Style Imitating Art: French embroidery Part 2

Hi there,

Yesterday, I shared with you my first outfit, from the archives, for this week's Style Imitating Art Challenge.

The inspiration piece was this beautiful Embroidery sample from the late 18th to early 19th century by Jean-Francois Bony, a French embroiderer and silk manufacturer who was famous for being the fabric designer for those famous historical figures of France, Marie Antoinette and Napoleon!

It looks beautiful- gorgeously intricate floral embroidery on a black background and made of silk and wool. I'm not too sure whether that background is just shiny or it is stripy!

Source: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/223036

I am wearing a beautiful embroidered ASOS dress with a black velvet Kangol beret (both charity-shopped).  These are teamed with black leggings and my black Clara boots (secondhand) The embroidery is self-explanatory I hope and the black accessories are a nod to the background.

When I saw this inspiration, I knew exactly what I was going to wear for the challenge. Last year, I shared a blog post featuring this beautiful ASOS intricately embroidered floral dress which I found in the charity shop with original tags still on.  The embroidery really reminded me of that dress so I knew I could fulfil the challenge but would I remember to wear the outfit AND have an occasion to wear it?  As it happens, the answer to both were YES.  I was heading up to London on Friday night to London to go and see Hamilton, the musical with CBC, his brother, sister and mum.  A nice smart dress was perfect for the theatre.  I headed off to school that day with the dress packed in my suitcase along with my overnight things to stay at his brother's flat in London and my flute and concert dress for Saturday as I was heading to the Fairfield Halls in Croydon to perform Belchazzer's feast with Forest Philharmonic Orchestra and the Lewisham Chorus.

But... I was really tired and running out of time on Friday so I headed up to London without changing, thinking I could change at the theatre.  I arrived to Victoria at 6.20pm but the others didn't arrive till at least 20minutes later and they had the tickets. They informed us they had headed in. 

CBC and I headed to the theatre which was flanked by hoards of people in a queue to go in.  When we got to the front of the queue, the doorman told me that the cloakroom didn't usually accept suitcases and most people left them at the Left Luggage Place between Platform 3-4 at Victoria Station. I wasn't best pleased at this. It seemed that we wouldn't be able to get in until we'd disposed of the suitcase. When I got there, I was outraged to discover that leaving the tiny suitcase would cost £7.50 for 3 hours and the cost hiked up to £12.50 after 3 hours (and it was then a flat fee for 24hours). Would the show be finished by 22:06 meaning my charge would only be £7.50?  Of course, in all this brouhaha, I completely forgot to take out my embroidered dress to change into AND my very expensive flute which was in my suitcase.  Cue anxiety later in the theatre when I realised.  

When we got back to the queue, a woman in front of us had a suitcase 3 times the size of mine and seemed to be going in with it.  We'd paid £100 a piece for our tickets.  Why were we penalized?  As I saw the same doorlady, I said, "She's got a suitcase too," but for some reason, she was waved in with it. Cue a feeling of more outrage.  When we got to the ticket office, CBC said the name for us because the tickets had been left for us by Brother and Mum.  We separated ours off from his sister's one (who hadn't arrived yet) and then were told off by the ticket person saying, "You're supposed to all come at once!".  I replied, with a slight edge, that I had arrived before everyone and it wasn't my idea that they had headed in before calling us and that we didn't know that they were going to go in before us.   We headed in and met the two who were already in.  They'd got drinks for us and I noticed that they were all served in plastic cups which displeased me.  At which point, CBC mentioned that Hamilton was all rap. I didn't know this and I don't like rap.  It wasn't turning out to be a success so far...  Finally, we headed into our seats. 

In the interval, I headed with my own cup to get some tea but was told I couldn't use my own cup as 'it wouldn't work' with my cup, and would have to have a cardboard cup so I said I wouldn't be getting one.  

The show finished at 10:25 so I ended up paying the £12.50 and having to stand in an epic queue to retrive it- humph!

What was the show like?  Well, I think it was extremely clever and the performers were very talented and it is an excellent way to educate young people and indeed anyone on the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the American constitution- they were very energetic, talented and had great stamina.  Luckily, it didn't turn out to be all rap- they sang so it wasn't just rap music (which is what I thought when CBC said that) and dancing, singing, visuals and the wordsmithery were all very clever and well conceived and I am glad to have seen it but I think that it wasn't my cup of tea- there was very little silence and I felt it was all a bit too relentless- I do prefer more light and shade in my choice of musicals. It doesn't detract from the performers at all they were amazing and it is worth seeing but it just isn't my thing. 

