I have twittered on before regarding Mr Langford and how I like chatting with Mr Langford (he rumbles on about his pigeon problem and I rumble on about the trend in vintage - stuff like that - stuff that will not change the world but stuff we like to chat about). By-the-by Mr Langford was in the same class at school as my next door neighbour - my next door neighbour is 71. I like talking with Mr Langford - we have a lot in common..... Apropos of nothing I have mentioned previously how my next-door-neighbour's daughter lives in Rudyard Kipling's childhood home - I visited not so long ago and it is a most BEAUTIFUL home. I was taken aback when I went into the kitchen as there, hanging over the red Aga, was some bunting that I had made for her mum who sadly died last year. I was very chuffed to see it there. We both shed a tear...
Anyway.....
Late last year I bleated on about how I had seen something 'special' in 'Mr Langfords' - I paid for it there and then and I informed Mr Langford that some 'stuff' may need to be cleared before being ready for re-homing. Mr Langford nodded wisely - he had sized up the situation in seconds...he tapped the side of his nose: 'I understand....she can stay here for as long as you like'. 'Wilco Mr Langford' I carefully replied - (not tapping the side of my nose in case that was some sort of subliminal message and I was not quite sure what I was buying into!). I tra la la'd home and started the clear out process STAT (old nursing lingo coming in handy here). I will add here that I was never a STAT (possible drama out of a crisis) sort of nurse - I was a 'NOW' (sub-level below STAT) sort of nurse - the one who would be talking (whilst counting) to the poor patient whilst simultaneously carrying out CPR: 'Your heart has stopped - I am pressing on your chest until we restart it - I am sorry that this is so frightening'. That sort of thing - I do not watch medical dramas but I hope someone is talking to the patient and telling them what is happening.....you never know.
Anyway......again....
Some time/weeks later that clear out process was still proceeding (westward leading) and I had to 'deck the halls for Christmas' and 'Bronte had a birthday' and 'I had a birthday' and there was 'stuff' to be getting on with.....and yet more clearing out was still to be done.....Winter came and winter went...Spring arrived and Spring went....
Realisation dawned that the 'clearing out' would never be 'done' in a: 'Completed that job move on to the next' type of way - more of a: 'Well that made a bit of space but where the MaHooJa did all that other stuff come from!' sort of way (I swear it breeds!!).
Best to make the most of the square of space that I had managed to clear.... so off I trotted to Mr Langfords..........
Wearing my best apron....
No hat required.............
But did wear gloves................
Tra la la la la............
Singing as I went................
Sometimes breaking out into a little skip....................
Admiring my freshly made, newly laid, embroidered bag (not needed of course ........) as I skipped by shop windows.............
Reminding myself that I still needed to buy those new shoes......(cough, cough)
Breaking out into a whistle.............
Slowing down as I reached the Salvation Army shop...........
Speeding up as I knew that was not on my agenda today....
Taking a few backward tra la la's as I noticed a nice bowl in the window....
Gathering apace................
Slowing down as I reached Mr Langfords...............
Tring-a-ling-ling..................
Skipping into 'Mr Langfords' (well to be honest you cannot skip into 'Mr Langfords' - 'Mr Langfords' is PACKED).................
Sidled into 'Mr Langfords'.............
'Ah ha' greeted Mr Langford - 'The Wanderer returns'
'Ha ha Mr Langford - you are such a wag'
Mr Langford - being of a certain generation (of which I also seem to belong even though not of the same age (cheeky)) - played the game. After a little bit of banter and some nose tapping from Mr Langford he said he would have to 'go out back'.
Pensive moment that
And this is who he came back with.............................
This photo is not showing my latest embroidered bag but one that I finally finished recently (...I have made a few more since....) - if needed I will 'display' that one another time (that particular bag can be seen in my local Co-op as I wear/use it for all provision purchases).
Unbidden (I never ask for 'best price' or similar - 'the price is what the price is' in my book) Mr Langford reduced the price to make it soooo tempting she had to be bought. What made it extra special was that Mr Langford said that it belonged to a certain Mary Wild - who was the first fashion director of the Royal College of Art. I thought that this might have been a bit of whimsy on Mr Langford's part but behold once I had reached home and when turned on her side - there in pencilled writing on the underside - was written: 'Royal College of Art' Ta Dah! A quick t'internet search revealed next to nothing about our Mary. Grrrr. However the archivist at the Royal College of Art replied charmingly to an enquiring email within the hour. At first he thought that I/Mr Langford had got it wrong as there was no 'proper' fashion course until 1948 .....but.....:
"However, having done some more digging, I can see you are absolutely right. In the first instance, Mary Wild was a Design student here, graduating ARCA Diploma in 1934. However, in the prospectus of 1937-8, there she is, listed as professor of ‘Dress Design’. This was only one of many options available under the broad course of Design, but it’s interesting to find it was taught at all, pre-war. I don’t know whether Miss Wild stayed with the College during WWII, when we evacuated to the Lake District."
