TARDIS Tuesday - Sarah Jane Smith and the Android Invasion

 It's been a little while since my last TARDIS Tuesday.  I've not been remotely organised at getting an outfit ready as well as photographing it!

Yesterday, I suddenly had a brainwave at creating a completely new cosplay from another one and other items in my house.  I'm not sure what made me think of it but I do recall that @Peribrowncosplayer from Instagram recently posted her version of this outfit which put it in my mind but I didn't think  I could do this outfit because of the colour...

It's worn by Elisabeth Sladen who played Sarah Jane Smith.  This was worn in an episode with Tom Baker called The Android Invasion.

The fact that it features a sailor collar means it is right up my street except for the colour.

https://www.deviantart.com/docbuffflash82/art/Sarah-Jane-Smith-The-Android-Invasion-PNG-882784044

You can see it's quite a distinct shade of pink.  With white accessories- a beret, belt, sailor collar and scarf and shoes..

https://uk.pinterest.com/elizakingteacher/sarah-jane-outfit-ideas/


I bought a white sailor cardigan from Miss Patina recently. It arrived on Thursday (when I was home from school) but I didn't realise it was here as Royal Mail didn't actually ring my doorbell, nor did they put through a card. It was only when I checked my email on Friday evening wondering when the parcel was arriving that I saw it was due on Thursday and had been delivered to 'your safe space'.

It turned out they had put it behind my bins (which is not my safe space and is also exposed to the elements.  Royal Mail are dumb!  The cardigan is lovely and I am super chuffed with it! But suddenly, on Saturday, I realised that although the colour wouldn't be exactly right, I did actually have something that might work for this outfit.

So...without further ado...

Cast your mind back to January 2024, when I debuted a new cosplay of classic Who companion, Romana played by the delectable Mary Tamm which happened because I found bought a salmon-coloured pair of trousers and a shirt in my local charity-shop (I'm still super proud of this as I've never seen anyone else attempt this outfit!) 

I realised that I absolutely could make this work.  Unfortunately, I couldn't be bothered to iron it which I probably should have.  

I layered my new cream sailor cardigan (which I had worn for church on Sunday morning) under the salmon shirt. Next, I found a stretchy cream belt and turned it backwards so the clasp was at the back (actually though, hers seems to have a dark clasp like mine) I rolled up all the sleeves.

I didn't really have any suitable shoes but my Clarks funny-dream are light so would do the trick.

For my version of her beret, I took my Accessorize mohair baker boy hat and turned it round so it resembled a beret.

The white scarf proved a problem as I couldn't find my one anywhere (one I bought for my Helen of Troy world book day outfit) and didn't really have anything else.  Then, I remembered that I have detachable sleeves from my white cycling jersey which I tied in a knot and tucked into the top of my shirt. Any false move and they would be falling!

And that's my complete, rather-creased, outfit! Although it's salmon/apricot-hued rather than pink, I think it does the trick!

What do you think?

On the subject of Sailor collars, last year, I bought an orange gingham sailor collar top from Primark which I was delighted by but it seems sailor-collars are a thing this year- I've seen them in several shops including Next and M&S.  If you want to see how much I love a sailor collar, you can explore my previous outfits here

Much love to you.

xx

A day in Aldeburgh

Hello!!

Last weekend, CBC and I had no particular plans and we suddenly realised that the Aldeburgh festival was on!  In its 76th year, this music festival in the Suffolk seaside town was founded by great British composer, Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears (pronounced Peers).  CBC and I have been to various events for this over the years. He introduced me to it fairly early in our relationship as he was a Hess student when he was young- these students spend time in Aldeburgh stewarding for it and get to stay with local families.

We decided to try and get tickets for the Sunday events.

The timing was perfect as I had JUST started my final Year 4 music unit of the year on Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra 3 days earlier so I was very much in the mood to go to Aldeburgh!

We left home around 8.45am to drive to Suffolk and arrived just in time for the 10.30am Festival service at St Peter's and St Paul's church 

The service received a sermon from the Rt Rev’d Joanne Grenfell, Bishop of Stepneyand the  Britten Pears Chamber Choir was singing, conducted by James Davyand with Francesca Massey organ.  The service was lovely with music by composer of the festival,  Helen Grime: her Missa Brevis and a piece by Daniel Kidane: Christus factus est.  CBC's old colleague and friend L was singing in the choir as she had moved to Suffolk and it was lovely to see her.

