tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post5701538724236288892..comments2024-03-28T09:33:29.705+00:00Comments on Clothes In Books: Dress Down Sunday: The Glass of Fashion by Cecil BeatonClothes In Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-27319194330931283532015-02-03T18:49:38.975+00:002015-02-03T18:49:38.975+00:00Oh how nice - I love good photography books. Oh how nice - I love good photography books. Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-13931612367962690842015-02-03T17:19:37.568+00:002015-02-03T17:19:37.568+00:00I will have to seek out some of his photography. G...I will have to seek out some of his photography. Glen is very much into any kind of photography so the interest has migrated to me. We have stacks (and this time I mean literally) of photo art books all over our small living room.TracyKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08303342674824383688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-53080320199150445962015-02-03T10:31:08.624+00:002015-02-03T10:31:08.624+00:00I think My Fair Lady was his big moment. He did a ...I think My Fair Lady was his big moment. He did a lot of things, not really specializing - you wonder a bit if he should have concentrated more. I like his fashion photos best, they are works of art. Designed to look beautiful rather than show off the clothes. Recently I went to a small exhibition of his photos near here - very much pictures he took of his friends having lovely weekends away, or dressed up for a costume party. He was very well-connected. Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-54804173097292116802015-02-03T09:37:33.016+00:002015-02-03T09:37:33.016+00:00Also let me know if you'd like a photo of Mrs ...Also let me know if you'd like a photo of Mrs Pritchard. I found one in a 1902 copy of The Queen. She's surprisingly youthful and really very attractive. I'd been imagining a dictatorial Vreeland type! I know so little about her but she was one of the first female fashion writers to publish and write journalism under her own name, and her wry humour, cutting observations and surprisingly modern common sense combined with flashes of idiosyncratic personal opinion make Cult of Chiffon such a fantastic read as well as a highly valuable resource.Daniel Milford-Cottamhttp://facebook.com/danielmilfordcottamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-41490228168822764672015-02-03T09:26:46.814+00:002015-02-03T09:26:46.814+00:00I'd be very flattered! Thank you. Please let m...I'd be very flattered! Thank you. Please let me know if you'd like it written up or expanded.Daniel Milford-Cottamhttp://facebook.com/danielmilfordcottamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-42973068538345362792015-02-03T00:04:10.792+00:002015-02-03T00:04:10.792+00:00All I know about Cecil Beaton is that he has tons ...All I know about Cecil Beaton is that he has tons of movie credits for costume design. Or maybe not tons, and I just watched My Fair Lady so many times and I kept seeing his name over and over. TracyKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08303342674824383688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-67096415467559700772015-02-02T22:49:59.041+00:002015-02-02T22:49:59.041+00:00I need to move this fascinating piece above the li...I need to move this fascinating piece above the line, Daniel - can I turn it into a guest blog for next Sunday...?Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-28786407362674902852015-02-02T10:53:35.710+00:002015-02-02T10:53:35.710+00:00Ahhh, that lovely old bit of chestnutty dingly-dan...Ahhh, that lovely old bit of chestnutty dingly-dangly-male-specific-bits about how every Victorian woman had a 16 inch (or less) waist or wanted one. Or that the ideal waist size was 18." I have nothing against waist fetishists and perverts but sometimes I could quite cheerfully track down the original tight-lacing pervs and beat them about the head repeatedly with an ironclad* for writing their fantasies up in such a way that future perverts and non-perverts took them as gospel truth and reported accordingly.<br /><br />As the marvellous Mrs. Eric Pritchard wrote in "The Cult of Chiffon" in 1902 (a time when, if you believe a lot of people, every woman was forcing herself into a S-bend corset of unimaginable waist-minisculeness) , "there never was a time when tight-lacing was less in favour" and advising her readers that such practises were vulgar and viewed with disfavour. I have a good myth-busting go at this in my "Edwardian Fashion" book for Shire. (sorry! Vulgar book plug!)<br /><br />In addition to this, Doris Langley-Moore, whose collection formed the basis of the Fashion Museum's in Bath, in the late 1940s, carried out an intensive survey with a tape measure of 19th century dresses from the period, to investigate the 18-inch waist myth. She found that almost none of the bodices surveyed had a waist of less than 22 inches, and that the average corseted waist measurement of actual dresses was around 26-28 inches.