Breaking news!

The 1950's dressing room display at Stoke Potteries Museum and Art Gallery will be up for a further week with the deadline extended to this coming Sunday 18th Sept. So there's still time to see the goreous original vintage pieces used in my collaborative project with the museum which inspired my online serial Mrs Brown's Diary! If you like historic treasures, vintage glam, and a good story to boot this is for you!

MM Personal

As my online serial 'Mrs Brown's Diary' draws closer to it's final post this coming Sunday, it seems fitting that I have just finshed reading the book which inspired my project in the first place.

I first became aware of the existance of the book, 'MM Personal' when I read an article in Vanity Fair called 'The Things She Left behind'. The article covered the hidden cache of treasures left behind by Marilyn Monroe which had previously been unseen.

I found flicking throught the beautiful photos of everyday items like reciepts, perfume bottles and jewellery fascinating and I began to formulate the idea of basing an art work around belongings that told a story. I started by looking into female ephemera; the hub or altar of artifice, the dressing table. Readers sent in photos of their own dressing tables for me to display in the 'Dressing Table Gallery' and from there I went on to try and decypher the meanings and stories each photo hinted towards.

The gallery was excellent research for my collaborative project with Stoke Potteries Museum and Art Gallery where I was invited to give my response to the Decorative Arts collection housed in the museum. I knew straight away I wanted to create a 'room' with objects which told a story. What better room for gorgeous belongings and hidden meanings than a dressing room? The subsequent display has been on show at the museum since March and also finishes this coming Sunday, 11th September.

The objects took the lead in telling the story which is now transcribed in 'Mrs Brown's Diary', Mrs Brown being the fictitious owner of the dressing room, revealing it's secrets through her private musings.

I found MM Personal a wonderful insight into Marilyn's life, but also from an artists point of view found it creates an illustration of Marilyn without Marilyn, she is obviously absent but strangely present. Her choices, likes, dislikes and actions are in every document and item. 

It is my hope that the dressing room at Stoke's museum has a simlar atmosphere, and that Mrs Brown's Diary completes an evocative picture of an individual and a time inspired by objects.

Image by Mark Anderson www.markandersonphoto.com

 

Marilyn has once again been an inspirartion, this time not just because of her sex appeal or her acting work, but literally because of the things she left behind. Her half used Chanel No5 photographed so lovingly shows how the idea of a person could be transferred so eloquently onto objects. How a story can be contructed through clues left within belongings.

Mrs Brown's Diary, the shoot

One of my favourite things ever is making up stories, packaging little moments in time and filling them with characters, happenings and elements of playfulness. I think that's one of things I try to get across in my paintings. They are each snapshots of worlds that maybe existed for real, or maybe just in my head, or maybe a bit of both. When I took Layla to Stoke to model for me as Mrs Brown, the moment she stepped into the dressing room set, a story was taking place before my eyes.  

For me it was a lovely moment to behold, like seeing the sun rise at just the right angle through the pillars of Stone Henge or finally getting the shot of a bird you'd been waiting hours to catch a glimpse of. When Layla, in full 1950's regalia, sat in front of the dressing table in the set I had spent months putting together with the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, I felt very, what's the word?... satisfied. Not to mention excited. Here at last was Mrs Brown in her dressing room, interacting with her belongings, acting out her story, making it just that little bit more real!

The whole point of the shoot which took place last Monday, was to continue the theme of telling stories through belongings and objects. Mrs Brown's story has been entirely inspired by the objects I selected from the decorative arts collection during my collaborative project with the museum. Each object has been displayed as part of Mrs Brown's dressing room as an illustration of her life, a snapshot, a moment in time packaged and ready for consumption. 

I wanted to photograph the objects with the woman who supposedly owns them to give them even more meaning, and even though my model was very important, it was still the objects themselves which dictated the shots and led the images to tell the story.

It was a small space and very dark in order to preserve the items displayed, so it took some getting used to before both I and Layla managed to ease into the shoot, but I was really happy with the images we got. By keeping Mrs Brown's identity quite anonymous her belongings take over in letting the viewer decide what's happening. The photos will be displayed over the coming months on; www.mrs-browns-diary.blogspot.com and I'll continue announcing when each new installment is posted, head over there now for installments 3, 4 and 5!

Make over heaven

I couldn't help feeling pleased as I watched Mrs Brown walk through the museum in her elegant purple floral dress. Teetering on T bar heels, her powdered face broke into a smile as she took in the exhibits, showcasing her red lips and fluttering lashes. It was like meeting a pen friend I'd never seen before but finding she fit my imaginary picture of her perfectly.

