MUSINGS FROM THE BOWER 34

What on earth is going on, weather-wise? Yet another few inches of snow have been dumped on the bower, which is looking more like an igloo at the moment rather than the rose and clematis haven of summer. The daffodils, which were just about to bloom, have become bent and spoilt under a snowy coat, whilst the crocuses have more or less given up. A week ago, the weather was perfect – although the wind was a bit chilly, the sun was warming and Hatfield Forest was a joy, with the mallards pairing up and the coots pottering around busily.

I’ve spent a couple of days sorting out my jewellery. Now, before you become too excited, in my case ‘jewellery’ actually means, in the words of the song from the musical Kismet, ‘Baubles, bangles, bright shiny beads’. I’m very fond of beads, probably due to spending most of the mid-sixties and early seventies with several strings of them around my neck – as well as a hippy cow bell, though perhaps we won’t go into that!  That was a great time, wasn’t it? Before the hippy scene became seedy and disreputable? When it started out, girls were wearing flowers and giving them to passers-by – it was initially a gentle trend.

‘If you’re going to San Francisco,

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair

If you’re going to San Francisco,

You’re going to meet some gentle people there.’

Twiggy Doll

Thus sang Scott McKenzie in 1967, and though not many 1960s’ British teens could afford to go abroad to San Francisco (we couldn’t even afford to hop across the channel to France), it was fun to pretend, and fun to perplex our parents by dressing up in kaftans, smocks and cheesecloth blouses. Boutiques in the King’s Road and Carnaby Street, as well as the ubiquitous C&A store which could be found in every high street, stocked cotton mini dresses and gauzy maxi dresses, which we teemed with sandals or trendy white boots. (In my case, white wellies as I couldn’t afford leather boots! Actually, the wellington boot manufactures very cleverly latched on to the trend and produced short welly boots in white, cream or beige for all of us would-be Twiggys.) We must have looked mad, clumping around, but we thought we were the bee’s pyjamas. Later came psychedelic designs for clothing, in shades of lime, citrus yellow and ‘shocking pink’, as well as the op-art influenced black-and-white plastic raincoats which made your eyes go funny if you stared at them for too long. I still have my op-art mac – it doesn’t fit me now, of course, but it’s a super memory of a carefree youth.

Most of my beads are kept in a large pretty box. They are mainly made from colourful plastic though I do have a few strings of wooden ones as well. It’s so easy to throw on a string or two of beads, unlike a necklace where you spend ages fiddling with a stubborn clasp. Do you remember the plastic popper beads of the 1950s? I was given some when I was a child. They were a great novelty; it was enormous fun to have a long necklace, and, then, by removing some of the beads, make it shorter. And it was a good thing to twiddle with too – each bead had a hole and a peg, and when you pulled the peg from the hole it made a satisfying ‘pop’. We were easily amused back then!  I also had a necklace made from pink, yellow, blue and white plastic daisies which popped together. About thirty years later when my daughter was small, I found an identical necklace in a toy shop – it must have been a popular line to stay in production for so long. I love bangles too. You can buy packs of ten for a couple of pounds in the chain stores, and they jingle very satisfactorily as you move your arms. I like the wider ones as well, which are often decorated with patterns or flowers. When – if – summer ever returns so we can go around with our arms bare, a few bangles look attractive against the bare skin, they don’t seem to look so good with thick jumpers!

There is something of a hippy trend in the shops at the moment, and I have started a sixties’ panel in the kitchen, decorated with signs such as ‘Love’, ‘Peace’, ‘Love Is All You Need’ and ‘Believe’. I found most of these signs in our local garden centre, which has really embraced the movement and hangs beads, signs and 1960s-type decorations from a tree in the gift shop. What I would really like is one which paraphrases the Beatles song to read, ‘Give peas a chance’! That would really be appropriate for the kitchen.

This seems to have been a really convoluted blog entry, and so leads on quite nicely to the news that, for the next few days, my Kindle book ‘Twisty Ends and Tangly Tales’ is on free promotion on Amazon. It’s a collection of short stories, most of which were previously published in women’s magazines during the  1990s and early 2000s, and the stories range from humour, through to romance and twists in the tails. I hope you like it, and if you do maybe you will consider leaving feedback on Amazon. Thank you very much!

