Style is Eternal

I travelled up to Barnard Castle this weekend to see the Yves Saint Laurent retrospective at the Bowes Museum, a (deferred) birthday treat arranged by my good friend Patsy.

Et voila! 

A French chateau in the middle of County Durham may be a little incongruous, but it is a magnificent building. 

Interestingly, it was always intended to be a museum, built by John and Josephine Bowes to house their collection of European decorative arts; the museum first opened to the public in 1892.  

We took full advantage of the excellent backdrop, of course...

and were very excited about seeing the exhibition.

See?

Fashionable eyebrows were raised when the Bowes Museum was chosen as the venue for this YSL retrospective, the first ever shown in Britain. It is certainly a huge coup for Joanna Hashagen, the museum's fashion curator. But why not? London gets most of the interesting exhibitions, so it makes a refreshing change for the provinces, especially the North, to get a look in. 

The clothes are spectacular.

I wasn't sure if photography was allowed (it usually isn't) but I surreptitiously snapped a few of the exhibits.

The bright pink Zepherine dress (far right) is from 1958, when Saint Laurent was designing at Dior; it featured in a fashion show attended by Princess Margaret at Blenheim Palace in that year, and has only recently been rediscovered.

 

 

The famous Mondrian dress, 1965; the influence of art is evident in many of the designs. 

 

 

 

 

   

 

I love the exuberance of this 1960s magazine spread.  

Chic tuxedo, 1966.

 

 

Le Smoking.

 

Sheer brilliance. 

 

 

 

Matisse dress, 1980.

There are so many iconic designs in the exhibition, it was a real pleasure to see them up close and beautiful. 

 

 

 Barnard Castle is a pretty market town, and Patsy and I had lunch and checked out the charity shops. Of course.

And I found my own little bit of 1960s glamour...

a Hong Kong-made silk and sequin top and skirt set.

The top fits, but the skirt is tiny. The pieces were hung separately in the shop, priced at £4.99 each, and although I have no idea what I will do with the skirt, it seemed wrong to leave it behind. 

 

(If you have a miniscule waist and hips, and don't mind paying high postage costs - it's very heavy - email me and I'll send you the skirt; it deserves a good home.)

 

 Silk palazzo pants - flea market

 Sandals, bangles and 1970s magnifying glass pendant - charity shopped 

 

I'm hoping a soupcon of YSL magic has rubbed off on me!

xxxx

All dressed up with somewhere to go

Any of you who have followed my blog for a while will know that I am far from a domestic goddess.

I cook pretty well, feed the family perfectly respectable meals, and deal with the 

mountain of washing and ironing generated by a household of five in reasonably efficient form.

But cleaning... No, I am not good at cleaning. 

Housework is a pointless, thankless chore which I avoid as much as possible, until the cat hair and crumb levels threaten to overwhelm us, and the appearance of unscheduled visitors has me hanging my head in shame and refusing to answer the front door.

 

And I don't remember where I put things. I am not good at that kind of efficient household organisation either, we constantly seem to swim along at the outer edges of a chaotic whirlpool of randomness.

 

Unnecessary vintage glamour - that is something I am good at. 

 

I had a mini tidy up today (yes, visitors were scheduled) and this seemed as good an outfit as any.

 

 

 

 

1970s angel sleeve maxi dress - Ebay (£1)

Sequin top - jumble sale (25p)

Sunglasses, gold leather belt and shoes - charity shopped (50p, £1 and £5 respectively)

1950s carpet bag - flea market (£15 - blew the budget...)

Frida pendant - handmade gift from darling Tamera (we are all sending love to Miss KaeKae)

 

 

A pretty cheap outfit then (apart from the bag). 

 

Ridiculously inappropriate for shopping at Lidl and then hoovering, but never mind.

 

During my mammoth clothes-putting-away session, I found myself left with these;

22, yes, 22 odd socks. All kids'. A range of sizes. All in want of a partner.

How does this happen? Where are the other 22 socks? I know I am untidy and inefficient and domestically challenged, but seriously - where could they be? 

Anyone know? If you do, you must be a genius, it's a total mystery to me.

 

I had to go into the garden and take some photos to soothe my puzzled and irritated mood. 

 

 

 

 

 

Something else which will improve my mood immensely is another blogger meet up.

 

I know, two in five days - hurray!

Anyone in Walsall tomorrow - look out for this posse of poncho honchos!

 

 

 

 

I am looking forward to it so much, I fear I may explode with excitement.

What will you be doing tomorrow? Whatever it is, we will raise a glass to you in Wetherspoons, I'm sure!

xxxx