It was Monday and I was in Stoke to photograph the dressing room set from my collaborative project with the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, but on this visit I had brought my friend Layla with me to model as the mysterious Mrs Brown, the flighty bored young housewife of 1951, a woman whose pursuit of happiness could land her in hot water.

The previous day I had met with Layla to set her hair into pin curls, a very popular style from the forties which had continued to evolve into the fifties creating a new generation of waves and curls seen on the likes of Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor. After watching a wonderful video tutorial by Vividmakeup found on youtube (see last post) I had also found evidence in a contemporary article detailing the techniques of how to set your hair fashionably. What struck me most  was the effort that went into the preparation for a style that was worn by most women whether they were film stars or just going to the shops and doing the housework. This was serious high standard hair.

Here's how I set Layla's hair: 

Firstly I dampend it with water and added a little setting lotion. After combing it through I took a one inch section and coiled it away from the face around two of my fingers, making sure not to twist it. When I had coiled as far as I could get, I pinched the coil off and secured it flat to Layla's head using FLAT hair pins to create a cross.

Here's how it looked as I was working my way around the head. I left the front section loose as this required a different type of curl. Once I had worked my way all around the hair it looked like this;

The crown was left flat so the curls would sit in an authentic style of the early 50's and the front fringe section was curled under and secured in an elevated curl, not flat to the head but sitting proud of the face. The curls were left to set over night  with a scarf tied around them for protection. When we got to the museum the next day they were still in place if not a little fuzzy;

We used a dressing room which Princess Anne had used when she came to visit the museum a few years ago. It was in this room I finished the hair styling and applied Laylas' make up. I went of a classic 1950's look, very matte and powdered; soft brown eye shadow all over the lid with a darker brown in the socket. 

I lined the upper lid with black liquid liner and added some flirty tipped lashes for a glamorous effect and drew the eyebrows in with a pointed arch. The whole thing was of course finished off with obligatory red lipstick! I went for a pointed look lining the lips first to get the peaks as defined as possible.

Next it was time to finish styling the hair. I unpinned all the curls and brushed them through with my fingers to seperate and loosen them. As you can see from the photo, the pin curls really did their job creating large sausage curls positioned perfectly around the crown.

To create fifties waves I took a barrel brush and began to brush the curls under. Unlike normal curls which should never be messed with, pin curls are designed to be manipulated. They are also very resilient and snapped into place as I brushed them. I used my palms to sculpt the hair as I brushed it under and round, I then pinned the hair back behind the ears for a very feminine style. Lastly I brushed the fringe, whisking it up and back to create a 50's flick that blended in with the rolls of sculpted hair around the sides of the face. At last Mrs Brown was ready for her photo shoot.

The makeover was lots of fun and it was important to get it right as creating an authentic look was just as important as the shoot itself. As Layla stepped into the dressing room set I felt really pleased because she looked like she belonged there. Layla enjoyed working amongst all the vintage items, being a bit of kleptomaniac of vintage items herself, and it was so satisfying to have the right person for the job who understood the brief and looked so perfect for the story. Find out how the shoot went in my next post!...

It's all going on!

The first installment of Mrs Brown's Diary is now online! This unfolding story reveals the significance of the items that make up the 1950's dressing room which has been created through my collabortive project with Stoke Pottieres Musuem and Art Galley. The diary is your chance to find out who this character is; the first post covers her visit to the Grand Re-opening of the Theatre Royal in Hanley and introduces her relationship with George her husband, but just why is he so upset?

-

Last Saturday was the official first day of  dressing room display and to mark the occassion a local burlesque performer called Lottie Applejack dressed in period costumes did a piece in the dressing room based around transformation which ties in well with my theme of artifice and the project's title, Making faces.

 

Photo by Craig Berry 

My project has also inspired other creative outlets! Members of City Voices writers group based in Hanley were invited by the museum to produce their own responses to the items from the Making Faces display and also other museum pieces from the same period picked out by myself. The result was a very ecelctic mixture of poetry and short stories. Here's two of my favourites which have really captured the essence of the objects and the era :

 

Rationed Reflections

Getting ready for a night of theatre,

A film, a dance, a romance.

Take night off from the week

For the war is still fresh in memory

In all young and old

And rationing still carried

But you do your best.

Improvement and alter the gown dress,

With ideas of the society magazines.

