in a modern context. I thought it was very clever.

Artist Nadine Nelson was doing divination readings with her Adrinka Divination deck, and one of the cards from this deck was also on the wall between the windows. She had such an inviting presence. 

Several artists submitted various card decks or examples of some of the cards that they had designed. 

There were also other collages as well as a few three-dimensional art pieces, one of which was a converted monopoly board into a spontaneously intuitive comment to the player to your immediate left. The artist showed me how to play the game, which was a somewhat complicated compendium of different divination tools and techniques. It involved selecting a spiritual looking marker like a laughing Buddha, using a skull pendulum to determine what direction to start, using a planchette to decide on which square to start on, rolling the dice to indicate how many spaces to move, selecting an action card if prompted, holding the card on your forehead facing the other players in the game, and telling the player to your left the first thing that pops up in your head. I was admittedly still trying to wrap my head around the order of the directions, so I told the person to my left something I was thinking of earlier that evening. 

Martha had also already planned a Closing Ceremony at the end of March, and had asked artists if they wanted to contribute to activities for attendees during the event such as offering readings, reciting poetry, or giving a presentation. I volunteered to do Rune stone readings with my illustrated Elder Futhark Zine.  The end of March was still cold, but not bitterly so, and I was able to wear the dress I initially envisioned for the opening to it. 

I paired a navy blue dress with gold flocked starts and moons from Chinese indie brand Souffle Song, with a cool gray princess sleeve blouse with a ruffle collar, very light blue diamond tights, a black hat with black and blue roses and silver hardware, black and silver accent boots, and a variety of jewelry including a gold necklace with divination symbols (like the crystal ball, tarot card, a hand), an evil eye bracelet, silver ornate earrings with a blue stone, a smoky quartz ring, lapis lazuli, labradorite, and azurite beaded bracelets, and a decorative gothic black and gold bracelet with ring extension. I felt a little bit like I was channeling Stevie Nicks between having long blond hair, the dramatic sleeves of my blouse, and the shorter black top hat. I am wearing the bounded hem Nolaria petticoat with this dress, and it is the first time that the bottom ruffles and bustle details really stand out in comparison to other times I have worn it.  

During the Closing Ceremony, Donald Brown recited poems that went along with each of his tarot cards above. He said that the poems were written in the 90's, and later he did the paintings that were inspired by the poems. I later gave him a Rune stone reading and he purchased one of my zines to to familiarize himself (again) with the stones. 

I originally illustrated all of the Elder Futhark in order to learn the meanings of the stones in about a week. The imagery I selected is a combination of simple recognizable symbols, Norse mythology, and Tarot inspired imagery based on the meanings of the divinatory system. I  used to think that it was somewhat random and might be hard for people to use or understand, but seeing all the different work in the show helped me realize that a lot of the artists and guests were already familiar with tarot and it was a good jumping point to learn more.  

Most of the other artists in the show volunteered to do tarot or oracle card readings, but I was the only person offering Rune stones. Most of the people I did readings for, it was their first time using Rune stones. I did about 6 or 7 one stone readings in the 90 minutes allotted for this activity, and then Martha transitioned the remaining guests to Kate Laity's presentation on tarot imagery and its origins. Before Tarot became a system for divination, it was a nobleman's game coming from Persia through northern Italy, into many of the symbols and inspired illustrations we recognize today. There was apparently a huge tarot exhibition going on at that time in Venice, Italy (just missed it while we were attending Carnivale), but the exhibit is coming to NYC this summer through part of October and it is my plan to see it! 

I was so honored to be part of the Forecast exhibition along so many talented artists in the local community. I also fell in love with The Institute Library itself so much so that I ended up hosting a meeting for my fashion group to the library while the exhibition was still up. Stay tuned for that in the next blog post!

The Caravaggio was incredible to see up close and from above in a small prayer chapel. They also had a cast of the main subjects and motifs in the painting that you could touch. I saw details in the cast that I had not perceived in the painting alone nor the very small photograph of it in my college art history textbook.

