24 February 2015

Hats. From every day to every so often.

My grandmother wouldn't go out to the local shops without a hat. My mother had a hat to go with most outfits...along with gloves, shoes and a scarf. It was very much a part of being well dressed to have a hat on for coffee mornings, lunch in town, garden fetes, attending school functions or going to a wedding, christening or funeral.
Gran was born an Edwardian, so hats were an every day thing for her. Even as an old lady she would not go anywhere without one. She adhered to the rule that you kept your hat on while out, even when inside a friends home. If she helped at jumble sales, she and all the other ladies kept their hats on..often as not accessorized with a wraparound pinny.
Best hats were kept in tissue and one or two were so 'best' that they were found still in tissue paper unworn when she died.
Mother didn't wear a hat to the shops, but did to the smart things.She always had gloves..she even knew her glove size ....in 2017 that sounds other worldly.
Church was definitely the place for a hat. Sundays of course...plus the hatched matched and dispatched times.
I had a brief flirtation with a floppy felt hat in the 70s, but as with scarves as head coverings ( see A Scarf By Any Other Name 23/2/15), it would not stay on and I could never get used to looking out from under the brim. Not so much a  women of mystery, more no peripheral vision.
Slinky types wore berets. Fascinators arrived and do not seem to want to leave. Tiny hats that look as if they are from the dressing up box, or as if a small plate has had a stiff bow stuck on it and then afixed to the front of ones head seem to have colonised weddings. Saw a photo of a man in a top hat with a veil this week. It looked good. I did try a large brimmed straw confection for summer sun, but again,see floppy hat/scarf problems.
From grans cloches to mothers straws (with a matching fabric band to her dress) to me now. I wear a woolly hat in the garden mainly to keep my hair out of my eyes, but that's it. But I do like hat pins.

23 February 2015

A scarf by any other name


Would surely be just as useful. I have a lot of scarves.
Long ones. Short ones. Lots of glittery ones.Vintage jewels of fragility and muted colour. Strong solid blocks of primary colours. Prints of flowers, abstracts and geometric designs. Woven with tinsel, edged with fringes and beads and bells. Some have tiny mirrors in them. One has a huge plastic diamond hung between two pieces of plastic gold. So much to drape, tie, twist or arrange on one shoulder.
They can keep your neck warm, hide your less than flat tum and finish off a colour scheme without having to do more than sit there. I have a black silk square, with a hand rolled hem. I always feel more soigné with it knotted loosely round my neck. It never stays tied, but slithers gracefully down and off...one day it will go where all scarves and odd gloves go, never to be seen again.
Long scarves that go round and round your neck are fun. Does anyone else find crumbs in the folds when you take them off?
If you are anywhere hot enough to go out in the evening in a sleeveless dress, how much more dressy/romantic/classy does it feel to have a huge scarf worn as a wrap?
If it is very very cold, a woolly scarf worn high up over your mouth is very comforting and snug.
I have never mastered the scarf worn as headcovering trick. Either there are a lot of hair clips being used that I'm not aware of, or I have very slippery hair.
You used  to see women coming out of the hairdressers with a chiffon scarf tied loosely round their newly set hair. Long time since I 've spotted one of those. But I did see a clear plastic rainhood being worn recently.
The old ways never really go away. Chiffon scarves will come around again soon I expect and we will all be wearing one.Think I'll pass on the plastic rain hood though.

20 February 2015

A handbag to hug

While I'm on this accessories strand, lets talk about handbags. They are a fashion delight. Even when a dress wont go over your hips or trousers just make you want to cry, a handbag will never let you down. You can always get them in your size. You can wear them across your body, over your shoulder or wrist, strapped to your back or just cuddled up close. They (usually) have room for everything you want to put in them. A word of warning though. Going down the bigger bag upgrade route can result in back, shoulder and wallet strain. Although never being short of a tissue, lip salve, spare carrier bag, phone charger, notebook, diary, mints and a safety pin does have its compensations.
The thought of having a different bag to go with a different outfit is fine in the abstract. When it comes to it, how often do you think you cant be bothered to change it all over? I can remember looking forward to growing up and using small gold or velvet evening bags like the ones I saw my mother use for that lost institution called  'A Dinner Dance'. By the time I was older my idea of an evening bag was an orange woven shoulder bag from Greece...ah. adolescence.
How long have bags had mobile phone pockets as standard? Until I got a phone I kept a packet of tissues in mine. Then I got a phone. But by then phones had got really small and it kept falling out of the pocket. Progress? Not really. I kept thinking it was lost/stolen. And there was the 'Is that mine' dilemma when a ringtone was heard and you had to scrabble about in the bottom of your bag to find the phone. But it was a great way to find sharp objects really quickly.