I loved the beautiful Benjamin Britten memorial window by John Piper.  Britten had developed a new type of opera which he gave the name 'parables for church performance.  Three of these were named Curlew River, The Burning Fiery Furnace and The Prodigal son and all of these are evoked in some way in this beautiful window. 

 After the service we headed to Aldeburgh high street for a spot of lunch.  I queued in the epic fish and chip shop queue whilst CBC went to find some coffee and have a mooch around.

After 30mins, I reached the front of the queue and bought CBC a portion of chips (he'd acquired a toastie) and for myself, a Child-sized portion of Fish and chips plus a small battered sausage. 

I met CBC on the beach to eat.

The fish and chips, cooked in Beef dripping, was delicious and my portion was just the right size!

I went dressed for the seaside:

I bought this gingham sailor top in Primark last month. I never shop in there now but I saw this on Instagram and knew a 100% cotton sailor top in Gingham was something I had to see!

The skirt is from Fatface via a charity shop plus my Seasalt sandals from Depop a good 6 years ago or so.

The sea changed colour in the space of 2 minutes when the sun came out:

We enjoyed our lunch and witnessed a fly-by theft from a Seagull who stole a child's battered sausage.  It also tried to steal mine- I suddenly noticed it hovering inches from my hand.

As CBC ate his Tiramisu cake, I had a paddle! It was refreshing but the sloping shingle was hard to stand upright on as I tried to hold my skirt!

We had to hotfoot it back to the car, parked past the church (via a charity shop where CBC bought an old print of a lovely John Singer Sargeant painting) and drove to Snape Maltings for our next musical performance.   This was held in the Britten studio at 2pm.  We crept in late in the complete dark, accidentally bumping into our friend L who was a steward for it!

The concert was a performance by Fu and Betts-Dean: The programme was entitled Solitude with Schubert Lotte Betts-Dean,  mezzo-soprano and George Xiaoyuan Fu on  piano.  It began with a film called Solitude With Schubert (first screening) by Matilda Hay filmmaker. The pieces were Schubert: Einsamkeit, D.620 (17’) Schubert: Schwanengesang, D.957 (selection) (15’) Schubert: Piano Sonata No.21 in B flat, D.960 (40’).  It was wonderful!!! The programme explored how grief mingles with consolation, combined with a film exploring the loss of a loved one. 

After this, we headed out for a walk to Snape Warren across the beautiful boardwalks.

After a glorious walk, we headed into the maltings for a light dinner.

I changed into my evening concert outfit of this Monsoon cotton dress, bought from a charity shop in Hexham.

Funnily enough, I saw my friend from Gamelan who was there to watch the same concert as us by coincidence.  Last time I came to watch an Aldeburgh concert, I saw ANOTHER Gamelan friend!

Amusingly, when we entered the Maltings hall, it turned out out of 1000 seats, we had ended up seated next to each other by total coincidence!!

the concert was entitled Nocturne and Folk, performed by the Knussen Chamber Orchestra.

The solists were  Claire Booth, soprano  and Allan Clayton, tenor.  Ryan Wigglesworth was the the conductor.  The programme was Britten: Suite on English Folk Tunes, ‘A time there was ...’, Op.90 , Helen Grime: Folk (Britten Pears Arts co-commission),  Britten: Nocturne, Op.60, and Beethoven: Symphony No.8 in F, Op.9. I adore Britten's music and I loved the two pieces we heard, both new to me.  The piece by Helen Grimes, a major new commission with soloist Claire Booth, was really intriguing with some very evocative lyrics and musical crafting.

We'd had a fantastic day and it just remained to drive back to  Essex. I helped CBC mark some test papers as he drove (I read the answers and told me if they were right or not!) 

I very much recommend a day in Aldeburgh and a visit to the Maltings, ideally a concert!

xx

Some Two colour recent outfits

Sorry, been a bit busy!   We have special visitors to school tomorrow and Wednesday.  Other things going on too.

Here's some summery outfits I have enjoyed these past weeks...

Every item in this outfit was charity-shopped over the years except the jewellery.

I enjoyed the combination of blue and teal.

Red and white this time.  This dress was a happy find in Barnardo's, Hexham. I've wanted one like this for ages!

