Earlier this year, lovely Veshoevius of the brilliant blog
The Taxonomy Of My Wardrobe nominated me for a Versatile Blogger Award. It is now, 7 months later, that I have finally finished my post in response.
As part of receiving this award I have to reveal seven facts about myself. This blog owes just as much to the memory of the women in my family, and the clothes they have passed down to me, as it does to my own style and character, so I think it only right that I include some photos and facts about them too.
1. I'm in my late thirties, and the older I get the more I feel I want to play like a child and read (and write) fables and fairy tales.
2. Kiki lived into her early nineties, and her kindness and grace shone through her, just as her inimitable sense of style continued until the end. I took this portrait of her about a year before she died. In old age, with her couturier years behind her, she had a particular fondness for raw silk Chinese jackets in jewel colours.
3. I'm not interested in marriage, finding the practice archaic and unnecessary, nor am I a religious person, so wearing the exquisite dress Kiki made for her own wedding in my Bluebell Fairy post was a close as I'll ever get to donning a matrimonial white dress in a church.
4. Penny had a great sense of fun, a caring heart, and always looked beautifully groomed into her old age. A fan of the classic cuts of Jean Muir, she continued to turn heads and had many admirers throughout her life. She passed away in her late eighties. Here she is in her late seventies/early eighties, with me in my mid twenties.
5. As my dear Mother is still alive and well, thank goodness, and I want to respect her privacy, I won't show a picture of her nowadays, although I wish I could as she is gorgeous. But she'd kill me! Instead, here's an image of her on holiday in her early twenties, showing off those incredible pins of hers.
6. Like most Brits, I'm of a mixed heritage: being a quarter Irish, quarter Scottish, quarter Jewish and quarter English. I love the sunshine in summer, but can't cope in the heat, so you'll always find me in the shade of the garden hiding under a big hat or parasol and slathering on more factor 35.
7. I'm distantly related to the Pre-Raphaelite painter William and his wife and Rossetti's muse Jane Morris, via Kiki's side of the family. Planning to do a blog post photo shoot in tribute to Jane in the coming months.
Here are my versatile blogger nominations, each and every nominee a unique delight:
The Outfits
For outfit details of the images
2,
4,
7, 8 &
9, just click on the image number to go to the relevant blog post.
Outfit in image 1: vintage dress from Oxfam Online.
The Soundtrack
The Jam: English Rose
I am delighted to be a part of the next Visible Monday, hosted by Patti from
Not Dead Yet Style, click on the website link to see her outfit and those of many others.
