My Inspiration for April 2020

I spent this April in thoughts of love, leisure and pleasure; partly dues to rereading parts of Milan Kundera’s novel “Slowness” and daydreaming about Fragonard’s series “The Progress of Love”. I daydreamed about all the places for leisure and reverie: parks, promenades, woods, ponds with water lilies, forest groves, meadows… I also enjoyed moments in nature, listening to birds, the river, picking flowers, and also connecting it to the artworks of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists where nature is beautifully portrayed. I listened to John Lennon’s song “Nobody Told Me” a lot this month and it seems fitting for these strange days:

“Everybody’s talking and no one says a word
Everybody’s making love and no one really cares….

Nobody told me there’d be days like these
Nobody told me there’d be days like these
Nobody told me there’d be days like these
Strange days indeed — strange days indeed”

Another joy these days was sitting on my windowsill in sunset, sounds of rain mingling with passionate Chopin’s Nocturnes, inhaling fresh green air of April and gazing at the greenness  I read a beautiful short story collection “Downfall and Other Stories” by Fumiko Hayashi and there will be a review coming soon… The painting of the month was surely a beautiful portrait of a girl with a hat called “Hommage a Renoir” by John Corbet, the colours and the mood touched the strings of my heart. I watched a beautiful Lolitaesque French film “Beau Pere” (1981) about a melancholy pianist whose step-daughter falls in love with him after her mother dies.

“I am a mistake, a ghost.”

(Jorge Luis Borges, from Labyrinths; “The Garden of Forking Paths”)

“To spend a life in dreams, that sounded too lovely.”

(Gillian Flynn “Sharp Objects”)

Pic by Baie.

Pic found here.

333/365 Copenhagen lamps by M. Klasan on Flickr.

Photography by Xuebing Du

Nowy Sącz, Poland, 9 Konarskiego St. house built in 1909, architect: Zenon Adam Remi, taken on 18 April 2017.

Photography by Xuebing Du

untitled by 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong on Flickr.

Picture found here.

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Photo by Stefany Alves.

Richey James Edwards, of Welsh alternative rock group the Manic Street Preachers, Bangkok, Thailand, 27th April 1994. Photo by Kevin Cummins

golden poppy field & poppies over Lancing by Emma Varley

John Corbet, Hommage à Renoir, watercolour on paper, 2020

Beau Pere (1981)

Fashion Inspiration for Spring: Pretty in Pink

Spring is undoubtedly the best time of the year to wear pretty clothes and also a perfect time to compete with the vibrant flowers that fill the landscape where ever you turn. Who wore a white dress better: you or a daisy? Who looks better in light pink: you or the cherry tree blossom? Who looks more fresh and radiant in pale green: you or the newly awaken leaves on the weeping willow trees? Now’s the time to find out! But don’t be intimidated; flowers are so naturally pretty indeed from dawn to dusk and need no jewellery or make up to embellish themselves, but whereas they have to make do with the same colour and shape of petals all their short life, we can change our petals and be a new flower every day! Let’s be vain us peacocks and dress like there is nothing more important in the world, there isn’t in fact, aesthetic is everything. These days I am so in love with that cute, romantic, doll-like look; Japanese fashion mostly, pink, white, lilac, baby blue colours, flowery, gingham print, old lace, rosy cheeks, ribbons and flower crowns, childish stuff, Marie Antoinette vibe, pink eye shadow and glitter everywhere, childlike clothes of 1960s worn by Anna Karina and Yé yé singers, Brooke Shield’s outfits in the film “Pretty Baby” (1978), hats with flowers and ribbons, dresses that look like wedding dresses… These days I even want to wear a kimono!

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Handmade dress, found here.

Eleanor Hardwick shoots for Rookie Mag

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Art by Lethe, found here.

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Edwardian Daydreams of the 1970s – Lace, Pastel Colours, Countryside Idyll

Today we’ll take a look at the Edwardian influence on the fashion of the 1970s and the dreamy world it created where white lace, straw hats, floral prints and pastel colours rule.

Photo by David Hamilton, 1970s

Fashion-wise, the 1970s were an eclectic decade, a trend-driven one, especially compared to the previous ones, like the 1950s which were homogeneous. Fashions ranged from Hollywood-inspired Biba glamour, Glam rock, Yves Saint Lauren’s gypsy exoticism to disco, Studio 54 extravagances, Punk and New wave. There was also one trend that I absolutely adore at the moment – the Edwardian revival which brought a gentle, girly and romantic touch to one’s wardrobe. It is in stark contrast to the bold patterns and bright colours of sixties mini dresses.

