Ruby's Button Tin

Once in a blue moon

I had every intention of posting more often to this blog, but real life just gets in the way doesn't it?  I've re-discovered my enthusiasm for writing so am looking out for short story comps to enter and working on a novel.   Very early stages yet ... so I haven't done much in the way of crafty stuff lately.   
I have been thinking quite a lot about clothes too, having come across some fantastically stylish blogs.  One of my absolute favourites is www.advancedstyle.blogspot.com which is truly inspirational.

It features 'older' women mainly but dashing gentlemen too who aren't slavish followers of fashion but are stylish.  Like this glorious lady in the photo.  I love this site as the women featured aren't trying to pass for twenty-somethings or botox themselves until they look like plastic Barbies.  They look confident and sure of their own style and show that you can be alluring and elegant into your fifties, sixties, seventies and above.  A superb blog so please visit them!

Not sure about the hat but lovin' the dress ...

How gorgeous is this image? 

If you're a Lady Gaga fan (I admit I am, she's bonkers but brilliant) you'll recognise this style of dress from the Bad Romance video.  It's an Alexander McQueen, a mere snip at £4,500.  I love the texture of it, those shimmering reptilian scales.  The floral 'hat' is stunning though it might look over the top even at Ascot.  Her nails are nice too - I think that pale green is fashionable this summer, though it takes some flair to wear it.  I think I'll stick to pale pink or vanilla.

A few more images for you: these are from a notebook I keep of images I've cut out from magazines or flyers.  I can't call them collages as they're so rough & ready, but they're good for leafing through when inspiration runs dry. 

Elegance

Elegance is hard to define, but you know it when you see it.  This lady, as painted by Sir Herbert James Gunn (1893-1964) is pure elegance.  The painting is called 'Pauline Waiting' and you can only imagine who she's waiting for - a husband or lover? and why she's having to wait - is he late?  not coming? 

 
I'm troubled by the fur as I'm sure it would've been real, but I love the hat tilted at an angle and the little veil.  If you look around at the women wandering the nation's shopping centres, pasty in one hand, plastic bag in the other, trainers on their feet and - horrors! - probably bra straps showing or plump midrift, I know which I prefer.

Nancy Cunard, style icon

Maybe this photograph sparked off my fondness for chunky bangles. How amazing does she look!

Apart from this striking image, I'm going to post a short video I came across on Etsy, it's a fantastic piece of stop animation with strong fairytales elements to it and some very lively props! 

Take a look at a book ...

Book covers have a difficult job to do.  Unless we're particularly intrigued by a title or we're familiar with the author they have to tempt us to pick up a book up and maybe even splurge the best part of a tenner on it. 

 I love this cover from 'The Observations' by Jane Harris.  It's a great read, and the cover conveys the elements of suspense and intrigue that run throughout it with the figure half concealing the notebook she's either discovering or hiding.  The dress is beautifully done with the brown fabric almost merging into the background, and the contrast between the white sleeves and the earthy colour of the gown.

How about this for a ridiculously romantic cover?  The tiny well shod foot, the gorgeous dress with the impression of the fabric's weight in the folds and the glossy sheen of it.  The empire line puts the emphasis on the bust, and the puff sleeves draw more attention to the upper part of the body. 

One more romantic outfit ...

I'm not sure whether this is a skirt or dress with a mauve top over it, but it's beautiful.  I love the embroidered flowers, especially in this setting of a flower garden.  I think I bought the book just for this image, but luckily it turned out to be a fun story too.  There seems something very English about the mixture of elegant dress with a more everyday top, implying a streak of our native eccentricity that is so very endearing. 

 

  

 

September Issue and Orlando

I've watched a couple of DVDs lately that've really inspired me, and which are helping to re-awaken a dormant love of clothes.  For years I've not really bothered much - if at all - about fashion, but it was something I loved as a younger woman, and I sort of miss being out of the loop. 

The September Issue concerns the publication of - okay, you guessed it! - the September issue of Vogue.  It's the bumper edition that's become something of an institution, and sounds as though it needs trolley wheels to transport around.  The central character (maybe you've seen the film?) is Anna Wintour, editor and modern urban myth.  She's supposed to be the Ice Queen, regal and unapproachable, but she comes across as rather childlike - easily bored, not bothering to disguise it, self centred and regardless of other peoples feelings.  I can't admire her, despite obvious professionalism and dedication, because of her championing real fur.  As far as I'm concerned, rabbit fur looks better on a bunny than a coat collar, mink looks better on frisky little minks ... you get the picture. 

The real star of the show turns out to be Grace Coddington, model turned uber-fashion-stylist.  She has an extraordinary eye for what makes a compelling fashion shot, and she clearly adores clothes.  Not product.  Clothes. 