The earrings were a charity-shop purchase which went nicely with my Swarovsky Star necklace, a present from a child in my first class.

White and dark blue.   The top was White Stuff via Charity shop and only bought last week. I like the scalloped sleeves.  The denim trousers with their balloon legs were also new. Very expensive and I had no intention of purchasing anything but we visited a new independent shop on their first day in a new location and I was persuaded...

Oops, broke the 2 colour rule but wore the new trousers in this sailor combo on the day we almost got a cat but didn't!

Right, I MUST go to bed!!x

 

Red Sailor

Ahoy there, Sailors!

I love a bit of sailor/nautical sartorial-styling!  Last week, my Year 5's were writing and performing their own sea shanties and this week, we were looking at the Sailor's Hornpipe!

In this outfit, there are two pieces that I bought for cosplay for Classic Who companion, Romana.  The red tiered skirt and the Sailor jacket.  Both were bought second hand for cosplays but get worn in other combinations regularly but I don't think they've featured outside cosplay posts!  The Laura Ashley t-shirt was bought from a Loue charity shop and is so comfortable.  The hat is from ASOS and the boots second hand Vegan Dr Martens.  I wore this on the lovely sunny day we had our Kensington Chamber Orchestra concert.  I sat on the steps reading my book and several people commented that I looked like a painting! It was funny. I do love the combination of Navy, red and White.  

The necklace was a present for Christmas from my friend Lara. 

Xx

 

Sun, Spring, Sailor

Oh, the SUN, the SUN!  It has been glorious! It puts one in such a good mood! I ate my breakfast in the garden both days of this weekend and it was a joy!

I walked with my friend Margaret this afternoon which was also a joy- we travelled to and walked along Southend Seafront to Thorpe Bay and back.

The signs of Spring are here- my first Daffodils opened and I can see buds on my cherry blossom.

Yesterday, I made sure to wear clothes I can't usually on a bike- a long skirt and a hat!

And went for  real sailor vibe.

This necklace was a present from my friend L for Christmas

Wore my Laura Ashley top bought in Loue last Summer along with my red tiered skirt (my Romana skirt!) 

Added my sailor jacket (Zara via Vinted) and an ASOS felt hat.

You can't see my Dr Martens.

I wore this to travel up to London for my orchestra concert. It was a great concert and two of my colleagues came to watch it- it was so nice to have them there, particularly as one of them had been fasting all day for Ramadan and was very hungry! They were so sweet and enthusiastic!

This week, I am taking the choir to the ROyal Albert Hall.   Hopefully, there won't be any catastrophes like Vomit-gate like last time!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday Twist- Romana from the Leisure Hive

Hi there! 

I missed TARDIS Tuesday for a few weeks so I am back! I decided, this week, to do use the outfit as more of a general style inspiration rather than try to create more of a match.

I last used this look as my inspiration in April 2021 and it is one of my absolute favourite looks worn by any Doctor Who companion- if you look at the sailor and nautical labels tag in my sidebar, I LOVE a sailor look!

It was a vintage Sailor look worn by 4th Doctor companion and Time Lady, Romana.

https://them0vieblog.com/2013/04/28/doctor-who-the-leisure-hive-review/

https://x.com/archivetvmus71/status/1050080061678866432

I was packing for my holiday and I realised I had worn a similarish Romana look when we did our Treasure island performance and found it ridiculously comfortable, so I decided to pack it for my trip!

Here you can see what I put together.

I started with this Primark sailor dress that I picked up in a charity shop in 2012 around Last seen on the blog in 2014.

To make the red tie, I added a red ribbon which came from the waist tie from another dress and tucked it through the tie of the dress.

The hat came from a charity shop around about 15 years ago and it straw with raw silk edging and hat tie.

The bottoms are actually some pyjama bottoms I bought from M&S (which I did actually buy for the original cosplay!) - yes, I wore pyjama bottoms in public.  Do I care? Not really- they work as trousers!

To complete the look, I added a pair of Tom shoes- not the ones I wore last time (which are more red) because that involved ratching around in a cupboard!

I loved wearing this outfit and it worked for a day at home with gardening!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday Cold War 5

 Hi!

TARDIS Tuesday features an outfit that I have attempted or  worn 5 times on this blog. It is worn by 11th and 12th Doctor companion and my personal New Who favourite, Clara Oswald.