We managed to get to the train station before the sky opened up. We had difficulty with the ticket machines, so we used the ticket counter and help desk inside Napoli Centrale to buy our tickets for the local Regionale train.  It wasn't too far from Napoli Centrale, but it definitely went a lot slower than the Frecciarossa train and there were a lot of short local stops. Eventually we emerged out of a train station in a quiet suburban area with very little parking spaces for vehicles and no additional public transportation listed anywhere.  We had to wait a little bit, but Maria Pia picked us up. Her dad was with her in the car, and we got to meet him a little informally. She was dropping him off somewhere as well, but he wanted to meet us on the way. Then we went straight to Zane Abbigliamento, her mother's boutique. 

Inside, we were immediately greeted by their three maltese dogs. They immediately took to Pahl, who gave them tremendous levels of attention. 

While this was going on, they also had customers coming in (as they were open a little later for Carnival), and another cousin stopped by just to say hello randomly. He had a dog with him too and immediately all the little dogs were very excited and would not stop barking until he left. We had also been using Google translate to help talk to each other. Meanwhile, I had mentioned that I was looking for a coat, because the winter coat I brought with me was 18 years old, and I wanted to update it. I tried on a couple of coats, and then they straight out gifted me this gorgeous tweed coat. Mind you, it was the only coat that would fit me in the store (see Venice blog post for why I'm large/XL in Italian sizing).

A few hours later, Maria Pia and her mother gave us a driving tour of their hometown, Aversa. It has 29 Catholic churches, and we had another cousin who was a priest at one of those churches. He had just passed last year in his mid 90's.  Maria Pia was the only bilingual one in this adventure, so she was doing a lot of translating back and forth from Italian to English. Eventually we ended the evening with amazing pizza at a restaurant in Aversa. I don't think anyone in that restaurant spoke English, so we would have been entirely lost without Maria Pia. 

Going to Naples and meeting my Italy family for the first time was exciting and new but also not that surprising. A lot of the mannerisms and way people communicate with each other outside of the language barrier are exactly the same as with my mom's side of the family in the USA. The random family visits with no prior notification, the passionate talk of politics and history and culture and the five things going on at once at any given time were all very familiar situations for me.

It made me really want to go back and study Italian in more depth, so that I could communicate better with everyone, whether it be other 18th-century fashion enthusiasts in Venice or my family in Naples.  Next time I go to Italy, I will have waterproof shoes, a custom sized 18th-century dress, and a better command of the spoken language. 

After a three-year hiatus from international travel, in February 2026, Pahl and I embarked on a new fashion journey across the Atlantic Ocean to Venice, Italy to wear historical 18th-century fashions during one of the biggest cultural events in the world. Carnevale di Venezia, is famous for its elaborate costumes and masks. The event lasts roughly two weeks and concludes on Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday (the day before the Catholic season of Lent starts). The Carnival traces its origins to the Middle Ages, existing for several centuries until it was abolished in 1797. The tradition was revived in 1979, and the modern event now attracts approximately 3 million visitors annually. 

It has always been Pahl's dream to wear 18th century historical fashion in such a big way, and luckily last year he reconnected with his college friend Helen, who is heavily involved in the 18th century historical fashion scene within Europe. She is very dedicated to this fashion and has commissioned several outfits and accessories to wear at various events. She met small groups of people organically by attending prior years of Carnivale and hanging out in full costume in St. Mark's Square. As long as you are wearing a full costume, you are considered a "mask", someone who has dressed up for the festival. All sorts of people, from other tourists to professional photographers will ask for your photograph. And it's a great way to meet other people from all over the world just as passionate about the fashion. 

Helen was able to connect us with Flavia, a wonderful woman fluent in many languages who happened to be hosting a series of private themed parties requiring 18th century historical fashion nearly every day of Carnevale. We managed to get into one of her events, the Ciocco Barocco, and was waitlisted for a second. Helen also took us as her guests to a private welcome event at Ca'Sagredo, which we also wore our costumes for. 

