The Bowes Museum

On the same day I visited the Hadrian Wall I also visited the Bowes Museum. Next to a collection of paintings the museum houses many different aplied arts. They also have a collection of textile and dress. Excuse the poor quality of the photo´s they were made with my moblile phone without the use of flash. Because light is killing for textiles these exhibitions tend to bee rather dimly lit making the photo´s very blurred.

I was pleasantly surprized by three gowns by Madeleine Vionnet. I was delighted since Vionnet is one of my favorite 30´s designers.












The rest of the exhibition room was filled with a short ´timeline´of fashion history from the 18th through the 20th century. Eventhough this is an oldfashioned way of showing costume it worked well here. In a few big glass cases a rough scetch of the feel of different era´s was created not only with clothes but also with accessories and portrait paintings. The thing I noticed especially were the dummies that were used. They were hollow and made of see-through plastic, sometimes allowing the inside of the garments to show.

Hadrian Wall & the Lake District

The first day I visited the Hadrian Wall. Not that there was that much left of it but is was fun to walk aside it.



The next day we went to the Lake District. Nature was really wonderfull there. The photo was taken on a lovely walk.




We visited an Arts and Crafts house, Blackwell, from around the turn of the (19th to 20th)century. The living room was very light and airy with wonderfull lake views.

Rocking on the boat...................

A little more than two weeks ago my vacation to the UK started.
The fastest way to get to the north of England from Holland if you want to take your car with you is by boat.

So, after saying goodbye to my pet crow we started our trip to embark on the "king of Scandinavia" that was to take us to Newcastle.



The sea was a bit rough during the night, the boat was rocking:p. I was very happy I only had a light meal that evening for I was on the brink of getting sea-sick.

The ship was decorated with vintage posters.

Back home

It has been a while since I've last updated my blog. The reason for this is that I've been away on vaction for two weeks. I'd hoped to be able to update my blog regularly during this time but I wasn't. At the moment I'm staying with my parents for a few days and their outdated computer makes it impossible to upload ANY pictures :(. In two days I'll be back home again and upload pictures of all the beautifull things I've seen and ofcourse the dresses I wore.

Waiting for the train

I live near the beautiful railwaystation of Haarlem. For me this is a very important place. The nearest grocerystore, bookstore and hairdresser are all in this station. A few days ago I could even vote there. And I should not forget to mention it is the place where I catch the trains and busses that bring me to Amsterdam.
The station was built in the early 20th century and is still very much in the style of that period. That is why Haarlem Station also featured in many (historical) fims, often playing the part of Amsterdam Central Station.



The waitingrooms are gorgeous. When they are empty you feel like you traveled back in time for a moment.



The pictures show me waering a 40's velvet evening coat with satin lining(unfortunately the camera seemed out of focus that day so they are a bit blurry). The shoulders are square and very much pronouced. The design is very simple but elegant. The hat I'm wearing is made of straw with one pink silk flower. Another time I might tell a bit more about the hat for it is a most curious thing.

Light blue with pink flowers

Light blue with pink flowers, can any fabric have a sweeter print that that?
The colors of icecream and baby bedrooms. And also those of the dress Mme de Pompadour is wearing on one of the most famous portraits ever painted of her. In this painting by Boucher she is wearing a tafeta silk gown trimmed with pink flowers and sashes. Although this dress may seem dressy to us it was not meant to be worn on formal occasions. This character of informality seems to coincide with the combination of light blue and pink flowers.




An unwearable print you might say. Still I have two items in my wardrobe that are light blue with little pink flowers, awakening the five-year-old in me. Both items were never meant to be seen by any broader public than a possible lover.






At first there is this cute dress with smocked detailes. This 'dress is actually a nightgown from the 40's. A modern eye probably wouldn't notice this is a nightgown but there are definite signs. At first there is the material, the dress is made out of a certain kind of rayon that was only used for underwear underdresses and... nightgowns. The general style is also quite nightgownish,the loose fit and simple cut are for example much less usual in daily wear. And than there is the print light blue with pink flowers another indication of the dress being a nightgown






The second item is a simple top, that is hard to date.The fabric is a soft silky rayon that is very comfortable to wear.



The style, seams and lace insertions are very 20's to early 30's but there is no way this garment is that old. There is a name tag in the back so it might have beem from someone in a carehome who still prefered her underwear to be in an oldfashioned style. Again this top was probably never meant to be seen. This summer I might give it a try and show it off with a simple skirt.



Light blue with pink flowers isn't as unacceptable as it used to be. There are numerous examples of it being used fot 'normal' clothes. This gives me the opportunity to walk around in a nightgown or an old lady's chemise. On one of the coming summer days I'll be five again and having an icecream in my light-blue-with-pink-flower dress. I'm already looking forward to it.

Sun-day walk

Today has been a hot lazy sunday. No weather to do anything at all. Just a nice walk in a cool shadowy forrest and some amazing golden light shining through the fresh green leaves.



I'm wearing a pink cotton dress ideal for this kind of weather.
The dress is from the 50's but it has been made a few inches shorter, giving it a late 40's feel


The dress wasn't cut short but a broad seam left the dress intact. The old seam is still vissible.



It often surprizes me how well dresses from the 40's are finished, the raw ends of the seams are, most of the time stitchted over by hand.From the 50's the fabric on the inside of clothes is often left to fray. This dress has milled edges a method also used quite often in the 50's.



Now this sunny sunday is coming towards an end. I'm awaiting the rain and cooler weather. The dress is being washed to wait for the next hot summer day.

A fashion parade

A while ago I found this wonderfull book with pictures from the Seeberger collection. The Seeberger brothers photographed the fashionable people, mostly young socialites, of their time (from 1909 till 1950). The thing that makes the collection and this book so special is that it shows fashions how they were actually worn. The fashion plates of the early 20th century are often more disfiguring women's shapes than photoshop is doing today. You get a vibe of the real 'look' women had instead of the ideal they aspired to.




There is quite a difference between a 30's fashion print of a bias cut evening dress or a woman wearing it. Vionnet had pictures taken of the dresses she created worn by models.I noticed, when visiting the Vionnet retrospective in Paris earlier this year, that even the 'models' Vionnet used to show her dresses did not meet the ideal of the fashion print.

The pictures in this book show women who are not even professional models (at least most of them aren't). It is more or less showing 'street style', the biggest difference being that these most of these women are from the absolute upperclass of European society. Some of them dress timelissly elegant other are clearly fashion-victims.



The author, Celestine Dars, furnished the pictures with witty comments. The text however focusses on the big changes Europe was going through in these years and the influence of these changes on fashion.
More recently another book about the Seeberger collection was published, Elegance: The Seeberger Brothers and the Birth of Fashion Photography by Virginie Chardin. This book is still on my wishlist.



The Seeberger collection shows that something as 'happening' as photographing 'street style' fashion is nothing new. Something the internet has made possible to become big and accesible to a wide and variable public.