Showing posts with label Vintage fashion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vintage fashion. Show all posts

Tuesday, 20 June 2017

Into The Blue




















A fine and subtle spirit dwells
In every little flower,
Each one its own sweet feeling breathes
With more or less of power.
There is a silent eloquence
In every wild bluebell
That fills my softened heart with bliss
That words could never tell.

Yet I recall not long ago
A bright and sunny day,
'Twas when I led a toilsome life
So many leagues away;

That day along a sunny road
All carelessly I strayed,
Between two banks where smiling flowers
Their varied hues displayed.

Before me rose a lofty hill,
Behind me lay the sea,
My heart was not so heavy then
As it was wont to be.

Less harassed than at other times
I saw the scene was fair,
And spoke and laughed to those around,
As if I knew no care.

But when I looked upon the bank
My wandering glances fell
Upon a little trembling flower,
A single sweet bluebell.

Whence came that rising in my throat,
That dimness in my eye?
Why did those burning drops distil —
Those bitter feelings rise?

O, that lone flower recalled to me
My happy childhood's hours
When bluebells seemed like fairy gifts
A prize among the flowers,

Those sunny days of merriment
When heart and soul were free,
And when I dwelt with kindred hearts
That loved and cared for me.

I had not then mid heartless crowds
To spend a thankless life
In seeking after others' weal
With anxious toil and strife.

'Sad wanderer, weep those blissful times
That never may return!'
The lovely floweret seemed to say,
And thus it made me mourn.


The Bluebell by Anne Bronte, read it here

























The Outfit

Off the shoulder peasant blouse - Oxfam
Blue dress - Asos


The Music

Sibelius - Violin Concerto in D Minor

All photos taken by me on my little camera












Saturday, 4 March 2017

Ghostling



























I forced myself to kneel, when I did not wish to kneel.
He had me pray when I did not know the words.
I was crying for a god unknown whom I had slept with in the cradle,
And when I stood to leave red butterflies flew from my skirts, spraying me with earth.

















The Outfit
Victorian Silk Satin Ballgown passed down from Granny Kiki
Red Faux Fur Hooded Coat just seen from Hell Bunny



The Music
Arvo Part - My Heart Is In The Highlands



Poem written by me



All photos taken by me, very quickly during naptime on New Year's Day, on my dodgy little camera




































Saturday, 3 May 2014

Under The Bower











Out of this wood do not desire to go:

Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.

I am a spirit of no common rate;

The summer still doth tend upon my state;

And I do love thee: therefore, go with me;

I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee,

And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,

And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep;

And I will purge thy mortal grossness so

That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.

Peaseblossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustardseed!


Extract of Titania's speech to Bottom, A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare via  1
















The Outfit
Blue Maternity Dress: Asos sale 
Blue Necklace used as Headband: charity shop
Gold Flipflops: free with a magazine years ago
Bracelet: Granny Penny's



Photographs taken last month at 30 weeks pregnant with twins


Tuesday, 18 March 2014

In Contemplation Of Growing Things












Don't go outside your house to see the flowers, 
My friend, don't bother with that excursion.
Inside your body there are flowers.
One flower has a thousand petals.
That will do for a place to sit.
Sitting there you will have a glimpse of beauty
inside the body and out of it, 
before gardens and after gardens.


Kabir













The Outfit
Vintage Chinese Blue Silk Dressing Gown: from a vintage market in my Manchester days in the 90s
Blue Striped Body Con Dress; very old (and now very streeeeetched!) from Topshop
Vintage Fur Stole: passed down from late Granny Kiki
Vintage Chinese Parasol: passed down from late Granny Kiki


The Soundtrack:
Gregorian Chant


Photos taken by me using the self timer on my little digital camera.


I'm grateful for all your kind messages and brilliant advice on what to wear when breastfeeding (special thanks to Radostin and Curtise, for being so reassuring and helpful my dears).
The pregnancy is going well, although inevitably rather exhausting. Believe it or not I have until the start of June before I give birth (I know! How big will I be by then?!), and in the meantime I'm enjoying embracing the fullness and vitality of my ever growing, moving bump.

