Two-year Blog Anniversary

Clothes in Books is just two years old, so now seems like a good time to look back at the past year

A list of the ten best books of the year will appear on Monday



Pierrots - that's the kind of subject we like. And the kind of photo we like. And (Angela Carter's Wise Children) the kind of book we like

 

Major blog news was that the Guardian newspaper liked what it saw here, and asked me to take part in a podcast on fashion in books, then invited me to contribute to their excellent books blog. So I now write regularly for them, and you can find links to those particular entries by clicking on the tab above.

Guest bloggers are always welcome - instances in 2013

could it be that I am rather common?

included a hilarious take on an alleged YA classic, from Lucy Fisher (picture right), a lovely look at Patrick Leigh Fermor from Veronica Horwell, and super-traveller and super-translator Julia Slater matching up with the Just So Stories. But recently we have welcomed a regular guest blogger, Colm Redmond, whose job it is to vary the content, and who has found some mind-boggling images and stories, and some books CiB probably wouldn’t have thought of.

yes that is Morrissey, and Kristeen Young, and no we don't know what they are doing

Poems have always appeared occasionally, but this year there was a new departure when I translated (freely) one of Sappho’s poems from the Ancient Greek for an entry.

Look at us now Kleis, you with your hair

all kinds of dress except the ecclesiastical

The photos were from Perry Photograpy: we get some of our best pictures from there, including lovely ones like this from the Venice Carnevale.   

More poems came with a look at Tudor hero Thomas Wyatt and his troubled relationships, a visit to Adlestrop, an Armistice Day special, and to mark Seamus Heaney’s death.

Particularly popular discussions and research:

1)   We looked at domestic arrangements and cooking problems in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse.

2) Salome – what does she wear on stage, and can good singers be expected to dance too? 

3) ...and underwear for singers (OK, Salome doesn't wear much), and for everyone really - what's the best material for corsets? Ken Nye (see below) tells us, The Little Shadows shows us (more on Marina Endicott's masterpiece on Monday).

4) Advertising agencies in 1930s novels – which would be the best one to work in? (Dorothy L Sayers' Pym’s, by a long way – cakes for tea.)
 

5) Pierrots –  existential everymen from the commedia dell'arte, or English seaside entertainers? And what IS Lord Peter doing in that harlequin suit?

6) Shingles, bingles, bobs and related hair triumph and tragedy.


Many many people have given helpful input, but I must make a special mention of costume expert Ken Nye, who knows the answer to most clothes questions, and is always willing to help out with a technical tipoff, a full explanation, or a useful picture.

The photos   As ever, I am immensely grateful to all the wonderful organizations and individuals who have made their photos available on the web – I am always amazed and impressed by their generosity.

 


Sometimes I am really really happy with the match of book and picture- for example, above, No Love Lost by Margery Allingham and The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler.
 

Sometimes I find descriptions I would love to find a photo for: lesbian shirt blouses in this entry; ‘Their knickers are made of crepe de chine and their shoes are made of python’ from Louis MacNiece’s poem Bagpipe Music; ‘a scarlet leisure suit appliqued with characters from Tintin’ worn by an expectant mother in this book.


Sometimes I come across a photo and long to find a novel to match: surely somewhere there is a book to go with this (right), from the glorious free vintage knitting pattern site, straightforwardly described as the Lady-Man Poncho-skirt. (Maybe Armistead Maupin in his wilder moments, could you see Mary Ann and Brian in this combo?)







The picture that got away. So far.

And as I said in the entry for this book: ‘Maybe one day I will find the book that requires as illo the photo called ‘Miss Godby dancing to the dirge’, (subtitle: Queen of the Fairies foretelling the death of Prince Llewellyn) and then I will probably think the blog can close down.’ But I don’t think that’ll be happening anytime soon.








Thanks to all of you for reading, commenting, making suggestions and contributing information, photographs and blog entries. Making new blog friends has been the nicest and most unexpected part of running Clothes in Books - I'd be lost without you.

Don't forget to look out for the 10 best books read in the past year, Monday's entry.