Seems to me the reason why I went off fashion was the stress through so much of the 90s and Noughties on clothes as product, as designer label, as 'how much did it cost?'.  Fashion is about fabric though, about texture and colour.  Wintour boasts about how many pages the September issue has.  So what? was my thought.  Seeing Grace Coddington's enticing fashion spreads makes you wonder what kind of magazine Vogue would be if it stopped being so centred on product and advertising, and became a true fashion mag.  But then of course reality means endless pages of advertising, otherwise the magazine would be financially down the drain. 

The next DVD is Orlando, and this film has the most sumptuous clothes.  The costume designer behind it is Sandy Powell, who recently won an Oscar for The Young Victoria, and her vision is superb, knitting together clothes from different periods in English history.  You'll swoon over the dresses and wigs and jewels.  Seeing this made me want to create, got me itching to sew.  I've been cutting out magazie pictures of hair accessories, embroidery, inviting textiles, trying to get clear in my mind what it is I want to make.  Time will tell ... but seeing these two different films has re-awakened that love of clothes as adornment, as joy, not just product. 

Just wish Anna Wintour would renounce real fur ... maybe one day ...
 

The red ballgown bed

Could you imagine waking up in a bed like this? 

It's a room in the Maison Moschino in Milan.  Italian style, of course!! 

Marina and fashion and a knitting sensation

Browsing through yesterday's newspaper was an illuminating business.  Firstly there was an interview with Marina of Marina and the Diamonds fame.  If you haven't heard of her yet, you will.  I can't get 'I am not a robot' out of my head.  It's a beautiful song and she has a fantastic voice.  Plus, what a great outfit ...

I love the cardie with the heart brooch and the sequin on the waistband.  Teaming it with a pale blue skirt shouldn't work ... but does. 

Elsewhere, a lovely article about a knitter who's struck gold.  Self taught 24yr old Ysolda Teague is making a good living from selling her knitting patterns and self published books.  She's a real success story, and stories like hers bring to wider attention the fact there's a lot of money being spent by crafty consumers.  Knitters buy wool, magazines, patterns.  Patchworkers buy fabric and soon will be descending in their hoardes on the V&A in London for a big quilt exhibition.  There's a whole economy which is - I'm sure - overwhelmingly female in terms of buyers, and ought to be an area where female businesses flourish.  A good thing about the development of the web is the number of female indie crafters that sell their wares.  It's not a 'black' economy, but it's a kind of 'alternative' economy, don't you think?

While still on the subject of women in business, there's been a lot of coverage of London Fashion Week recently.  A lot of it revolves around the elite fashion shows, the glossy 'Absolutely Fabulous' mwah-mwah side of things with outlandish clothes or elegant drapery and - horribly - a lot of real fur.  So I was interested to read an article about the less glitzy side of LFW.  Rachel Jones of raejones.co.uk makes and sells shoes, and had a stand in an unglamorous exhibition space where she networked and hoped to interest boutique owners and retailers in stocking her shoes.  With all the interest in catwalk shows it's easy to forget that fashion is a big business that employs a massive number of people.  They design, stitch seams, package up clothes, publicize them, etc.  It's clearly not all champagne and hob-nobbing with celebrities. 

 
 

Fashion, books and inspiring photos

A mixture of things today ... I thought I'd start with a couple of gorgeous fashion pages ripped from a recent Sunday supplement.  I love the layed look of this first picture, and the dramatic colouring.  That scarf is amazing.  I'm not usually a fan of grey, but these muted shades look great with that berry coloured chunky cardie.  I also love the skirt in this next image, those floaty feathers.  Also the sheer incongruity of high fashion in the veggie patch!  
Next up - we're moving on to literature.  Yes, it's a highbrow post today!  I've over halfway through the mighty Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, and still loving it.  The way the writer conveys that world of Henry VIII and his court, it's stunning, the power of her imagination is so deep and the story compelling.  I hope if there's a TV adaptation it manages to strikes the right note, I'd hate it to be a disappointment.  

Still on books, I bought Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens, having not read that particular Dickens yet and having loved the Andrew Davies BBC adaptation on a year or two ago.  He's an author who suits winter afternoons and evenings.  There are some books that are definately winter reads, aren't there?
Finally, still on the subject of writing, I used to do a lot of 'creative writing', mainly short stories, but that kind of stopped when I got so into crafting.  But I want to get back to it, and pictures are often a good way of generating story ideas or characters.  I found this intriguing picture of a girl writing a letter at the Sphinx by the river Thames.  What's she writing?  A love letter?  To whom?  There's a melancholy air to the picture, you get the feeling things aren't going to have a happy ending.