The fabulous Mini

Oh, how the Winter is arriving; the morning chill, the morning frost and dew, the cold wind that cuts your cheeks, big mitts, hand knitted scarves, a nice big woolly coat, and underneath? A mini skirt with warm woolly tights, or leggings or thick knee highs. A mini with any kind of shoe or boot, and just about anything on top.

And what about it being a whole lot easier to run for a bus for example. Well that’s a bit of what Mary Quant had in mind when she designed this practical yet fun and quirky fashion item that is known as the miniskirt.

The miniskirt is what defined Mary Quant in the 1960s. It was the height of the Mod fashion movement of the 1960s where everything was characterised by the rise in youth culture in Britain. Young people of all social classes had more independence, employment and money to spend.

As it still is today, back in the 60s, style and image were practically everything. You’d see it on television, in the shops, in magazines, on billboards, in advertising campaigns, the streets were overrun with fashion, fashion, fashion! And the transition from cinema screen glamour had become available to everyone.

It was the perfect time for Quant to launch her quirky clothes line.

Born and bred in London, Mary Quant brought fun and fantasy to fashion in the 60s. Her designs became a cult part of ‘The London Look’, with her sweater dresses, knee high white plastic lace up boots and so much more.

Mary Quant opened her first shop in 1955 on King’s Road in London and it was called BAZAAR. Its best sellers were small white plastic collars to brighten up black dresses or t-shirts.  Quant has been cited as having said that it was the girls on King’s Road that invented the mini. She would wear her skirts short but her customers would always ask for shorter skirts. The ever evolving skirt had indeed decade by decade been getting shortly, and Quant was at hand to answer these requests. She turned this movement into a name, the mini, named after her favourite car the mini (with whom she worked with later on in her career).

In 1966 she was given an O.B.E (Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elisabeth II for her achievement with the miniskirt, and she also won the Piavola d’oro  award in Italy in the same year.

And in 1991 she was appointed as an honorary member of the Royal College of Arts.

To check out her British Style Genius, check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/britishstylegenius/content/21801.shtml

Old Bill

The first time I glimpsed my eyes on the figure of Ole Bill was last Summer at the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth Road, London. I was there because my boyfriend is into everything and anything related to the war, especially WWII; from the technologies and weapons used, to the uniforms and propaganda (I assure you he isn't a fanatic who sleeps caressing a gun under the blankets...well, never checked, I hope so though!). He's just keen to learn about history. To be honest, I didn't really share this interest of his, but after the visit I found that the museum wasn't boring as I had expected it to be, and there were an array of interesting things to admire and learn about. 

The Imperial War Museum of London is part of five museums, disbursed in different venues in London and England. These museums are dedicated to all aspects of the wars of the past century (anyone remember the “big boat” on the Thames? It's the HMS Belfast, a former light cruiser which is now part of this group of museums).

The Imperial War Museum is located in the building of the former Bethlem Royal Hospital. When we entered the main hall we came face to face with a range of war vehicles, planes and cannons from the two World Wars. To cut a long story short, one of these vehicles was an old bus, the Ole Bill bus.

I was immediately charmed by its old design and style and by some of the details on the vehicle. It was one of the B43 buses requisitioned from public service and used during the First World War as a vehicle for transporting troops to the front-line. Once the buses reached the French front, they were repainted with camouflage colours and used for military purposes (for transportation, as ambulances and even as mobile pigeon lofts). When the war ended, the buses were repurchased by transport companies and reused for public services. 

The bus you see in the museum was used on the London bus routes 8 and 9 until 1920 when it was bought by the Auxiliary Omnibus Companies Association. The new owners refurbished it as a memorial to the buses used during the First World War, and they renamed it “Old Bill” as the famous wartime cartoon character created by Bruce Bairnsfather. So on the front of the vehicle you can see the little head of the cartoon character with the helmet on!

 

Old Bill was very popular during the war period, especially for those troops that relied on him as a morale booster. The cartoon character was an old man with a big moustache and a pipe always in his mouth. In the stories about him, he is always accompanied by Alphie, a young troop mate.

The creator and author, Bruce Bairnfather, choose to set the stories on the war front because he was a soldier himself during the conflict. Coming from a family of soldiers, he tried, but failed to join military academes, therefore he joined an infantry regiment from which he resigned in 1907 to pursue art studies. But, when the First World War broke out he rejoined the army and fought in France until he was hospitalised for an injury. I'm saying all this because it was thanks to that time that he spent in the hospital that he created the series. The series was published on the tabloid Bystander that spoke about life on the front, the series that included the figure of Old Bill.

Visit the Imperial War Musuem at http://www.iwm.org.uk/

Check out Old Bill Historic Transport at http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=359

Kitchen Sink

John Bratby, The Toilet 1955

Kitchen Sink realism describes a British cultural movement that developed in the late 50s and early 60s in theatre, art, novels, films and television.

Before the 1950s, the cultural side of the UK’s working class was often portrayed in situations like drawing room plays (scenes set in the drawing room of a house) . Drawing room plays were developed in the Victorian period as a source of guest entertainment. They had always been  a highlighted point for social criticism and through the ages, came to be considered as the opposite of a ‘well-made play’.

The works of the Kitchen Sink were created so as to change these opinions that society held at that time.

The Britain of today is still in many ways a society defined by class, but back in the 50s, divisions were far harsher and rigid.

The term in itself in the UK derived from an English expressionist painting done by John Bratby (1928-1992) which contained an image of a kitchen sink.