<br /><br />Back to Mrs Pritchard - her "The Cult of Chiffon" - basically a style manual advising the fashionable lady of 1902 on how to dress - is magnificent. It desperately needs to be produced as a facsimile edition - I have an original, incredibly rare copy of it, and it provided so many wonderful quotes for Edwardian Fashion, such as, on the tendency of "nice" ladies to wear revolting Victorian underwear, such as hideous "drab-coloured merino combinations - thick, rough and high to the neck":<br /><br />"Can one wonder that marriage is so often a failure and that the English husband of such a class of woman goes where he can admire the petticoat of aspirations?"<br /><br />I adore Mrs. Eric Pritchard. She needs to be better known.<br /><br />On well-dressed women wearing ugly undies: "There is something so hopelessly vulgar in beautifying only the outside of the platter."<br /><br />On flashy footwear: "As for the boots that are visible a mile away, we certainly do not wish to see the woman who is wearing them."<br /><br />* An ironclad being a popular colloquial term of the time for those VERY heavy-duty bulletproof "tea rose" corsets that were still being worn by well-upholstered ladies of a certain age well into the 1960s and 70s....Daniel Milford-Cottamhttps://www.facebook.com/danielmilfordcottamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-58332477258103633892015-02-02T09:16:39.314+00:002015-02-02T09:16:39.314+00:00I know - the whole thing is ridiculous and annoyin...I know - the whole thing is ridiculous and annoying, and it's so obvious that there is no one standard of beauty... Thanks for visiting. Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-40937995659116600912015-02-02T03:48:25.326+00:002015-02-02T03:48:25.326+00:00In the days when a voluptuous body was fashionable...In the days when a voluptuous body was fashionable, thin women wrung their hands and hated themselves. Today, it's the opposite. I don't know that worshiping any one kind of figure is ideal. Every era's cultural tastes have made outsiders of some. Kelly Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01752857506190488860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-34422957119752441372015-02-01T22:18:24.579+00:002015-02-01T22:18:24.579+00:00I agree with you Bill - it can be a touchy subject...I agree with you Bill - it can be a touchy subject, and one we have to be careful about, but some of the images we see are very unhealthy....Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-18458529831170484422015-02-01T21:56:15.199+00:002015-02-01T21:56:15.199+00:00Moira: You are not going to draw me into what men ...Moira: You are not going to draw me into what men currently think is the female ideal. I will say that I cringe many days looking at photos, especially in magazines, of models that must have starved themselves.Bill Selneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17268006369157307593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-11142394449519050952015-02-01T20:02:49.237+00:002015-02-01T20:02:49.237+00:00Prashant, I would love to have his opinion on mode...Prashant, I would love to have his opinion on modern fashions!Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-53721794964029487152015-02-01T20:02:26.291+00:002015-02-01T20:02:26.291+00:00Yes, that's exactly right Margot. I'm glad...Yes, that's exactly right Margot. I'm glad I read it, and there were nuggets that I found surprising or interesting....Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-50488557311392464142015-02-01T20:01:32.913+00:002015-02-01T20:01:32.913+00:00I think it would be a toss-up for you. Keep away f...I think it would be a toss-up for you. Keep away from both authors....Clothes In Bookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14680610242823846662noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-3162999726115027542015-02-01T13:20:24.458+00:002015-02-01T13:20:24.458+00:00Moira, Cecil Beatons says, "...nowadays women...Moira, Cecil Beatons says, "...nowadays women are neither demurely pretty nor handsome." This was in 1954. I wonder what he'd think of women's (and men's) fashion today, more than half a century later. Now, have clothes, will wear seems to be the norm.Prashant C. Trikannadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16079354501998741758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-8275133893400571412015-02-01T12:15:40.110+00:002015-02-01T12:15:40.110+00:00Moira - I have to admit, I love this line of your...Moira - I have to admit, I love this line of yours: <i>There are anecdotes trying (and usually failing) to show their brilliance and wit. </i>. I know precisely what you mean here, too. On the one hand, this sounds like it has all sorts of interesting information, and from the perspective of someone who knows, so to speak. Sounds like it's better as a resource than it is as a story if that makes any sense?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6129427507761315524.post-82087904705533669932015-02-01T11:25:14.767+00:002015-02-01T11:25:14.767+00:00Glad to see you got the obligatory Mitford mention...Glad to see you got the obligatory Mitford mention out of the way so early in the month! I think I'd be pushed to find a book I'd be less inclined to read than this....maybe Sax Rohmer.col2910https://www.blogger.com/profile/06422138069939709043noreply@blogger.com