MUSINGS FROM THE BOWER 33

Ellowynne Wilde - fashion dolls created for adults

I spent Saturday at the V&A Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, a great place to visit if you wish to rekindle memories from long ago. The museum was holding a special event,  a ‘Teenage Doll Study Day’, and I had been asked along to be one of the guest speakers. It’s surprising how many enthusiasts love teen dolls – especially Sindy – but many other kinds too. It was the first time I had used a power point presentation with slides, but thankfully, I managed to work it without clicking on the wrong picture. Also, I much preferred the hand-held microphones that were at the museum to the ones that clip on as that kind tend to go wrong on me – they either develop a penetrating whistle or fall off onto the floor!

 I’m sure that many people, whether interested in dolls or not, are aware that the usual type of teenage doll measures around 11-12 inches tall, and is somewhat curvy (or in the case of Barbie, exceedingly curvaceous). Fashion dolls have a long history: by the seventeenth century dolls or ‘mannequins’ were dressed in the latest styles and sent to fashionable ladies so that they could see the correct outfits they should wear at court or when attending grand events. Often, the dolls were shown to dressmakers who copied the outfits, ensuring their customers were up to date with fashion. Yet, centuries before, as far back as the fourteenth century, there are accounts of ‘dolls’ sent to Queens and noble ladies by French costumiers, but it is believed that these were life-sized dummies made to the measurements of the intended recipient.

By the mid-1800s, dolls were made from bisque china with padded kid bodies, to represent a woman’s figure, and were dressed in fashionable garments. These were intended both as gifts for women, but also as playthings for the children of rich parents.  They showed young ladies the correct garments to wear and also, it was hoped, taught them grow up gracefully – the aim being to resemble a neat and tidily-dressed doll. Often these dolls had impressive trousseaus, all beautifully sewn and embroidered.

1930s boudoir doll

The 1920s and 30s saw the influence of Hollywood, as ‘going to the pictures’ became a popular pastime, and resulted in a craze for glamour dolls intended to be show items rather than playthings. These dolls were known as Boudoir Dolls, because their main purpose was to lounge on the bed or couch. Boudoir dolls were often quite large, around 26 inches or so, and had very long legs. They were floppy, usually made from cloth, with faces moulded from silk, muslin or plaster. The glamorous boudoir dolls featured extravagant eye makeup with ultra-long lashes, red cupid’s bow lips, rouged cheeks and elaborate hairstyles. They were dressed in long showy gowns trimmed with ribbons and lace, and sometimes had a cigarette dangling from between their painted fingertips. It was also fashionable for women to carry these large dolls with them when they visited restaurants or met up with friends! I can’t help wondering what their husbands or boyfriends made of it.

1950s 20" teen

In the 1950s, manufacturers began making plastic ‘teenage dolls’ for children. These dolls were still quite large, usually between 16 - 24 inches, and they featured arched feet, which meant they could wear high-heeled shoes. The dolls were dressed in the fashions of the time, which, being the late fifties and early sixties, were surprisingly formal – before the advent of Beatlemania, Mary Quant and the whole ‘Swinging London’ scene, teenage girls tended to dress like their mothers.

However, in 1959, changes were afoot when Barbie, a small, 12” high, plastic doll, was issued in America. This doll, based on a German newspaper character, a ‘good time girl’, proved amazingly popular, although she made little impact in Britain being too sophisticated and hard-featured for British tastes. Then, in 1963, Pedigree introduced Sindy, a 12” high ‘girl next door type’ of doll, dressed in an outfit designed by top fashion 60s designers Tuffin and Foale. When the Pedigree reps approached the owners of toyshops, they were told that they were reluctant to stock such a small doll, being so used to the large fashion teens – but they soon changed their tune when they were inundated by girls who had seen the television advert featuring the small doll in her iconic red, white and blue T-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers. Almost overnight, the larger fashion dolls were discontinued, and many other smaller teens appeared, amongst them Tressy, Pippa, Action Girl, Daisy and Dusty.

Sindy

So, right up till the 1990s, the majority of teen fashion dolls were small – until a gentleman called Mel Odun created a large doll for adult collectors, called Gene. This was a turning point, a completely new idea. Gene was a 1940s’ style doll, with glamorous Hollywood costumes, and was not a plaything. Once more, other manufacturers followed suit, and today there are some stunning fashion dolls around intended for adult collectors, representing various decades from the more formal years of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, right through to today’s ‘anything goes’ fashion styles.

Gene - the turning point in fashion doll design.

