The hair and makeup were done by Christiana Milton, the proprietor of Facade, a service providing fantasy and glamor makeovers; you can see a before-and-after of this effort here.

The hair is done in finger waves and pincurls, involving a whole lot of industrial-strength gel and a long time under the hair dryer.

For the makeup, she went for the heavy theatrical makeup used for black-and-white films and photos, with the aim being to turn me into a Joan Crawford-style vamp. She succeeded beautifully.

The dress is a vintage late-'30s bias-cut silk velvet gown with a black organza yoke. The coat, black velvet with rabbit-fur collar, is also vintage, though I'm not sure of the exact period. The Art Deco necklace and earrings are my own creation, made of black and clear Czech crystal beads and black and silver rhinestone rondelle spacers.

Photo copyright 2000 Christiana Milton. Used with permission.