1. Bruce Davidson 2. Fionamclaren 3. Highwaygirl67 4. Unknown source 5. Bruce Davidson 6. Kevin C. Downs Photography 7. fashion156.com 8. Nicole Patricia Palina
I’ve always been tremendously inspired by the circus life and all the people who live it. I remember going to the circus as a child, the smell when you enter, the music and the candy. And then; all the glitter and glam, the wow! and the moments when you don’t even dare to breathe in fear of disturbing a dangerous act. I remember sitting there wanting to be the one to fly high up in the trapeze, to be the star! Or I secretly wanted to grow up to be an elephant trainer or being able to take my legs over my head. None of that really happened, of course. But it was an inspiring dream with an important message: You can be anything you want to be!
How to materialize it:
1. Wear those sequins. Dare to be a little sparkly, to be the star of the crowd. Dress up like a circus princess! Or find inspiration in your favorite pantomime outfit; black and white and stripy. Or what about wearing a suit and a hat like the circus director?
2. Learn a new skill. There are a lot of circus schools out there now. Sign up for a class! I’m sure you won’t regret it! Learning something new can be very rewarding, but remember, you have to practice a lot! If you can’t take classes, I recommend learning to juggle or to do tricks with your bicycle, on rollerblades or maybe read cards? Invite your friends for a show and have fun!
3. Volunteer for a circus. If you’re really into circus life, call your favorite circus and ask if you can volunteer to care for the animals for the summer! Worth a try, right?
If you can’t get enough of vintage circus photos, I recommend watching the tv series Carnivale!
beautiful pictures!! I checked out that link you gave me from Susannah & Alica, hmm the sites are almost identical. tsk tsk !! very suspicious
Gorgeous circus photos! I love all the fun and colours associated with circuses.
Oooh, I love the first, fourth, and last photos! Such gorgeousness. Circus/carnival inspired fashion makes me drool.
So funny you said that about Carnivale, because we (my husband & I) were literally just trying to watch it but the disc we rented is all scratched up. We’ll have to take it back to Blockbuster to get it resurfaced and hopefully we’ll get to enjoy some costume goodness tomorrow!
I love your blog, and I love the things you post. But do you have any idea of how poorly circus animals are treated? How they are taken out of their natural habitat and abused. It’s a very simple concept— none of us would like to be taken from our homes and what is natural to us to be made to do inane tricks, as slaves. It isn’t pretty or whimsical. I’m not attacking you by any means— I thought the same of circuses until I investigated and read some studies and watched undercover video of how the animals are treated. It’s just plain sad.
Holly, thank you for putting focus on this important issue! I am by no means promoting abusive and bad treatment of animals. However, I can’t help being fascinated of circus elephants, because that’s where I first saw elephants as a child. Now, circus would be just as inspirational and exciting without the animals involved, as it’s all about the glitter and glam for me! :)
I agree! I love circuses as well. They are often the focus of my writing— there are so many enchanting things about the circus.