Links post: 18th century Danish face-coverings, Tom Hiddleston & Michelle Dockery: time travelers, Alexander McQueen's "Alien" shoes, and more.

The above picture is from Trine Søndergaard's photo series on strude, the complex scarves and hoods worn by 18th century women on the small Danish island of Fano to protect their faces from the elements. There's a full gallery of these photos at her website -- stunning, and quite the most interesting alternative to a balaclava that I've ever seen.

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Not precisely fashion, but definitely clothing: Iceland's necropants. Magic trousers made from... human skin. I wish I'd known about this when I was in Iceland! It sounds like the best museum ever.

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Alexander McQueen is known for beautifully bizarre couture, and for me this particular work of his is a real delight. I wish I'd known about it last week, in fact -- shoes inspired by the movie Alien:

Picture from HERE.

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A small follow-up on Chanel's show last month (reviewed here): Esteemed fashion journalist Robin Givhan was apparently relegated to the cheap seats because she gave a less-than-good review to Lagerfeld's last collection.

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Johanna Blakley: Lessons from Fashion's Free Culture. In the light of the current obsession among lawmakers for idiotic piracy/copyright legislation, this 15-minute TED lecture is particularly interesting. Fashion straddles the line between commercial production and artform, yet has incredibly leniant copyright law. Proof, perhaps, that embracing remix culture is a good idea?

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I'm loving this Time Magazine photoshoot with Tom Hiddleston (Loki from Thor/The Avengers) and Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary from Downton Abbey). It's... an intriguing mix of beautiful, London-based retrofuturism plus a couple of quite baffling outfits on Michelle. Click through to the article -- there's a video! It's supposedly about time travel so I'm 100% onboard, although it's not exactly Oscar-winning stuff. If you like the idea of hearing Tom Hiddleston drawl poshly about the apocalypse while Michelle Dockery sneers at him from beneath a silver pillbox hat, then I definitely recommend it.

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I capture the period pieces. A blog dedicated to the beauty of period and costume dramas, found while I was trawling Tumblr for Upstairs/Downstairs screencaps to feed my hopeless love for that show. It's just so... hilarious, and posh, and British, and... honestly, a lot more thoughtful and less overwrought than Downton Abbey, a show I generally love to hate. Check out this clip from the next episode (particularly the Duke of Kent, the chap in the admiral's hat).