Pictures and varied types and varied tips,

From halls of Paris’s fashion houses,

To stars of West End and Hollywood.

A break from that time before,

And now a modern twist,

With compacts of small design,

Fit neatly into the purse,

Nylons from across the Atlantic,

Hard to find at this time.

Picture of the returning sweetheart,

Returned from the continent,

From aiding in Europe.

Soon the alarm will chime,

And it will be theatre time.

Martin Wilkes

A Rare Night Out

She sat before the mirror

Everything was to hand.

Powder puff and perfume

They made her feel so grand.

Her husband had bought tickets

For the Theatre Royal show.

Just a dab of lipstick,

Now she was ready to go.

“The taxi’s here, my darling”

Her husband called to say.

She hurried down to join him

Then they were on their way.

She wore the pearls he’d bought her.

Snd her high heels too.

She felt like a lady

Attending a posh ‘do’.

They didn’t have much money

So treats like these were rare

But oh, how good they made her feel –

Like dancing on air.

P.A. Sinclair © 2011

Set up day!

Yesterday was set up day at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke! After months of preparation and research, the collaborative project between myself and the museum has been put on display!

The final display has turned out to be extremely beautiful, thanks to the variety of original vintage pieces found in the museum's archives. It felt really satifying to see them all together for the first time and place them in the display, knowing that not only do they all have part to play in constucting my projects character they are also going to be viewed by the public after spending years in storage.

Each item had to be handled carefully (hence the fetching purple latex gloves). It took a bit of trial and error before everything looked right, but I had a rough idea where I wanted everything to be, plus not everything that had been chosen got used in the end. The space could only hold so many items and also I didn't want to clutter the display and compromise the hidden story with too many objects. 

Some items had been specially selected to be displayed seperately to focus on specific themes. This plinth for instance holds the original programme from the Grand Re-opening of the Theatre Royal from 1951. Around it are items from the character Mrs Brown's outfit.  The  display sets the scene for the rest of the dressing room and helps to illustrate what a posh event the re-opening was to the people of Stoke. I especially enjoyed putting these items together as the final outcome looks so good! (There will be a pair of opera glasses attached to this plinth so that you can zoom in on some of the smaller pieces on top of the dressing table!)

 

Stoke on Trent Museums What's on guide for February - March 2011

It took months of sourcing for the museum and visits and research for me to get to the day of set up. I've really enjoyed the project; It's allowed me to gain more knowledge about one of my favourite eras. I've learnt about social aspects, fashion, entertaiment and the local history of Stoke in the post war period!

But it doesn't end here! Whilst the project is on display I will be posting Mrs Brown's Diary on a brand new blog: http://mrs-browns-diary.blogspot.com/ . Here you will be able to find out the secret life of Mrs Brown, find out who she is and what the items in her dressing room mean to her.

Plus over the six months the dressing room is on display I will be continuing the project by interacting with the set, photo sessions and some new paintings based around Mrs Brown's story! Make sure you come along to view it all!

The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery,
Bethesda Street, Cultural Quarter,
Stoke-on-Trent, ST1 3DW
Telephone: 01782 232323
Minicom: 01782 232515
E-mail: museums@stoke.gov.uk

Open:  Monday to Saturday 10am - 5pm
              Sunday 2 - 5pm
Admission: FREE.

The lost Pleasure Palaces

I've been trying to find information and photos about The Theatre Royal in Hanley for my dressing room project. This collaborative work with Stoke Pottieries Museum and Art Gallery has been interesting for so many reasons; One of my favourite things has been finding out about the history of Stoke, a place one half of my family came from and partly still live.

I've been specifically looking up information about The Theatre Royal as the dressing room set will be focused around it's 'Grand Re-opening' which occured on 14th August 1951. The museum has an original programme from the night which is very impressive, all expensive cream card and gold embossing on it's cover. You can imagine just how exciting and important this night would have been to the people of Stoke. At a time when entertainment was so popular that it wasn't unusual for towns to have several cinemas and theatres, this grand re-opening would have been a social event not to be missed!

The term 're-opening' is important to remember. Only three years earlier a tragic fire destroyed the entire auditorium of the original theatre leaving only the perimeter walls standing. It is said that the Sadler's Wells Ballet Company who were performing there at the time lost almost the entire production; costumes, scenery, props and the whole collection of musical instruments. Whilst the flames consumed backstage the theatre manager, fearing the loss of important documents, dived into the burning building in his pyjamas and overcoat to save them!