I already wrote about the influence of the late Victorian and Edwardian era along with Art Nouveau on sixties psychedelia, both in visual art and in fashion here, but this influence is a tad different. Forget the vibrant colours and shapes of Mucha’s paintings that go perfectly with groovy sixties posters. Open your mind for something whiter, gentler, dreamier….

Jane Birkin (1970) and Edwardian lady (1900)

Photo by David Hamilton, 1970s

Left: Bette Davis, Right: Jerry Hall by David Hamilton

Wearing certain clothes can transport you to a different place in imagination, don’t you agree? Well, the mood of this Edwardian revival fantasy is that of an idealised countryside haven where a maiden in white spends her days in romantic pursuits such as pressing flowers, strolling in the meadows, picking apples, lounging on dozens of soft cushions with floral patterns and daydreaming while the gold rays of sun and gentle breeze peek through the flimsy white curtains, reading long nineteenth century novels by Turgenev or Flaubert in forest glades, Beatrix Potter’s witty innocent world of animals, illustrations by Sarah Key, all the while being dressed in beautiful pastel colours that evoke the softness of Edwardian lace, Lilian Gish and Mary Pickford’s flouncy girlish dresses, long flowing dresses with floral prints and delicate embroidery, straw hats decorated with flowers and ribbons, lace gloves, pretty stockings, and hair in a soft bun with a few locks elegantly framing the face, or all in big rag curls with a large white or blue bow, resembling a hairstyle of a Victorian little schoolgirl.

Brooke Shields in “Pretty Baby” (1978)

Left: Lillian Gish, Right: Mary Pickford, c. 1910s

As you know, films have an influence over fashion. I myself often watch a film and caught myself mentally going through my wardrobe and looking for similar outfits that a heroine is wearing. It’s beyond me. Many films from the seventies have the same romantic Edwardian revival aesthetic, such as Pretty Baby (1978) set in a New Orleans brothel at the turn of the century, women are lounging around in white undergarments and black stockings which is so typically fin de siecle, and Shield Brooks in a white dress holding a doll, adorable.

In Australian drama mystery film Picnic at the Hanging Rock (1975) set in 1900 girls from a boarding school go out in nature for an excursion and are dressed in long white gowns, have straw hats or parasols and white ribbons in their hair, Polanski’s Tess (1979) brought an emphasis on the delicate beauty of floral prints on cotton and that also inspired the designer Laura Ashley, even the film Virgin Suicides (1999) which is set in the seventies has a wardrobe of pastels and florals and all the girls wear such dresses to a school dance.

Left: Brigitte Bardot and Right: Nastassja Kinski

ELLE France, 1978, Gilles Bensimon

Left: dreamy hairstyle, Valentino Haute Couture Spring 2015, Right: photo from 1910

Virgin Suicides (1999)

Left: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Right: two Edwardian ladies, 1900s

Models of the era are also seen wearing the fashion, such as Twiggy with her straw hat with cherries and Jerry Hall in white dress. Many photos by David Hamilton also capture the mood of this Edwardian revival; there’s something dreamy and ethereal about them, a frozen moment with girls in a reverie, either lounging on bed half-naked or surrounded by trees and flower fields wearing long floral dresses and hats, looking so serene as if they belong to another world. The first picture in this post is my favourite at the moment, a girl with a straw hat with ribbons, and stocking, and those warm Pre-Raphaelite colours… mmm…

Edna May photographed by Alexander Bassano, 1907

Jane Birkin looking so Edwardian and adorable!

Even Brigitte Bardot couldn’t resist elegance in white.

Tess (1979)

Seventeen magazine, February 1974

Twiggy in Valentino by Justin de Villeneuve for Vogue Italy, June 1969

Brigitte Bardot

Wedding dress ‘Faye Dunaway’ by Thea Porter, 1970, England – All that lace!!!

Left: Abbey Lee Kershaw by Marcin Tyszka, Vogue Portugal (2008), Right: Alexis Bledel in Tuck Everlasting (2002)

As you can see in the pictures above, the Edwardian revival has found its place in contemporary fashion and cinematography as well. If you like this style, look for things that capture the mood, regardless of the decade.So, do you want to be a pretty and dreamy Edwardian lady too? Well, it is simple, you can wear a white dress, have a cup of tea, read Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary” or Forster’s “A Room With a View”, stroll around wearing a straw hat, pick flowers, press flowers, chase butterflies, surround yourself with white lace and indulge in reveries!