You might be wondering where and or how we acquired our costumes and if we rented them or not. Pahl purchased his custom tailored fit on Etsy from TheClassicNine, which is a shop in Florida, USA (so he didn't have to worry about import tariffs and fees). His pants, waistcoat, and tailcoat were all made of silk with embroidered floral designs. The seller included the neck jabot. He is wearing a wig that was custom styled by Tamara A.M. In this photo, the black shoes with the heavy gold buckles he sourced from The Historical Emporium. His cane, silver mask, and tricorn hat were all purchased from La Bauta that day. 

Atelier La Bauta is the quintessential location for all of your 18th century and beyond needs. They have costumes you can rent or purchase, all kinds of accessories, as well as a separate mask shop. Everything is hand made and all masks come with a certificate of production. Atelier La Bauta is also widely known as a Historical Costume Maker and has had their designs featured in Netflix, Red Notice, and House of Gucci. We wanted to do the best job we could with historical accuracy, so most of my costume is from La Bauta.

It is a handmade reproduction of an 18th-century historical costume made of damask fabric. It includes a decorated skirt, a dress with a fully lined cotton bodice reinforced with stiffened stays, a pannier with stiffened stays to hold the dress, a choker, and a handbag. It laces up the back. The total cost of this gown was about $2500.00. We had purchased the gown in December from them, as we did not know what events at that point we would be able to get tickets for and could not figure out how many days we would need to rent it for at the time. (If you rent it for 3 days, it nearly pays for the entire cost of the gown). Plus time was running out at that point to book a high quality rental in my size. (I suppose my size needs are somewhat medium in America, but I'm basically a Large/XL in Italy sizing, and there were only 2 dresses left to rent in my size at the time).

My cape was also purchased from La Bauta. It is a turquoise blue velvet cape that has a hood and ties around the neck.  I am also wearing historical embroidered pockets just above the pannier under the skirt. They are somewhat accessible in slits behind the velour green section of the front of the skirt. My wig was also designed and styled by Tamara A.M, who also made the green chandelier earrings. I had brought off white cloth embroidered shoes with me for the trip, but it rained so much everyday and the streets were flooded to the point that I was actually wearing beige leather oxfords under everything. (How scandalous!). You can't see them anyway, and they soaked completely through so I have an interesting design on my silk stockings now as well as a permanent darkened patina on my oxfords.

We know that Tamara did our wigs, but who did the makeup? I did! I had purchased the second from the lightest matte foundation from Revolution Cosmetics as my base. I studied portraits of Marie Antoinette to see which colors to apply for the eye makeup. My friend Barbara let me borrow a very pigmented coral blush from Nude Stix. The lipstick is a combination of a coral lipstick from Urban Decay and a pink lipstick from M.A.C., both discontinued colors. I darkened my eyebrows with an eyebrow pencil and drew a beauty mark on my upper left cheek with a eye pencil first, and then one of those liquid eye liners that has a brush type head. 

I had also brought with me a linen shift, early 18th century stays, and a cotton petticoat to wear with this gown, but I could only get the linen shift on under it, and nothing else would fit. The dress has some boning in it, but it did not lift me like my stays would have. I love all the details of this gown, but it did not fit me comfortably as a result. It kind of pushed hard on my hips and tummy and the full weight of the fit was around 14.5 pounds (6.5 kilos). I am still figuring out how to modify it. It could use a good hemming so it doesn't drag on the ground (you can see the subtle waterline from the streets at the bottom), and at the very least a longer and stronger cord up the back to make room for my other undergarments.  I honestly think that the main problem is that it is not a Custom fit gown, and was made to be a general M/L. Whoever they modeled it after was likely a little taller and a lot less busty. 

The first event we attended in costume was held at Ca'Sagredo, a five star luxury hotel  located between Ca'D'Oro and the Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal. This location was just a few stops away from where our hotel was on the Rialto side of the vaporetto line (water bus), so it was an easy ride and walk in costume to the venue. As I understand it, just a decade ago Ca'Sagredo was a crumbling 15-Century palace, and then some developers came in and fixed it up, a lot. The welcome event was held by a cultural group in the region and the only way you could attend was to have a sponsor and cash at the door. 

