SalonCon

August 24, 2006 11:22 AM

Salon Convention is not geared towards any one particular subset of people, but anyone who is interested in pursuing salons and leisure activities typically associated with the Victorian time period.
posted by Squid Voltaire (7 comments total)

As they say, not for everyone (so save yer snark), but there's croquet, BPAL, a masked ball, parlor games, &c., as well as beautiful people in gorgeous costume. I expect to see a lot of lace, velvet and corsetry.
posted by Squid Voltaire at 11:22 AM on August 24, 2006

It looks kinda creepy, there are a lot of authentic Victorian attitudes and behaviors that are not easy to mimic - racism, misogyny, colonialism (white man's burden), the "falleness problem".
posted by stbalbach at 12:56 PM on August 24, 2006

They admit that they aren't trying to be "realistic," so this Victorianist will cut them some slack :) More pedantically, though, while salons like Caroline Norton's played an important part in Victorian political and cultural life, it's not a "Victorian" conversational form--the salon's heyday was in the Enlightenment, particularly in France. Salons were conventionally run by women, the salonnieres (in England, those intellectual women nicknamed the Bluestockings). Apparently, the salons were responsible for reviving the fortunes of the fairy tale.
posted by thomas j wise at 2:31 PM on August 24, 2006

Croquet is a brilliant game, though a great deal of the charm is playing outside in a lovely garden.
posted by jb at 4:01 PM on August 24, 2006

A friend of mine used to rent a house with a croquet lawn. The happy memories! Croquet is pure evil behind its genteel facade. A golden afternoon spent whacking other people's balls out of the way with restrained glee and a small tumbler of gin. Marvellous stuff.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 4:24 PM on August 24, 2006

I always need to drink a tumbler of gin before I let someone whack my balls.
posted by Astro Zombie at 4:44 PM on August 24, 2006

Actually, it sounds kind of awesome. The website design seems more suited to the cover of one of those Victorian-themed S&M erotica paperbacks though.
posted by Jess the Mess at 12:53 PM on August 25, 2006