We ended up staying at WKWTTG's flat again on Saturday night so the embroidered dress turned out to be my only clean clothing to wear on Sunday so I took a photo of my outfit when I got home.  Bit fancy for a lazy Sunday mostly spent travelling home from London- got to love Engineering works- NOT!

What do you think of the outfit?  It’s not too late if you wanted to join in with SIA. Send an outfit picture or a flatlay to livingoutsidethestacks@gmail.com.

xx

Three little maids from school are we

Greetings!  I've just returned from a wonderful weekend of rehearsing for 'The Mikado' by Gilbert and Sullivan- a classic, light Victorian Operetta!   Visiting my favourite place in the whole world- after a gap of a year and seeing some of my favourite people and sharing music with them. It is a remedy for whatever fatigue, maladies or ennui you might experience when you go there.  Two days of glorious music- rehearsing for around 10  hours from Friday to Sunday, culminating in an informal 'performance' of the operetta.

Aside from visiting this place that holds some of my happiest memories, the place I last visited and first came back to after my year in Indonesia, the place I spent New Year's eve 1999, the place I first played flute in a Symphony Orchestra, aged 14, the place I had my first kiss as a teenager aged 17 (and second!),  the place where CBC and I discovered we liked each other, where we got together- essentially the beginning of our courtship, a place of magic.
This weekend was all the more exciting because we were rehearsing The Mikado.  I have been waiting since I was 11 to 'do' the Mikado.  I was brought up on a diet of Gilbert and Sullivan- my Mum being in many an amateur dramatics production of it. One of my earliest memories was of seeing Princess Ida with my Grandparents, aged about 4ish and needing the toilet mid-performance and going out.  I subsequently remember waiting with bated breath for the Moving pictures scene in Ruddigore, a bit older.  Another time, watching my Mum skip across the stage in a white Victorian nightgown in The Pirates of Penzance (which I know most of the words to), The Gondoliers, Yeoman of the guard and more.  Seeing Bonnie Langford as Mabel in the Palladian, London in Pirates. Later, watching our family friend in The Mikado with a different company and seeing it as a 21 year old with an ex at ENO.  As a student, I played in the 'pit' as a flute and viola player for various amateur dramatic groups- Trial by Jury, HMS Pinafore. Then, the friends who organised today's show, began putting on productions- I played in Utopia Limited and then a few years later played Tiger Lily (I think?!!) in The Rose of Persia (by Sullivan but not Gilbert).  Yet, my first performance of G&S in Public was in Year 6, Primary School aged 11.  My Headteacher, who ran the school choir, had been off sick for a term and it seemed that there would be no choir or choir performance for the concert. SO, my Mum (the ardent G&S fan) decided to arrange a little singing item for the concert.  She got myself and 3 other good musicians together (we had a very musical school- two of those three were Grade 5 violin already) and taught us Three Little Maids from School from The Mikado. It's in three part harmony and then she gave the piano part to the third girl.  We practised lots and then during the concert (my head was back by then) we sneaked out and got dressed in Kimonos and hair flowers with my piano-friend in a Mortabord and gown and we marched in and performed it.   To this day, I still know all the notes and lyrics of that song. I adored that Kimono and really wanted my own one.  My Mum lent it but wouldn't give it to me.  That family friend, who had been in the Mikado, had her own genuine Japanese kimono which she gave me. The one I am wearing in the pictures. She had had it a long while already and I've personally owned it for 22 years so it must be quite old.  I've kept it all these years, wearing it and hoping for the opportunity to wear it in the Mikado. And finally, that moment came!
His flute parts are gorgeous- luscious tunes, loud crashy bits and tumty-tumpty tunes and fun interjections into rapid patter-songs.  We were all invited to dress up so who was I to miss an opportunity to wear my Kimono which had originally been inspired by this operetta!


Here's my two favourite songs:  Three Little Maids

This one, I've got a little list, is always doctored when it is performed to include current celebrities or people of reknown.  The guy who played Koko, the Lord High Executioner who is singing about all the people he'd like to execute , had written his own current lyrics which had us in absolute stitches

as they included reference to Michael Gove, and other very topical references!

My friend laughed and wanted to take the picture of me as I drank from this pint-sized mug of tea- she though it incongruous with the kimono!

