Jottings 15th November - living more colourfully

 

A lot of time this week has been spent in an overhaul of my clothes. I've been lounging around for weeks, or months, in the same old baggy black trousers (I have a couple of pairs exactly the same, and more in navy for an alleged change of style) but a couple of incidents led me to think it was time for a revamp of my wardrobe. First, my in-box was being bombarded by sale offers for gorgeous, wildly patterned, or soft velvet dresses. So, so tempting. Then, I spotted a tweet from author Anthony McGowan - No one ever says to a peacock, "Hey, Mister, this is neither the time nor the place for that tail" - and despite it actually been a writing tip (the rest of the tip apparently refers to the 'superiority of farting to burping in books (and life))*, I thought it applied equally well to my clothing choices. I would buy some new glamorous clothes and wear them every day, and if the cut of some wasn't exactly flattering, it wouldn't matter as I'm not going anywhere for anyone to see me.

On the other hand I'd made a resolution earlier in the year to not buy any more clothes (it hasn't worked) and I would rather lose some lockdown weight before I go on a spending spree

It hardly took a moment's reflection to realise that I probably had a garment or two, lost somewhere in the back of the wardrobe, that would fit the bill, so I set myself a challenge for the week - to hunt out and wear something different every day, to save the baggy trousers for walking and gardening.

Wearing something more colourful, and a little dressier than my usual style worked wonders for my mood.

From flowery or flouncy ruffled skirts, to my purple 'festival' trousers and crochet waistcoat, everything I wore felt so much more fun.

It made getting up and dressed each morning take rather longer than normal but having worked out what I have, what still fits, and which pieces go together, in future it shouldn't take half as long (and I may even get back into the swing of putting tights on without contortionist wriggling, or ending up looking like a comedy medieval peasant with yards of material hanging off my toes!). My skirts and dresses are definitely making a comeback though.

I've continued my evening walks, though now they're generally in the dark, and too often in the rain. 

The beginning of the week saw the world wrapped in fog, but Thursday, Friday and Sunday saw a welcome return of sunshine.

Eating something different is, I believe, part of living more colourfully. This week's new experimental recipe was a bit of a cheat - taking an idea from Diana Henry's Roast Figs and Sugar Snow for glazing poussins with a maple-syrup, garlic and hot sauce, and applying it to chicken thighs and roast vegetables (parsnips, sweet potatoes and cabbage). The full recipe included a cornbread stuffing which I didn't bother with, but the glaze was one of those oh-so-easy and effective twists that I'll use again and again.

* If you're intrigued about the book of writing tips, you can find it here - Swallowed by a Whale: how to survive the writing life, and more about Anthony McGowan (he's a Carnegie award winning author, not just a teller of fart jokes) on his website

Chatsworth House Style Exhibition

The second of our days out last weekend (it's a loose sort of term, as we went on Monday) was to see the Chatsworth House Style exhibition, featuring clothes belonging to current and previous generations of the Devonshire family.




















There are gowns worn by duchesses to coronations, a variety of wedding gowns and costumes from fancy dress balls, and frankly they are a lot more gorgeous than anything you're going to find in your own old clothes boxes!

I'm always amazed by the hours of work that must have gone in to creating these dresses, the massive number of sequins sown on by hand or the use of embroidery to create pattern on plain textiles.

Vivian Westwood re-imagining the dress
 worn by Elizabeth I in the portrait behind

Not everything on display was 'ancient'. There was a mix of recent and contemporary clothing in there as well, from fashion houses such as Gucci, Anna Sui, Prada Vivian Westwood, and Christopher Kane.













And this huge finale in the dining room displayed clothes from a variety of periods

another Vivian Westwood

Although it was my idea to go, I hadn't expected to find it as fascinating as I did, and stopping to examine almost every item very closely took far longer than I expected.

I haven't included HALF the photos I took (even discarding those with strange reflections from perspex display cases, or the multitude of sequins sparkling over a dress), and I think I might need to go back and see the exhibition again before it closes in October. 

Who's it for? Anyone with an interest in textiles, embroidery, the history of clothing, fashion design, social history; even my husband wasn't bored but poured over household ledgers of expenditure on clothes, and was very impressed by the Dr Who style mannequins!