My halo and a pink dress

I've been abroad for a little while (more about thaT later) but now I'm back again with enough time to update my blog more regularly.




This dress is so pretty but it is almost too dressy to wear.



I love the beading, someone must have spent a lot of time embroidering. In some places pencil lines showing the pattern are still vissible. The panels of the skirt are cut on the bias making the skirt sleek yet very wide in circumfence.



The shoulder pads are large and very stiff. I love the little details on the inside like the little straps where you can attatch the pads to a brah or slip dress so they will remain in place.



Then there is this hat, doesn't it go great with the dress? It looks like a kind of halo to me. It probably dates from the 40's when hat sizes and shapes got very extravagant because hat materials weren't rationed (other fabrics were). It is impossible to wear when there is ANY wind because it will imediately be blown off your head.




The hat is made out of straw with a single silk flower as decoration. The flower is technically located on the downside of the hat but given the halo like model of the hat this is the best place to show of any decoration.

What to pack or not to pack that's the question........

I'm in the middle of packing for my trip to Russia. And since packing is all about making choices and I'm not very good at choosing between dresses I'm facing a serious challenge.



For now it is still a complete mistery to me how all these clothes are going to fit(and they WILL fit) in just this one bag......

All good things come to an end

Some photo's from the last days of my holliday in the UK.



These were taken in the gardens of Cragside house











The last of many ruins.

Now vacation is really over. But not for long for I am already packing for my next trip. Tomorrow I'll be leaving for Russia!

Hopetoun house

Hopetoun House was maybe the best of the grand houses and castles I visited on this journey. The house was originally designed by William Bruce but later extended by William Adam. Next to the wonderful interiors there were some other aspacts that made me instantly fall in love with it.




I visited the house late in the afternoon so it was rather quiet and there were practically no other visitors walking in the way :p. What instantly grasped me were the fabrics. Most of them were still the originals (or at least very old replacements). In most houses you visit the old worn materials have been replaced with new sparkling bright copies.




Here the silk damasks were visibly affected by time, the colors were shot and the fabrics were threadbare from time to time. Not that they were left to hang and decay further, were the fabric was really thin a kind of tule was adjusted to it to keep it from falling apart.



I had seen this only once before with a delicate early nineteenth century dress in a museum in Riga. You might argue that fabrics that are already so damaged by time should not be exposed to any more light and the force of gravity. With for example unique clothes I would probably agree with that. But with interior decoration I think it is important to show the 'real' thing (also because the damasks are often not as unique as for example centain clothes or tapestries) and to show how time changes the appearance of everything.



I really apreciated the efforts that were taken to preserve the original fabrics.
Another possitive aspect was that you could take photo's (no flash ofcourse). In most places I've visited thay did not allow you to take any pictures.

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These photo's are taken in the garden of Dunrobbin Castle. The outer shell of this building dates from the 19th century and could have come straight out of a fairytale. It reminded me a little of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria (from about the same period).



I pretended to be a greek statue from the so called "wet drapery style" period :P, luckily I managed to stay dry.



The gardens looked very fairytailish too but in a different way. They may be used as a background for strange surrealistic paintings. In the next picture the garden strongly resembles playmobil.



The inside of the castle was very interesting, but photographing was not allowed. Though the outside of the castle is 19th century the inside has extensions from all kinds of periods. The picture shows the library.



The next day we visited Balmoral and were a little dissapointed. Nothing much to see. The gardens weren't great and the exhibition featured some royal gowns I did not think very spectacular either.



We went on to Crathes Castle. This was more to my taste. A very pretty garden with all kinds of different elements.



In the evening we had fish and chips, the fish was huge.



A duck was walking around at the fish and chip shop hoping to get some food and ofcourse I had to feed it.



After dinner we went for a drive to the Linn of Dee. Here the river Dee is very narrow and has made a deep gorge in the rocks. Amazing to see and also a bit scary to sit beside.




One of the Forth bridges near Edinburgh.

The next pictures were taken at Melrose Abbey, the ruin of the richest abbey of the Scottish Borders. I saw three more ruins like that that day. The border region was very dangerous, that is why there are so many ruins in that particular area.







And with the Borders my stay in Scotland ended and I went down to England again.

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On the beach in front of Culzean Castle. This Casle was designed by the famous 18th century architect Robert Adam. He is best known for his Neoclassical style, but this castle is in his medieval inspired 'castle style'.



I'm wearing a dress I made out of a thin silk/cotton (bombazin) fabric that is very pleasant to wear.



This picture was taken in the Inverewe garden in the Highlands. This garden houses all kinds of exotic plants. Due to the warm gulf steam it is possible to grow them so far up north.



In scotland I was surprized by the hure amounts of flowering broom.





One of many ruins.