Handbags can be much more than just receptacles. Have a look at

A significant relationship ? Women and their handbag.

Women and their handbags. Part 2

and see what I mean.

Next. Scarves. The one fashion item that always fits, hides a multitude of sins and you can have loads without having to sell your handbag collection to buy more. (Unless you have a serious silk habit)

19 February 2015

Shoes. Worn a little or a lot.

I've still got my wedding shoes.
I can detect a theme here. Last post had a wedding dress in there. Now it's shoes.

(Anyone have any comments on the V&A wedding dress Exhibition ? Were there too many concept and sample gowns and not enough dresses representative of a brides choice? Do tell)

The most comfortable shoes have the shortest life, as the equation
Comfy+no rubbing+go with most things = worn out quickly proves.

I was complimented on my pair of leopard patterned ankle boots recently and was delighted to be able to say in return how comfortable they were. My complimenter (could be new word not sure) replied that you didn't often see boots that were....short pause whilst non defamatory word sought...fashionable and that were easy to wear. The lady did make me feel good. Unexpected and unsolicited compliments will do that every time.

Back to the wedding shoes. They are 40 years old and are a far cry from the white satin beaded crystal embellished pumps that are today's must haves. They were once white, now yellowing, shiny PVC. Cross over bow front, ankle straps and small heels with a slight platform sole. I remember wearing them for a job interview after I was married..(not with the dress as well. Felt that that would be a bit OTT)  I got the job. Whether the shoes helped I cannot say.

Venerable espadrilles go on and on. Special beaded toed slippers last because I only wear them on special occasions. I have some gorgeous long leather boots. I don't even wear them on special occasions as they don't zip up any more. Leg problem. Not zip problem.

Mainly I keep mules. Not the......No. Cant bring myself to type anything about 4 legs or donkeys.
Slip on mules with a soft wedgie bit are bliss. If we have a summer this year I look forward to wearing them again. They sit in their clear plastic shoe boxes on a top shelf waiting patiently for a sun beam to pierce the dust...I'm getting poetic. Time to stop.

18 February 2015

Vintage fashion or just stuff you have kept a long time?

I keep some clothes for years because I like them and they still fit. Some clothes have a special meaning..my wedding dress fits neatly into that category. Other things I've kept are more niche in their appeal. I know that I will never mend the huge rip in my black jeans, but they are the only pair of trousers that never needed turning up..proving somewhere that there are people with my leg length. There is no doubt that clothes are not as age specific as they once were. I feel that leggings and les femmes d'un certain âge can be a statement. Mainly one of comfort and sometimes one of tension...in the fabric.
I have jumpers and cardigans that tend to go down the 'not worn for a while' pile as Fleeces ..lighter to wear,easier to wash, rise through the ranks. Zips are better than buttons....solves the 'Have I got the buttons done up properly or is one side longer than the other? dilemma.
Other clothes like summer dresses wait patiently at the end of the rail. Surely 1976 won't be the last hot summer in England? Will I ever again wear a summer frock and sandals and a white cardigan?
Trousers came of age when three quarter length legs were OK. No more matching the length of your flares to the ground...or just covering the top of your shoe enough.
My stuff is original vintage, simply because I've kept it for a long time.
Now people are wearing flares again. Last year you couldn't move (literally in some cases ) for tripping over the hem of a maxi dress. What is this? Is time moving backwards or has the memory of designers reset itself to year zero...or 1970? So when will the 'new ' vintage become old vintage? In 50 years will there be a choice of a 1970s maxi dress or a 2014 one? I expect so. Lots more of the latter I expect as 1970s cotton has not lasted as well as it might. But I wore 1940s platform shoes in 1970 and thought that they were fab....plus ça costume change as someone might have said.
But 'Shoes I Have Kept' is a story for another day......