Meanwhile, children still play with Barbie (she’s much more acceptable in Britain now, ever since her softer makeovers which began in the 1960s), as well as with Bratz, Liv, Moxie Girlz and all the other small, 12” teen fashion dolls, that fill the toystores. But now grownups can have their own, special doll and indulge in their love of fashion, with dolls made especially for them

Moxie Girlz and Bratz - children's current favourites

Delilah Noir - A doll designed for adults

MUSINGS FROM THE BOWER 32

Just two days to go till Mothers’ Day, or, as we officially know it in Britain, Mothering Sunday. It falls on the fourth Sunday in Lent, and at one time was the day that young people in service were allowed home to visit their mother. In fact, sometimes it was the only day that they were allowed home, and so it must have been an extremely important time for the maids, grooms and footmen of the time. Frequently they were given flowers, cakes or eggs to take home as a gift for their mothers.

 Nowadays, as with other events, Mother’s day has become commercialised, and magazines, newspapers and shops are filled with ideas of presents that mother might like, often including such things as diamond rings or designer dresses. Well, maybe we would like those, if we thought our families could afford them – but for most of us, a bunch of flowers, a box of chocolates and, best of all, the gift of our children giving up a few hours of their time to spend with us, are just perfect. As we grow older, Mother’s’ day becomes a bittersweet affair, because although we love the celebrations, we can’t help but think of our own mothers, who in many cases are no longer with us. We recall how we used to make cards and take hours to decide what to buy for her with our pocket money. When I was about nine, I went into Woolworths to buy a present for my Mum. I wasn’t sure what to buy, but eventually gravitated towards the ‘jewellery’ counter, which was always sparkly and pretty. There I saw the most wonderful gift. I was thrilled, because not only – in my eyes – was it beautiful, it was affordable. I handed over my sixpences and the assistant put my purchase in a paper bag.

It was a brooch, with the word ‘Mother’ in fancy writing, and was coloured pink and blue, in a sparkly plastic. I couldn’t wait to see Mum’s face when she opened her present!  Of course, as soon as she unwrapped it, she pinned it to her dress, and I insisted that she wore it to church, which she did. It wasn’t till many years later that she confessed that the brooch made her feel like an old woman! It was the kind of thing that her grandmother would have worn. But she wore it, because she knew that I had put so much thought into it. When she died, I found the brooch in her jewellery box – chipped, faded, but it still said ‘Mother’. Of course, now I see that it was a tacky, plastic brooch – children rarely have good taste – but I could never part with it, because I know that by wearing it she was demonstrating her love for me.

When my daughter was two, she gave me a card that she had made. She wasn’t quite sure of the concept of Mother’s Day, mixing it up with birthdays, so as she handed it to me, she said, ‘A happy to you, muvver’! This phrase has gone into family lore, as has the one which she said a couple of years later as she gave me the bar of soap she had bought me for Mothers’ Day – ‘I saw this, and it was pretty and cheap, so I thought, Mum will like this cheap, pretty soap’!

You may be wondering how the bower has been lately. Well, it’s still here, and seems to have been appropriated by a robin who shelters under the cover from rain, snow or cold. He flutters out when he sees the feeder dishes being refilled. I’m hoping he will nest nearby, as there is a nest box in the hedge. It’s been too chilly to sit out there yet, and although Tuesday was sunny and milder than of late, I didn’t have time to clear the bower of the garden chairs, cushions and various garden tools that seem to gravitate there in the colder months.

On Monday evening, I went to yet another of the excellent talks given by Chris Packham, the well-known naturalist, photographer and television presenter. As usual, he covered a vast range of topics including the lack of larger predators in Britain (he would like to bring back wolves and lynx), his joy at finally seeing a pangolin, the persecution of many British birds of prey, his love of big cats such as lions and tigers, and how much he enjoys photographing smaller, often overlooked species such as pondskaters. On the 16^th of March, I, too, will be giving a talk. Mine will be at the V&A Museum of Childhood at Bethnal Green, during their Teen Doll Study Day. Chris kindly gave me some tips, so if you’d like to know whether  I have remembered them – and assuming you are interested in dolls – why not come along? Details are on their website.

Meanwhile, enjoy the onset of spring. The daffodils are in bud in the garden, the crocuses are in full bloom and the blue tits are investigating the nest boxes. Today, even though it’s pouring with rain and the sky is a grey as an elephant’s skin, I can see all the buds on the bushes, ready to burst into life. And that’s what we celebrate on Mothering Sunday – the gift of life.

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                                                      Thanks, Mum, for everything x