I last wore this outfit here in July 2019 (& I actually wore the outfit out in public about a week later for our opera performance at music camp!) and it remains unchanged from that last version. I chose to wear it this week because I was looking for another dress which turned out to be sharing a hanger with this one.  I threw it on the floor in a hurry and this morning, when I got up (Sunday), thought I might as well wear it, since it was out anyway!

Let's have a look at it in one awful grainy shot and then a couple of promo shots:

IMage borrowed from Doctor Who role playing wikia

Image borrowed from this Pinterest but belongs to the BBC

It's glamorous, it's shiny and it gets covered up by a Soviet Naval jacket!

Here's me:

It's been 3 years since I last wore this and I've put on some weight since then. It was always V.E.R.Y tight then but now it is super tight!

It features the pale blue Vivienne Westwood Pannier dress which, despite, it being very tight, is such a beautiful fit.

I wear it with a navy blue cotton military-style jacket (which cost me £5 from eBay- this was out of the wardrobe too because I wanted to wear it for the Jubilee performance for our Trooping the Colour song on Friday).

The shoes, from Red or Dead, are lovely, but high and I only recently located them as they were hidden right in the middle under the spare bed.  The bag is a lovely one I have for weddings...although in practice, it's waaaay too small for me- I need a camel to hoik around the stuff I need!

You can see the dress alone here- this is how I wore it for our opera performance at music camp- we were supposed to be in 'wenchy' costumes. It seemed  most apt!

For your delectation (or horror?) I include a few attempts inside my kitchen, where I attempted to recreate Clara's "Ahrgh,I've just been covered head to toe in freezing cold water!"-look and a photo where she is wearing headphones! All not very successfully but at least they are a bit funny!

Hope you have had a good day!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Romana's sailor style from The Leisure Hive

I'm very excited to share my TARDIS Tuesday this week.  This is an outfit which is VERY much idiosyncratic Kezzie (check out my Sailor chic posts- all 25 of them!) and is a TARDIS Tuesday I did a simple version of this outfit here which was my restarting of TARDIS Tuesday posts back in 2017

Here's a fan video of the episode showing the outfit I've selected, worn by my favourite Classic Who companion, Romana!

I've taken the liberty of borrowing some images and pairing myself with Romana in them.

Images borrowed from

https://twitter.com/archivetvmus71/status/1050080061678866432 

https://aminoapps.com/c/the-worlds-of-doctor-who/page/blog/pros-cons-of-the-leisure-hive-1980/wRWM_5zsouJ4abPnerxRL8Bmj2oQPgqKBV

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/who-was-in-charge-of-lalla-wards-wardrobe.97558/

http://rebloggy.com/post/doctor-who-classic-who-k9-romana-romana-ii-dwedit-cwedit-the-leisure-hive/120068215776 

https://them0vieblog.com/2013/04/28/doctor-who-the-leisure-hive-review/ 

And here they are:

This is definitely a 'better' version of this outfit than last time and I'm really happy with it!

I started off with a Breton-striped top from H&M Kids.  I have numerous Breton-striped tops but this one is closest to Romana's.

My knicker bockers (if you can call them that? Cropped trousers?) are in fact, PAJAMAS!  They are from M&S and came with a navy coloured t-shirt.  I DID buy them with this outfit in mind but when I bought them in 2020, I did want some new PJs! I can't tell you how many years it took to find something resembling these trousers she wears! I was only low-key searching though...

Ah...the hat!  It's a charity shopped one bought back in 2010 or so and is the same one as last time!

I like Romana's pictures as she is usually smiling in them and she has a lovely smile- one that isn't too dissimilar to my natural smile! Unlike most of Yaz's or Clara's pictures in which they look moody and brooding.

Ah...I spoke too soon! Cue gourmless facial expression!

I remembered we had a football which we found in our garden and weren't sure where it came from so I used it as a prop. And my cycling gloves!

My sailor jacket was bought second hand from Zara and cost me £3.00 and it was the final piece in this outfit. My long sailor coat is just too tight for me now and I did so want a sailor jacket, even if it isn't the same as Romana's, it is similar enough. I added a red ribbon which came from something or other, maybe even a Christmas present.

Oh...and finally, I wore my red-sequined Toms shoes which did well as a substitute.

I did catch my neighbour looking out the window as I took photos the other day and felt HIDEOUSLY embarassed!!!