It wasn't all rehearsal though- delicious food, chats with long known friends and then yesterday afternoon, a glorious walk.  There had been torrential rain all morning and then it cleared up beautifully for the afternoon.  It meant, however, that our walk, beginning in the woods was really muddy and we got to one point where the mud looked inpenetrable so we took a detour through a barley field which was beautiful but then the path at the side became filled with thistles and nettles and my friend had bare legs.




We trekked on through, frightening a she-pheasant who had been hiding amongst the barley. She gave us the fright of our life as we flew out posthaste protesting!  It was lovely to chat to this particular friend as I haven't seen her for an age!  The sky was beautiful and the fields were brilliantly green and vibrant.  The sun shone down and we didn't meet a soul,the entire journey! We looked in a grave yard and then made our way back up our steep hill!

Destiny in a blue cloak

On Thursday, CBC and I headed up to Knightsbridge to attend the performance of a new musical by our friend.  She wrote a musical based on Thomas Hardy's 'Destiny in a blue cloak', renamed, 'The girl in the blue coat'.  It's always so wonderful to hear the creations of friends, especially talented and modest ones! Her musical had a really wonderful Stephen Sondheim feel to it in places, particularly the lyrical songs in 3/4 time. She adapted the story so it had a nice ending but the tension built right to the end about whether Abbie, one of the female leads, would have to marry the old farmer.  Horrid Hardy to have married her off to him in the real story- just like Tess of the D'Ubervilles which had a horrible ending for again, a female main character! I want to read it now, though I will probably get very cross with Hardy!Have you ever read it?  So if you ever get to see it in the West End, I was there first! She premiered it with her teenage school children and most of them were around 12-13 with the oldest at 16, so that is an amazing achievement for them!

It was such an amazingly warm day on Thursday, I definitely enjoyed basking in the sun!  Here, we took advantage of pretty West London townhouses for a setting!  The majority of the outfit is Primark with the blouse thrifted from Hobbs with ribbon added by me and trusty Toms!  It's definitely been Toms week!

Thanks for all your advice and comments re the camera- I am investigating the option Rach mentioned thus far and will contact Canon etc if all else fails! xx 

Out on the briny, with the moon big and shiny.

Hello there stranger! How goes it with you?

 If you've been reading this blog for over a year or even a while, you have probably registered my love of sailor-dresses and sailor items.  I remain smitten by them and it all stems from a rather lovely musical called Meet Me in St Louis.  It's a lovely film if you ever get to see the Judy Garland film and the stage show is also lovely, though a little different.  When I was 11, I auditioned to play Agnes, the second youngest daughter in a local Amateur Dramatics stage production.  At that point, I had never played a main-part with any big lines to learn- I'd been in Finnian's rainbow with one line: "Round a little yellow seat,"  and in that, we'd had one costume and we ended up bringing out own dresses to wear for the bit where the town gets rich! 

However, when I got that part, ending up being in various scenes throughout the play, I ended up with 6-8 costumes I believe!  It was really exciting for this eleven year old, to have real proper nice outfits like in a film- in my dancing shows, our costumes always LOOKED costumey (and I'd probably not chose to wear any of them in real life except for my sister's The World is a circle costume (oh how I MISS that dress!).   The first costume I wore, was a white sailor dress.  It really suited me in fact it was perfect for me and everyone including me acknowledged this- in the past, I'd never really particularly thought about anything suiting me or being bothered by clothing. It was after that that I did get interested in clothes.  Somewhere, there is a picture of me wearing that sailor dress, looking worried, with a slight wonky eye from the show, but I still loved that show. 

Long after the show, I remembered that dress, remembered feeling pretty in it, remembered the enjoyment of being a member of the main cast, being in the principals' dressing room, being included in the grown-ups, though treated still as a child, the joy of being in that team, enjoying that acting. And those costumes. I don't remember all the costumes in detail but I do remember the long, white, pretty cotton nightgown I had to wear for the party-scene (I've always had a penchant for long white cotton items since that time and always wanted a long white night gown) and I remember the dress I wore for the final scene where the family celebrates at the St Louis Purchase exposition: It was a peachy floral dress with a darling little collar, worn with a white frilly hat (sounds remiscent of all the vintage dresses I love nowadays and the hat thing..), all my favourite seem to stem from that time.  But most of all, I remember that white sailor dress.

In recent years, when I have acquired sailor-items, it has been in my subconscious, in fact whenever I go onto certain websites, ASOS, Ebay, Etsy, I always searched for sailor-dress. 