Isn't that just lovely! Our Mary was indeed a designer.
Update! Well - following on from that email I did one further internet search and the only other source that I could find was 'The Angel Gallery' in Lavenham - again within the hour I had received a reply from Mr Gibson, the owner. Mary Wild was his mother who had died at the age of 101 in 2011 - and she had continued working for the RCA during the war and until 1948. Mr Gibson asked that I give him a call and after a wonderful chat he sent me a copy of Mary's CV with her extraordinary career mapped out before me (including designing for British Celanese - Lucienne Day also designed fabrics for them in the 50s). Isn't that just extra lovely! More searching will find that Professor Madge Garland is credited with being the first of her kind at the RCA - I will endeavour to rewrite those history books I think!
Update on the update!!! By the end of that very same day I had an email from the archivist at the RCA to say that he had had a very nice chat with Mr Gibson and they were going to meet up. Extra lovely and so history - well the archives at the RCA - may well be rewritten!
'Mary' (of course) is of a very neat size - sadly not reflected in my own girthage - so not possible to use for own dress construction! Mary will be used for bag display (I very nearly wrote 'baggage' display and realised that this conveys the impression of Gatwick Airport on a Friday night!). Also for dress/undressing a la rapidly changing window display (... 'The Time Machine' (keep up)). I think that 'Mary' dates from the 30s - not sure why - just feels that way to me. Any experts out there I would be interested to know as:
'How to date a mannequin' throws up all sorts of queer answers on Google!!!
The ribbon is original (if there was more of it it would make a nice cockade don't you think?) and I also like the little paper disc that goes nicely with
Did you notice that in this photo I have changed bags!!! This is the one that I made for my sister for her birthday
I have learnt a lesson here (as usual):
A) Do not get rid of ANYTHING and...
B) There is no such thing as a new trend.
Back in the late 70s I bought an old (AKA vintaaahj) tailor's dummy as seen here:
'Bertha' had come with me to all sorts of homes and places (though I drew the line at holiday destinations). However the drive to clear out stuff meant that a couple of years ago I sold 'Bertha' (as in 'Big Bertha' - something for the historians amongst us!). She was a portly figure who I felt lost her 'allure' (something for the Miranda Hart fans!) over the years and was beginning to represent my good self in ways that I was no longer comfortable with........ The new owner came to collect and greeted her with: 'Oh, she is so lovely'. Immediately I regretted selling Bertha (a bit like the Noddy Clock - SISTER GAIL!!!) ('For crying out loud - LET IT GO')).
This is an old photo of Bertha (wearing a blouse that I used to wear circa 1987 together with an original, tailored 1940s suit - I no longer have that suit....I wish I could remember what I did with it). A few years ago Bronte made a surprise museum - she had manhandled Bertha down the stairs - dug around for some old clothes and fetched some bits out of the kitchen.
I remember clearly that Bronte kept Maille and myself away from the demonstration area (outlining the barrier that we MUST NOT cross) whilst she showed the gathered crowd how 'they used to cook long ago'.
I reminded Bronte that this was stuff that we use all the time in the kitchen! These photos turned out to be very popular on my old Flickr account (4000+ photographs and still not stratched the surface....) because the 'world' stumbled across them when searching for the 'Bronte Museum'!! Ha ha
Who Knew!!
PS: As I look at Mary today she is sporting a very jolly 1950s apron but nothing else!! Oooo-eeeerr missus
PPS: There will be many a post of Mary 'dressed up' with sadly nowhere to go...'I took my harp to a party but nobody asked me to play' (an old song that my Dad would sing in a very mournful voice).
PPPS: I am updating this post because Bronte and I were in Mr Langford's recently and he had ANOTHER mannequin - from the early 1900s - beautifully made and there printed on the hessian along the bottom are the words 'Selfridges London'. Could be yours for £98 if you are desiring
PPPPS: Tra la la
Fiddle de dee
I am going now
To dress Mar-eee
This post was written several months ago and finally posting it because I wish to 'reveal' Mary in clothes!!! Still have 54 unpublished posts waiting in the wings - one day I will publish them all in one go....
PPPPS: Sadly did not blog visit when I said I would because I spent the entire weekend (almost) tracing family tree - something that I used to do as a teenager and now picking it all up again. By sitting at home and not spending a bean I went back to 1750 in a tra la la - the t'internet is a marvel. Now have a bad back from spending too long at the computer. Back to proper work now.....
PPPPPS: Looking forward to the new programme on BBC Four - all about fabrics and embroidery!!!
