All posts tagged: England

Friday reads: I Capture the Castle

Published by The Dreamstress

Writing Friday Reviews is hard work, and sometime I run out of things to review.  Besides, they can’t be that interesting for those of you who don’t live in NZ and can’t visit the stores I blog about. So, I’m going to break things up by doing book reviews/recommendations/musings on Friday.  Not the usual book reviews, but reviews of old, historical, and often quite obscure books. This weeks book isn’t so obscure: it made a list of the 100 most beloved English books, but it is historical, and is well worth reading. I Capture the Castle is (as I like to say in my brightest schoolmarm voice) “a bittersweet coming of age tale about a young woman discovering the joys and pitfalls of love and life.” Please don’t hold that against it! It’s also a beautifully detailed snapshot of English rural life in the 1930’s, and of the peculiar lines that were drawn between the classes in an age when social status was all about your family, and when even the upper class could be …

Let’s go on a picnic!

Published by The Dreamstress

I was asked what a middle class English family would have worn to a picnic in 1871. What fun!  I love picnics, and 1871 is such a fun period for them – such ridiculously over the top day dresses for ladies. This week I’m going to be exploring the question through period prints, paintings, and real clothes. First, let’s start with some prints and paintings, so that we can get an idea of what a full scene would look like: These three prints show relaxed picnic scenes in 1871.  The first two are set in England, and the last one, based on the musicians, is probably set in America, and appears to show a less respectable scene. The thing about prints is that they are often like today’s fashion spreads: glamourised, romanticised, and with ensembles based on the very latest fashions. The thing about real life is that it isn’t like fashion spreads.  Most people wear clothes they have owned for a few years or more.  Not everyone is pretty, or charming.  So a picnic …