I really enjoyed this welcome event. Helen introduced us to some of her friends and then let us enjoy the party at our own pace. I didn't know what to expect except for the special hot chocolate, so we ate before hand, but they had lots of food as well as prosecco available as part of our ticket. Seats were few and far between, so I mostly stood around and complimented others on their costumes. Sometimes it would lead to a conversation and other times that would be it, as there did seem to be a certain level of language barrier. I realized that people from all over the world came to Venice to celebrate Carnevale, and English was no longer the default common language. I studied French in high school, but I believe Italian would be the best language of choice, in this circumstance. 

A few days later after the welcome event, we donned our costumes again for a dance focused event held at Hotel Monaco on the Grand Canal. Hotel Monaco is also a palace that was originally owned by the Dandolo family and was the location of the first public 'Ridotto' established in 1638. A Ridotto is a place where nobles along with adventurers, swindlers, travelers, etc gathered to gamble, enjoy the company of courtesans and develop their social and political contacts. Casanova himself considered it the ideal place for his conquests. Nowadays they've updated the place to show a nod to the its origins along with a stark minimalism, especially on the first floor.

Luckily, they did not update the second floor, which led to an elaborate and beautiful ballroom with side rooms and furniture. 

I was having a hard time at this event, not because of the event itself, but a series of circumstances that led up to it. I was nursing an intense lower lid eye infection in one eye, and we decided to walk to the hotel rather than taking the vaporetto.  We got a lost a bunch of times and the bottom of my gown and shoes and socks got soaked through again because of that.

At the event we presented ourselves to the hostess and host as a couple in a court would, and then we were instructed in a series of court dances from the 18th-Century. The dance mistress had initially addressed everyone in about 5 different languages, but again, the primary default was Italian. Eventually all the instruction was in Italian only, and I was having a hard time keeping up trying to understand the directions and learn the moves, despite them being tremendously easier than anything from the Regency era or our Dances of Bridgerton class.

During a few of the earlier dances, I somehow ended up without a partner at all to dance with right away. I don't know if it was my fault or if some folks had just bailed unevenly on the dance, but I was very sad to be left out. I stood out and watched the dancing for awhile and tried one more time to join a dance that involved two stationary partners and one traveling partner. I did okay, but it was more vigorous and I felt that my wig was going to fall off at almost any moment.  We ended up calling it quits early, and I felt bad about leaving, but I also just needed to rest to help heal my eyelid infection. 

The whole experience for me was a bit like being a sparkle pony at a burning man event. I had my costume in order for the most part, but I didn't know anything about the location and was definitely not prepared for the local weather. I'd been to Rome and Florence before, but Venice is a completely different way of life. There are no cars and even though it's a little pricy, you should just use the vaporetto (water bus) to get anywhere because if you think you can walk somewhere, it's probably not as direct as you or Google maps thinks it is. There is the main canal but also a bunch of other smaller canals that connect to it, so where logically you would expect a road, there's a canal and a staircase bridge that leads you to the other side of something, not necessarily connected to the immediate area you were trying to get to. Even native Italians get lost in Venice, it's just something that happens. But it was very frustrating as a first timer getting soaked in costume trying to get to an event on time. 

In fact, the waterproof boots I had brought with me to wear on the trip outside of my costume, the heel had self-destructed upon arrival and we spent half a day finding new boots for me as well as new luggage for Pahl. Not to say that I'm complaining about fine Italian leather goods because they truly have some of the best craftsmanship in the world, but it was not something that I had initially budgeted for in my trip. I also knew wearing 18th-century fashion for women was going to be a lot of cloth, accessories, and investment, but I didn't know how much. 

I would like to do Carnevale again, but differently. I now have waterproof boots to wear and a lot of wonderful accessories, but I either need to get the dress I have modified or a gown that is a custom fit so that I am not in pain to wear it. Also, I'll definitely refrain from bringing any eye palette that might be nearing its expiration. And maybe it would help if we stayed in an Air BnB or a larger hotel room.  Our hotel bathroom was thankfully huge, but that was the extent and I had to walk sideways in my costume to get anywhere else in our room.

This however is not the final story of our Italy trip. Stay tuned for Part 2: Fashion and Family in Napoli!!!