Therefore, in the summer, when I first saw this Jaeger Boutique dress, I was smitten.  Truly smitten.  It reminded me so much of that beloved dress, even though it had a slightly different skirt I believe- still it reminded me. I ummed and ahed about it for ages, it was really expensive, even though it was in the sale, more than I'd ever spend on anything.  By the time, after months, I still thought of it, it seemed that we were not to be together- anything in size 8 or 10 was sold-out.  Finally, after a while, I found at John Lewis.com that there was a size 6 left and hedged my bets. 

 When it arrived, it fitted, well it even seemed a bit too big, but I was happy.  And this Sunday, when I wore it, then, just then, I began to feel like Agnes again.

 You'd think I'd style it a bit better (and take those wretched hairbands of my wrist!)  but I liked it just as it is.

 Coupled with simple sailor ballet-pumps.

 and my Alex-Munroe-style Bee necklace, which I'd also wanted for a long time.

To this day, I wish, oh I wish, that I had taken part in more musicals, more plays, more drama.  To a certain extent, I have enjoyed some fun opportunities in those musicals and operas I have taken part in, playing Maria in the Sound of Music,  last year, Luciana in The boys from Syracuse the year before and other odd parts and chorus over the years, always sporadic, but there is something wonderful about treading the boards and I would love to be able to do it better.  I don't look the part for a lot of things, and I am just not sure about my voice, it's hard to know what you sound like, I'm not very 'Lovey' and the sort of 'Showbiz' female, but it would be nice to try!

Is there a dress that you own or a style that you love, that emanates from a childhood memory like mine?  Do you have any regrets about things you have, or haven't done, or have only done to a certain extent?

I've got a golden ticket!

 I have a confession to make.  When I first heard about the Olympics, I was not particularly pleased or bothered about the UK hosting it.    Over time, I got used to it, but I had no intention of applying for tickets (that said, CBC tried to apply for tickets for both of us out of his own choice) or particularly following it.  I just thought it would be expensive.  However, since CBC got into the opening ceremony as a drummer and marshall, I have felt interested on his behalf.  But now, I get to actually go to the dress-rehearsal for the Opening ceremony tomorrow at the main stadium, I am pretty excited!!!!  I am a little scared at the prospect of crowds and queuing, am not overly great in large crowds, but I imagine it will be an amazing atmosphere, exciting and wonderful to be a part of! Lucky me- eh?! Getting in for free!  The best thing is, that it will only take me 15 mins to get there from my house on the train!  There are going to be so many great aspects to it! Yippeee!!!

Last night, I saw Billy Elliott.  It was really good!  Anything that makes me cry is always something I consider good! Although I didn't like all the swearing, it was an amazingly powerful musical and the boy who played Billy was just stunning!  Especially the scene where he dances Swanlake on his own- I sat there mesmerised as he turned pirouhettes around the stage. It's totally worth seeing and for those of you who are not so into musicals, it's a good one to see as it isn't too 'musically' if you know what I mean!

Afterwards, I returned to my Dad's house with my little sister to stay for the day.  The weather today was simply stunning and perfect for a gorgeous day in the country!

After a necessary trip out in the morning, we spent a lovely period of time in the swimming pool- perfect setting, gorgeous sun, warm, open, fresh air, peaceful.  Who needs to go on holiday abroad if you have this beauty at your disposal?  I always feel like I am on holiday when I visit my Dad's house in the summer!

 We had a lovely peaceful time, floating around and lots of laughs.  It was so nice to see them and spend time with them.  Again, I don't see them all that much so it was a real treat!  Plus, my little sister and I start to just really get each other and feel comfortable being with each other after a little while, so it's really hard to leave when I have to go!

 Here's my hardworking Daddy mowing the lawn whilst we swam.  I felt really guilty.  He works so hard to make the garden and house lovely and rarely gets a rest himself! I wish he'd just let it get overgrown and rest sometimes! Since retirement, he has worked almost as hard at home!

I'm a bit scared for going to Music-camp on Friday as I have been asked to direct A midsummer night's dream last minute!! Eeeeek!  I have not directed in my life!  Not quite sure what to do! Also, this means I will probably not get to take a part, as doing this which makes me sad! The opportunity to wear my Greek costume!!! Still, it's a privelege to be asked and I will try my best!  Nothing like a good Shakespearian comedy to make it fun!  Having a project will hopefully make me feel less sad about CBC not being there with me.

Here's my Tah dah!!! for Tuesday for the lovely Lakota's Tuesday link up!  This is the birthday card I made for my Mum's birthday!

I also will link up to Annie the Felt fairy's Make a month for July!

How's you then?!