It seems it wasn't just the manager who valued the Royal and what it held. In 1950 the people of Stoke handed a petition with over 50,000 signitures to the Minister of Works asking for permission to build a new theatre. This was post war Britian and building of any kind had to be essential to go ahead. However perhaps out of a sense of public feeling, permission was granted and, like the old legend, a new version of the theatre rose from the ashes.

It re-opened with much pomp and circumstance, the residents of Stoke donning their best outfits and evening wear to enjoy the opening ceremony performed by the The Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire. This was followed by a rousing production of 'Annie Get Your Gun' performed by Newcastle's Operatic Society. There were also several messages of good luck from well known stars of the time including Stoke on Trent's own Gertie Gitana, a music hall entertainer and  peoples favourite who was dubbed the Force's sweetheart during the first world war.

A press clipping for the night shows a group including officials and their wives and children standing next to a smiling cowgirl and cowboy holding huge bouquets. With such auspicious celebrations and so much support for the new venture it shocked and confused me to find out that by 1954 audiences had declined to such an extant that the building was sold off to Moss Empires. Perhaps the growing popularity of Television was to blame for this lack of interest?

Like many small town theatres and cinemas the Royal became a bingo hall for a number years. Evidence of simliar fates can be spotted in many locations if you look for them. In my home town for instance, the bingo hall by the bus station was once one of eight cinemas dotted about the little market town in the 1950's, but more of that later.

What I'm after now is a sense of the grandeur of the re-built Theatre Royal. The character, Mrs Brown, whose dressing room I am to construct and who 'attended' the re-opening event will have been caught up in the excitement and would have revelled in the newness of the building. But what was it like?

If you look for the Theatre Royal on the internet you will find a few outside photos of the frontage. I personally like this flyer from the museum archives which has a great sense of glamour and bustle, I imagine if they could have added huge Hollywood style floodlights pointing to the sky they would! I think this may have been before the re-opening as the building now does not have the pointed top just a flat roof, or it could be that during the theatre's varied history the facade changed as much as the place's purpose.

 

 

There is a wonderfully helpful facebook group page called 'I loved the Theatre Royal Hanley Stoke on Trent' where I have found several interior shots showing stage productions and backstage areas which have a certain amount of poignancy to them now. The best shots  I've seen for giving an idea of what it was like to be a visitor to the theatre show typical tiered red plush seating, stalls and cirlces and decorated relief work around the stage.

Photo copyright of Ian Grundy

 Photo copyright of Ian Grundy

After all this you might be wondering what happened to the Theatre Royal. Well it's fair to say it  has had a turbulant history what with fires re-openings and bingo, it then lay empty for a year before theatre enthusiasts re-opened it again in 1982. But that wasn't the happy ending the theatre deserved; The building closed again after going into liquidation in 1996 and most of it's original fittings and contents were auctioned off. Then just when it seemed there couldn't be any hope for the Royal in 1997 a millionnaire businessman, Mike Lloyd, bought the theatre and began a 1.2 million refurbishment completely rewiring the venue and replacing the seats in the stalls so that they could be removed for stand up rock and pop concerts. A new crest was even placed over the stage in full glory. The theatre held yet another re-opening that year with comedian Ken Dodd doing the honours. Hooray I hear you cry! But hold on, there's more...

Just when it seemd the Theatre Royal was well and truely back, Mike Lloyds' business empire collapsed along with his ownership of the building. In 2001 the council of Stoke on Trent gave planning permission for the building to be turned into a nightclub. The circle and stage have been destroyed, the seating ripped out and the theatre now functions as a bar for 'Jumpin Jaks'. I feel this is a sorry end for a place which inspired so much hope and promise in it's first reincarnation. What would Mrs Brown think?

Gone but not forgotten: 

During my research into Stoke on Trent's theatre, I couldn't help but be reminded about the rich history of cinemas and theatres around the places I live. As mentioned before these palaces still exist if you only look for them, their ghosts still haunt our towns;

 
This is Hulme Hippodrome in Manchester which opened in 1901, a theatre set in the square,  similar in design to the Theare Royal in Hanley. It also served it's time as a bingo hall during the 60's and although this magnificent building still stands it now largely unused, lost amongst the redevelopment and new houses of the area. It is on Manchester City Council's 'At Risk' Register.