Thursday, 27 February 2014

Cocoon

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

 
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.


My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.

 
Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
Nature without check with original energy.
 
 
Part 1 of Song Of Myself by Walt Whitman, via 1












The Outfit
Vintage 1970s Liberty Print Pregnancy Maxi Dress: made by late granny Kiki for my Mother
Rosebud Clips: from Accessorize
Black Belt: old from the high street 

 
The Soundtrack
Nick Drake: Place To Be
 
 
Photos taken at my parents' house a few weeks ago when I was 22 weeks pregnant with twins.
The large portrait I'm sitting next to shows late granny Kiki in her early twenties.

 
Thanks for your thoughts on nursing dresses. I may need to opt for separates much of the time when breastfeeding, but refuse to give up my dress addiction entirely. Some of you were asking for an example of what I'm looking for, it's this sort of thing, with a wrap tie front and hidden panels for nursing beneath, only below knee length and ideally a little more interesting:


 
 
 
 
 
 
or button down styles like this:
 
 
 
 
I'm well aware I may be asking the impossible! Have already succumbed and bought one high street nursing dress. And if need be there's always dresses like these on Ebay......


Tuesday, 18 February 2014

Blooming Madly



 
 
 
 
 
 
"What is the meaning of life? That was all- a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years, the great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead, there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark; here was one.”
 
Extract from To The Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf, via 1
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 


The Outfit
Vintage 1930s Ponyskin Leopard Print Coat: made by Granny Kiki for Kiki Couture
Black Floral Maternity Dress: in a sale from Asos
Brown Boots: from New Look
Black Faux Fur Hat: a gift from an ex-boyfriend many years ago
Pale Blue Gloves: passed down from Granny Penny
 
 
The Soundtrack
Kate Bush: Ariel
 
 
 
CALLING ALL UK CHARITY SHOPPERS!
There are many wonderful things about being pregnant, and growing a bump twice as large as the usual; but finding maternity and nursing (breastfeeding) clothes is nigh on impossible without resorting to the High Street brands, which I hate to do. 
I don't want to have to dress like a dull as dishwater mummy in striped nursing top and leggings just because I'm pregnant, it shouldn't have to be that way! With potentially a few years of breastfeeding ahead of me though, I need all the help I can get from you gorgeous vintage shopping goddesses, to find beautiful second hand nursing clothes, particularly dresses, that don't cost a bomb and help hide the tum...
So if any of you eagle eyed UK based lovelies ever see any size 10 - 12 maxi/nursing dresses (with buttons down the chest, pull down tops or covered slits for the nipples) when you're perusing your local charity shop haunts, please do pick them up for me and I will repay you the money with interest, and many many thanks!
 
 
Thank you all so much for your kind congratulations and well wishes!
 I look forward to charting my  multiple pregnancy progress through this blog in the months to come.
 
 

Saturday, 21 December 2013

Christmas Tale: Soft By Candlelight


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sitting under the mistletoe
(Pale-green, fairy mistletoe),
One last candle burning low,
All the sleepy dancers gone,
Just one candle burning on,
Shadows lurking everywhere:
Some one came, and kissed me there.

Tired I was; my head would go
Nodding under the mistletoe
(Pale-green, fairy mistletoe),
No footsteps came, no voice, but only,
Just as I sat there, sleepy, lonely,
Stooped in the still and shadowy air
Lips unseen—and kissed me there.
 
 
Mistletoe by Walter De La Mere, via 1
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Outfit:
Vintage 1970s Maxi Dress: made from Liberty fabric by Granny Kiki for Mum
Red Berry Christmas Wreath: my Mum's, worn as a crown
 
 
Photographs taken by my Mum and myself, using my little camera.
Shot in my parents' bedroom.
 
 
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!
 
 
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