To me, springtime in Wellington means a glory of magnolia blossoms in the suburb of Thorndon and the botanical gardens, an obsession I share with noted NZ artist Rita Angus. The magnolias were at their absolute peak when Theresa and I visited the gardens last Friday, and some of the best photographs were taken against the serene mauve petals, or in the dappled shade of the twisting branches.
My friend Theresa, who modelled in Pompeii to Paris, is in town, and she asked me if we could please, please, pretty please do a photoshoot while she is here. And could she wear the Jeanne Samary dress? And since she asked so nicely, and since it is Theresa, and since she is gorgeous, of course I said yes! Unfortunately we both had scheduling issues, so I wasn’t able to arrange a full photoshoot with a decent (e.g. a lot better than me) photographer. So we decided to just keep it really low key. We dolled each other up and ran around in the Botanical Gardens with my camera on a Friday afternoon and hoped we got something good. The photos themselves were a bit tricky as the light was really difficult, but the afternoon itself was a blast; the perfect way to spend a day with a good friend. These are my favourites: And the very best one of all:
Last week I tried very hard to pick an interesting dress, but some of you still complained that Jessie Franklin Turner’s harlequin inspired evening frock was boring. I think it’s just a difference of perception: for me, cut is what makes a garment most intriguing, but others may be more colour or fabric focused. While a few of you loved the dress, most of you, even if you thought it was interesting, found it uninspiring, and it received an very middle of the road, uninspired 5 out of 10. Since muted colours and fascinating cut weren’t your thing, how about very basic cut, and totally over the top colour? This military influenced dress from ca 1865 celebrates the new vogue for extremely bright colours sparked by the invention of the first aniline dyes at the end of the 1850s. Whether the brilliant red silk of the dress is the product of the new coal based dyes I am not sure, but even in a room full of violent mauvine purples and vivid acid greens, this …