Social Realism became the kitchen sink style.

Social Realism as an artistic movement depicted both social and racial injustice, economic hardship and life struggles in general. The artists illustrated the domestic situations of working class Britons. They spent their off-hours drinking in pubs so as to explore social issues and political controversies.

Kitchen Sink painters celebrated the everyday life of ordinary people.  They focussed their work deliberately on the unglamorous, everyday objects and scenes based on industrial and working-class themes.  Commonplace subject matter became centre of attention to emphasise the rooted ideas that the artists held. Daily life was portrayed through cluttered kitchens, kitchen utensils,  furniture.

The movement choose to celebrate what was banal in the lives of ordinary people as an attempt to make art more relevant and accessible and at the same time, make a clear social statement.

As well as the artistic movement, British cinema and drama also started to take a look at the direct conflict between working-class and middle class society. New wave films were created, and the sources that inspired them gave voice to a working-class that for the first time, was gaining some economic power.

The lives of working-class and middle class characters became the centre of attention in every day dramas, many of which are still the highlight of British television today, soaps like Eastenders and Coronation Street.

And so this is why us British are such huge fans of our long beloved soaps!

Check out more here http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/445176/index.html

The Queen's House

The Queen's house in Greenwich shall be used as a VIP centre in the 2012 Olympic games.

 

It is one of the most important buildings in the history of British architecture and the first fully classical building to have been constructed in Britain.

Architect Inigo Jones was commissioned back in 1615 to construct the building for Anne of Denmark, the Queen of King James I of England. From how tradition tells it, it seems that James I gave her the manor of Greenwich as an apology gift for having sworn at her in public after she accidentally shot one of his favourite dogs whilst out hunting.

Jones had just got back from his tour of Roman, Renaissance and Palladian architecture (a European style of architecture derived from the designs of the Venetian architect, Andrea Palladio) in Italy, and had risen to fame as a designer of court entertainments.
The Queen's house shows us the first introduction of Palladianism (Palladio's interpretation, as of the 17^th century, was adapted to the style known as Palladianism) to British architecture at a time where the best native buildings in Britain were still in red-brick Tudor style.
The house now forms part of the National Maritime Museum, and since 2001 has put on display fine-art collections of maritime paintings and portraits.
There is an on-going programme of displays and temporary exhibitions.
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/about/history/queens-house/

If you visit the Queen's house in Greenwich, you'll come across the English painter William Hodges. He was a member of James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific Ocean as the expedition's artist in 1772 – 1775. Many of his sketches and wash paintings were used in Cook's journals, and upon his return to London he produced large-scale landscape oil paintings from his Pacific travels. You can check out his exhibition here http://www.nmm.ac.uk/upload/package/30/home.php

The Mistress Lady Hamilton

Lord Nelson had a mistress, Emma, Lady Hamilton. 

 

Lady Hamilton was the wife of Sir William Hamilton, British Envoy to Naples.

Emma first met Nelson in 1793 when she welcomed him to her home to gather reinforcements against the French.

After 5 years, Nelson returned to Naples in 1798. His adventures had been cruel to him and Emma nursed him under her husband's roof. They soon fell in love and their affair was encouraged by the elderly Sir William, who had both great admiration and respect for Nelson.

Emma Hamilton and Horatio Nelson by that time, had become the two most famous Britons in the world.

Upon Nelson's summons back to Britain in 1800, he bought along with him both Emma and William and the three lived together openly. The affair became public knowledge and Nelson was sent back to sea.

Emma bore Nelson two children, Horatia Nelson and a second child, who died a few weeks after her birth in early 1804.

That statue in Trafalgar Square

Horatio Nelson was a flag officer who was famous for his service to the Royal Navy, in particular during the Napoleonic Wars. Noted for having been an inspirational leader, his command resulted in a number of decisive naval victories, his best known victory having been at the Battle of Trafalgar, where he met his timely death.

Nelson's death at Trafalgar secured his position as one of Britain's most heroic figures and out of the many monuments created in his memory, Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square remains one of the most recognised memories.

Nelson’s Trafalgar coat is on display in Maritime London at the Maritime Museum in Greenwich.

His coat has been on public display for over 150 years. You can see the hole where Nelson was shot, blood stains, the lot.

This display also explores Nelson's story from his battles, the Battle of Trafalgar, his death, funeral and commemoration in the capital. Visitors can see and read all about his life and death and there are objects, paintings and manuscripts.

When Nelson died, his body was placed in a cask of brandy mixed with camphor and myrrh.

Nelson's corpse was taken to Greenwich and placed in a lead coffin.

He lay in state in the Painted Hall at Greenwich for three days, before being taken up river aboard a barge, and his funeral was held in St Paul's Cathedral.

If you visit Greenwich, visit the Old Royal Naval College where both the Chapel and Painted Hall are situated. You'll find a inscription where the body of Lord Nelson lay in state in 1806.

http://www.oldroyalnavalcollege.org/about-us,6,AT.html 

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/

Worlds End

I couldn't resist going and getting a look at The Worlds End shop myself and so off I traipsed all the way to Fulham's Kings Road for my own little experience.

From the outside, the shop is fairly petite, if you're tall, you have to lower your head slightly to get through the door and the interior holds a classic yet contemporary selection of Viv Westwood including jewellery and accessories, handbags, shoes, and many show samples are for purchase.

The prices were 'reasonable', out of my budget, in fact, I went charity shop hunting after my look round in the shop.