Strike a pose. Vogue

It’s been a while since I shared my initial plans to create a space to craft, and while it’s worked out well there have been some additions and changes along the way. The pegboards have been excellent for storage in a space that otherwise wouldn’t have been used, and even though they’re in a cupboard it’s great that they keep things so organised.

But actually the biggest game changer has been the additional desk top - and space that provides - that we added earlier in the year. I don’t know why, but now I just seem to get so much more done and without moving piles or stuff, or projects as I like to call them! Maybe that’s why…

I’m still very much liking the plain white walls, though a couple more things have found their home hanging on the walls here - there’s the colour wheel plate which is already up, and I plan to add a picture which I brought back from my travels, or more precisely from my stopover in Singapore way back in 2000, underneath it.

I thought I was done picture wise.

But it turns out I’m not.

As soon as I saw these at my sewing group’s recent stash sale I knew that some would end up on the wall in my craft room. But how many? I guessed three would work, as I think things in odd numbers always look better. But which three? Eventually I narrowed it down and left with these three images from a vintage Vogue pattern catalogue, thought to date back to 1949/50, and I couldn’t be happier.

Each of them makes me smile for many reasons, and not just for the illustrations which in so many ways reminded me of those I shared from the Biba exhibition recently, but also for the memories of flicking through pattern catalogues in shops which have long gone; The Button Shop in South Norwood High Street and Allders in Croydon are just two that spring to mind.

1 The Jacket Dress

This was actually the last of the images I chose, and it was chosen to balance colour-wise alongside the two-piece dress further below, but that wasn’t the only reason. I’m not so good with jackets, and have few in my wardrobe, though I did fall in love and buy one last summer, and I’ve worn that precisely, once!

But as the text says ‘the jacket-dress is a staunch friend of the busy woman who is in a whirl of activities thoughout the day’ - maybe I just don’t have enough whirl to my activities, though of course with this I would!

2 The One-Piece Dress “Easy-To-Make”

Ah yes, the ballgown which is labelled as easy to make. Yes, I’m sure it is if you’re an expert sewer, and maybe that was the market when the catalogue was published. However I loved the drawings, and was quite taken with the pink version, and the tiny waist.

Looking at the sizing table though, and another indication of how things have changed. A size 14 with a 32 bust - today’s size 14 is usually a 38-40 bust.

3 Two-Piece Dress and Detachable Apron

Indeed, it’s what my wardrobe has been missing! Not. This was the one the first caught my eye. The style of the dress itself is hardly dated at all, but the idea of having an ‘apron overskirt’ is a whole other world away isn’t it. It’s a glorious part of history though, and I know all of the illustrations will look great on my wall.

The stash sale itself was a really friendly and sharing event. Everyone was keen to see everyone’s purchases and new treasures. These illustrations drew some admiration, and I got talking to two older ladies who shared that their mothers had ‘done the housework in their Sunday best’ as that’s what was done then, so the apron would have been a useful addition. One lady recalled how her mother used to have a bath in the afternoon, after the housework and before cooking dinner for when her husband arrived home.

I was speaking to my mum shortly after and recalled the stories above, mum retold a story about her nan always having her best underwear on when she went out, even if that was across the road to the shop, just in case she got run over. It gives a lot of credence to the old adage doesn’t it? Anyway, onto framing my pictures.

Framing them

My plan now (or well soon) is to get these custom-framed, as they’re not a standard size so it’s not as simple as just buying a frame, or as cheap! We’ve had some artwork framed since we moved here, but sadly the shop that did this (and did them very well) has now closed, though they recommended another shop in town, so I’ll have to check that one out.

My thoughts are to have a very simple, thin frame. Ideally I’d like a metal frame but I don’t think my budget will stretch to that (but I’m happy to be proven wrong!) so my second choice will be a metallic coloured frame - I’m nothing if not resourceful! But we’ll see. I’ve also worked out that with a narrow frame, all three can hang side by side which is my preference.

So it’s a watch this space, but in the meantime every time I see them I can’t help but smile and think this is the best £3 I’ve probably ever spent.

The Biba Story: Fashion Illustrations

As you know when I pop down to London for a visit I like to combine the primary purpose of my trip with a bit of culture. Sometimes that’s a walk around the shops in Regent Street, and sometimes if I can I like to combine it with visiting an exhibition. Last summer (yes, I know it’s taken a while to share these) I was able to do just that and dragged MOH along to the Biba exhibition at the Fashion & Textiles Museum in Bermondsey. Which despite growing up and living in London until a year or so before I’d never been to, but that’s how it goes sometimes isn’t it.

It’s a great museum, and one I’m sure I’ll be back to in the future. If you’ve not discovered this already it’s ‘the only UK museum dedicated to showcasing contemporary fashion and textile design’ and was set up by Dame Zandra Rhodes in 2003, and is housed in a very distinctive, and very Zandra building - it’s definitely easy to spot as you approach it!

I’d heard of Biba, the shops and the clothes, but didn’t really know much more as in the mid-seventies I was under ten years old, which is a pretty good excuse I’d say! But I knew how iconic it was, and was keen to learn more - and while it wouldn’t be the number one thing that MOH would choose to go to, he was happy to come along, which was just as well as I’d got him a ticket!

The exhibition shares the Biba story from 1964 when the first Biba Boutique opened to 1975 when the legendary Big Biba closed its doors; it explores how Biba blossomed to become the world’s first lifestyle label which ‘sparked a revolution in how people shopped’ and how Biba became the brand that epitomises the 60s and 70s fashion.

In this post I’m sharing some of the fashion illustrations by Barbara Hulanicki who established a mail-order company selling affordable fashion appealing to a new generation of young women. I’ll share more of the clothes and the lifestyle brand in future posts next month.

Barbara had a natural aptitude for art, and that became her refuge following the assassination of her father. She studied fashion at Brighton Art School (now the University of Brighton) and started her first career as a fashion illustrator in 1957 where she covered the Paris couture shows for publications such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, as well as working on British newspapers.

The show notes said that ‘as one of the most in-demand fashion illustrators of the period’ she had close contact with those putting on the couture shows, and their collections and she realised ‘how out of step they were with the emerging world of youth culture and the lives of young women’.

What’s interesting to me is seeing how the illustrations change, the earlier ones which I assume are from the couture shows are of designs which are much more formal - and very reminiscent of ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ even though the film wasn’t released until 1961, based on the novella published in 1958, so I may need to revise my thoughts on who influenced who!

The illustration on the left below from circa 1963 still retains some of that formality, but the other two images are much more informal - and the central one especially includes bold colours and patterns.

Three illustrations by Barbara Hulanicki from c 1963

It was in 1963 that Barbara established Biba’s Postal Boutique whilst continuing with her career as a fashion illustrator - and what’s also fascinating to me is how many of these styles, both the formal and more informal designs, could still easily be worn today - and in fact probably are!

My favourite illustration from this part of the exhibition is the one above. Doesn’t the colour and the design just sing out, and oh to have that much talent for designing and drawing these too.

It was truly a fascinating exhibition, and looking back over my photos, it was great to be able to go along and see so much of the story first hand - I’ll share more next month of the clothes and the Biba lifestyle brand, and I’m sure some of the clothes influenced clothes I wore growing up as even though I wasn’t yet in double figures the styles were very familiar.