This is another Theatre Royal, this time situated in Hyde Greater Manchester. This building holds particular personal interest to me as I remember seeing films there when I was little, even then it was mostly empty, but I loved sitting in the circle looking over it's velvet padded edge and feeling the vastness of the place. There is a painting by Harry Rutherford in Hyde Library's Rutherford Gallery which shows the building in it's glory days; chorus girls dancing on the stage and lime lights twinkling. (Is it suprising this my favourite painting in the gallery?).

In 2007 I attended an open day and along with a group of other intrigued people I took a stroll around the theatre's dark empty interior, a very affecting experience for many reasons I think you'll understand. You can take a virtual tour around the building HERE.

The theatre is now listed with plans for surveys towards restoration thanks to the efforts of  The Theatre Royal Onwards Team 

Another  theatre/cinema masquerading as something else. This Quality Save in Hyde used to be The Hippodrome. I've never seen it as anything but a supermarket but it's tell tale shape is a giveaway to a more glamorous past.

You can find out about the history of the building and the family behind it HERE.

It would seem  from looking at these photos that no-one appreciates the pleasure palaces of old these days, but that is where I can give this post a happy ending at last! 

Last year some of you may remember I visited the Plaza in Stockport. A classic example of an entertainment palace from a bygone era, but in this instance, it is a fully working cinema and theatre, showing vintage films and a variety of plays, pantomimes and music events. It is beautiful inside down to the last detail and a real pleasure to be inside. It proves that sometimes the old styles are the best, and sometimes there's nothing we need more then a break from the modern world.
 

Dressing room update!

The chosen dress

I haven't written anything yet about my collaborative project with Stoke Potteries Museum and Art Gallery this year! So I thought I better update you and tell you how things are progressing;

My last visit to the museum was in December where we were putting together the outfit to be displayed in Mrs Brown's dressing room set. If you remember, Mrs Brown is the character inspired by our many finds in the museum's decorative arts collection. A woman of the early 1950's (late 1940's overlap) with a penchant for movies, fashion and fun, a young vivacious dreamer married to an older staid gentleman. A woman with a normal life to outward appearances but with dreams and secrets upon closer inspection of her belongings.

The intention of this project is to illustrate a story using belongings whilst celebrating femininity and artifice at the same time. The artifice of the dressing table and the artifice of the public persona.

After happily trawlling through boxes of beautiful vintage gowns and underwear (some of it not so beautiful, see The Beast, a rubber girdle, for example) and deliberating over shoes and accessories, myself and Laura, the museum's Documentation Assisitant, have whittled down an outfit fit to grace the girlsih dramatic ideals of Mrs Brown.

The dress which has been chosen came out top after much deliberation; firstly I wanted something 'young' and glamorous yet quite formal and dressy as the set revolves around an invite to Hanley's Grand Re-opening of the Theatre Royal

I had three dresses in mind and had to choose what would suit the character and situation best. One dress was too large in size to fit the idea of the flighty naive Mrs Brown, and the other although bright and eye catching didn't have the umph factor for an exclusive evening in town!

 

Too large, although you can't tell it from the photo this dress is a size 16

I initially bypassed the (now) chosen frock as I thought it might be too dressy for a young middle class woman living in Stoke in 1951. However it seems the dress's true history helped me to make my mind up as it was bought in a sale at Marshall & Snellgrove. This made it seem much more believable as an option as this was exclusive store with the new  sensation of ready to wear lines. Plus I was sent this wonderful press cutting about the Grand Re-opening, and as you can see everyone was dressed up to the nines!

The next decision was accesories, Laura sent me some fabulous items to choose from and in the end I've chosen these shoes from the early 1950's:

And a glamorous fur stole and classy jewellery which wouldn't look out of place on a film star, so would certainly appeal to a film fanatic like Mrs Brown. The evening bag is yet to be decided. It's been tough trying to find one in the collection which will complement the rest of the ensemble, I'll keep you posted:

 

These items will be arranged around the dressing room to illustrate Mrs Brown's return from the big night, her stole and shoes discarded and her gown hung up once again. Of course a lady would have to have some foundation to these garments and her underwear and stockings will also take a place in the set. So far I have chosen these unmentionables to make an appearance:

The suspender belt from this photo accompanied by a peach strapless bustier

Something else was brought to my attention whilst sorting out ideas for the set and display cases. It seems the dress which will be used has had it's pink fins added after purchase as tiny hand stitches can be seen holding them in place. This fits wonderfully well with the notion of the make do and mend generation of the time, but also illustrates another point; Mrs Brown is a  keen follower of fashion, eager to emmulate her favourite actress or singer in the glamour stakes and as mentioned before in this blog could have easily been one of the many women who used dress patterns to spruce up her wardrobe.

