Stunning Hogwarts-themed dresses are high fashion magic

Why don dress robes for a Hogwarts ball when you can dazzle your fellow witches and wizards with a showstopping gown? Costume designer Cavalyn exercises the Muggle magic of clothing design with these four gowns, each inspired by one of the Harry Potter Hogwarts houses.Cavalyn, who is known as ~DistantDream on deviantART, used the house animals and characteristics as a launching point for each of her gowns. The Slytherin dress is sleek and rich with a serpentine pattern. The lion-fringed Gryffindor resembles an adventurer's traveling cloak. The Hufflepuff dress, with badger fur capped sleeves, is fashion-forward without being showy, while the Ravenclaw dress is dramatic with its feather-like fabric and unexpected geometry.
Given that Cavalyn sews as well as sketches dresses, perhaps we'll be seeing physical versions of her designs some time in the future. In the meantime, you can see larger versions of the individual dresses in addition to her other fashion designs at deviantART.A deepening drought in the nation's farm states has cut further into this fall's harvest, with farmers now expected to pull from their fields the lowest corn yield in more than a decade.Modern Manners + Etiquette: Hipster Wedding Dress Codes + More.But American farmers are still expected to produce their eighth-largest harvest ever, and while there's sure to be a rise in prices at the grocery stores, there's little risk of a failed harvest that would lead to shortages on the shelves.The U.S. Agriculture Department predicted the nation's biggest harvest ever in the spring, when farmers planted 96.4 million acres of corn - the most since 1937. But it cut its estimate a month ago and again Friday, saying it now expects the nation to produce 10.8 billion bushels, the least since 2006.
If that estimate holds, the federal government says it will be enough to meet the world's needs and ensure there are no shortages. But experts say food prices will almost certainly climb as corn is a widely used ingredient found in everything from cosmetics to cereal, colas and candy bars.The drought stretching across the U.S. from Ohio west to California is deepest in the middle of the country, and major farm states like Iowa and Illinois are seeing conditions get worse each week. Farmers credit advances in seed technology that have produced hardier, more drought-tolerant corn for any harvest at all.The USDA's latest estimate predicts corn farmers will average 123.4 bushels per acre, down 24 bushels from last year in what would be the lowest average yield in 17 years. But the yield would still be as good as nearly a decade ago, when the average was about 129 bushels in a year without drought.