It was decided that to convey this idea one of the small display cases next to the dressing room set will contain sewing materials. Laura found this adorable etui from the correct era in the museum's collection along with this fabulous Balmans pattern 'Designed in Paris'. Paris being the epicentre of cutting edge fashion and of especial interest to Mrs Brown this pattern is spot on, also I think the shape is not a million miles away from our chosed dress, what a find!

As things begin to draw towards the date of completion I am busy pulling all the information  togehter about the items we've discovered, the magazines of the time and the various  references to  the local area and popular culture of the era so that Mrs Brown's hidden story will be ready for discovery!

During the exhibition of the dressing room set 'Mrs Brown's Diary' will be published online in a brand new blog to accompany the project.  This will be a first person account into her daily life focused around the 14th August 1951, the night of the Grand Re-opening! Here you will find out where her love of films and fashion stems from, why she married her husband, and who the mysterious man in the photo hidden in her handbag is... Not to mention various peeks into her private thoughts and passions which will be hinted at through the items displayed in her dressing room. 

The woman behind the outfit

It's time to start putting a face to the character of my dressing room set project with Stoke Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.

I can't keep calling her 'the character' and to be honest she has really started to take shape over the past few weeks. Reading the magazines of her era has really put the objects we've found in the decorative arts collection into perspective. The irony is we will never see her face, or really know what she looks like, and I kind of like that mystery. What we will see is her style, her tastes and how she lives her life illustrated through her dressing room.

We know she's young, married and sociable. She's a film fanatic, adores the movie stars and dreams she can be like them. She, like many women from that era, was starved of new fashion for years both by the restrictions on materials and fripperies and by her social situation. So like many others she followed vicariously through magazines and films, reproducing and customising items if she could.

Next week I will have the opportunity of viewing the clothes, underwear and accessories that are housed in the decorative arts collection of the museum and making some decisions as to what she would wear. In the meantime I have been looking into ladies fashion from the late 1940's early fifties to try and find her style.

A McCall's pattern from 1948 were you can see the influence of Dior's New Look; a wider skirt and emphasis on the waist

I can see her wearing young clothes and trying to incorporate the latest fashions where she can. As Scarlett O Hara's mother said, 'It's only natural to want to look young and be young when you are young' and this statement could sum up her outlook on life too. Married to an older man perhaps she feels fashion is her defining feature, to keep hold of her identity?

The sailor style from the mid to late Forties, note the hats and gloves

A Hollywood Pattern pantsuit, very modern!

Fashions associated with Hollywood and the film industry would appeal to her immensely. In 1947 Horrocks Fashions Ltd (based in North England) was beginning to produce simple off the peg cotton dresses promoted by British film stars. Horrocks had read the public's craving for newness and change. One of the reasons for using cotton was that it had been seen as second rate material for so long during the austere war years. Now it was being publicised as a real fashion item to boost sales in Britain.

A long evening version of the Horrocks dress style

The Horrocks styles were dynamic and new, featuring yet again the narrow waist and full skirt which followed the Paris fashions. The prints were fun, colouful and bright. You can certainly see the embryoic style of the stereotypical 50's housewife in them. One of their selling features was the high quality of the fabric that was easy to iron and take care of.

Other clothes:
Stockings would have been hard to get hold of which leaves an opening again for dealings with the black market (see my last post) and fraternizing with possible unsavoury characters.

Hats and headscarves remained a popular accessory during and after the war. Headscarves were firstly used as a practicality for women working in the factories to keep their hair safe from machinary, but the style caught on and crossed all classes becoming a staple item for all. Even the Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, became known for wearing her headscarf tied under the chin.

Gloves were still big news and completed an outfit. There was still a definate ettiquette too. A 1948 edition of Vogue offered an article on gloves stating:

'Modern usage holds that gloves should be worn on occasions such as these: going to a formal luncheon, dinner, reception, or dance; in the streets of large towns and cities; going to and from church; going to official receptions or entertainments...a woman should always take off her gloves before she starts smoking, playing cards, eating, drinking or putting on make-up.'

I think my character would have adhered to these simple rules to try and define herself amongst other woman, especially if she read it in Vogue!

I'm not sure what we will find in the collection next week but I now have an idea to work towards in a sense of colours and personality. Oh and before I forget, her name... ... it's Mrs Brown.