Happy Birthday Levi's

Levi Strauss

Jeans come and jeans go but nobody outlasts Levi's. On May 20, 1873, Levi Strauss and his partner Jacob Davis introduced the world's first blue jeans. And the rest, as they say, is history...

Jennifer Anniston wearing Levi's that look like they might actually be from the very first shipment!

Johnny Depp dressed up for a movie premiere. He went to the trouble of patching his Levi's for this glamorous occasion.

Barack Obama's Levi's seem nicely pressed as he pitches out the first ball of the game. He doesn't get to wear his jeans too much, so they are in pristine shape.

The Hogarth Press

The Hogarth Press

And speaking of The Persephone Post...

They recently published a painting called The Printer c. 1915 by Laura Sylvia Gosse (1881-1968) and asked: "Can anyone tell us if this unwieldy looking machine is the same kind of thing as the 'small handpress' Leonard and Virginia Woolf bought in Holborn one March afternoon in 1917 in order to set up the Hogarth Press?"



Well it was not as large and unwieldy as the image in The Printer, but it was a good-sized platen jobber, probably the Minerva. There is some confusion as Leonard Woolf wrote in a letter that he believed the press was an "Eclipse model" which was a much smaller press.



The actual Hogarth Press press now resides at Sissinghurst Castle. When Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson bought Sissinghurst, Leonard and Virginia gave them the press as a housewarming gift. It was the first piece of furniture installed at Sissinghurst.

Virginia Woolf Setting Type: ink and graphite drawing, n.d. Richard Kennedy

Richard Kennedy began working at the Hogarth Press at age 16 and worked there from 1926 to 1930. In the above drawings, Virginia Woolf is seen setting the type for Herbert Palmer’s poems. In 1972 Kennedy compiled his memories and drawing of that time into a book entitled, A Boy at the Hogarth Press.

During the heyday of the Hogarth Press 525 books were published. Of those books only a scant 34 were actually published on the platen jobber. The rest were published by commercial publishers.

If you are interested in the Hogarth Press, J.H.Willis published an exhaustive study entitled Leonard and Virginia Woolf as Publishers: The Hogarth Press, 1917-41.

Edith Olivier at the Persephone Post

The Persephone Post is a great blog run by the Persephone Press in London. We have mentioned them before in our post on Daisy Ashford. At Cookbook Of The Day we have posted about several of their cookery books including; Good Food on the Aga, Kitchen Essays by Agnes Jekyll, and They Can't Ration These.

The blog features a picture an a blurb about it. Quite simple but always thought provoking. They very often feature something near and dear to the hearts and minds of Lucindaville.

This painting of Edith Olivier is one of them. Not only is it Edith Olivier but it was painted by Rex Whistler. And in the painting Edith Olivier is surrounded by books and we love images of women reading!

Enjoy.

Cecil Beaton in New York

I got an e-mail from Andrew Ginger from Beaudesert LTD. They are the English company who makes bespoke beds and hand printed fabrics. One such line includes bewitching Cecil Beaton fabrics.



Well it would seem that the Museum of the City of New York is opening a show on Beaton in October. The show will feature a new book by Donald Albrecht. In addition Beaudesert will be launching a new collection of New York inspired Beaton fabrics. I am so looking forward to the new line.


To check out Beaton fabrics past and present check out their web site: www.cecilbeatonfabrics.com.

Balloon Over Opelika

Harry Lowe was going through some stuff a while back and he came across a little scrapbook his mother made when she was a child. The book appears to be an old, discarded account book that she appropriated for her own personal use.


In the book she pasted pictures of ladies in dresses and...


advertising labels...


and other things that struck her fancy.


One of her pages included an advertisement for a grand balloon ascension to take place on Tuesday, December 16, 1884. A Professor Fisk would ascend on his monster balloon being 60 feet high and 150 feet in circumference. He would ascend on a single trapeze bar and give a daring trapeze performance which, according to Fisk, is a wonder to behold.


While aerialists could astound crowds, especially in small towns, no one could actually steer a balloon and "fly" it. In April 1900, the Aéro-Club de France's founder, Ernest Archdeacon and his partner Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe offered $10,000 for a gas powers flying machine that could make a a one kilometer circle without falling from the sky. In September 1901, Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont won the money in 30 minutes and 42 seconds when he circumnavigated the Eiffel Tower. While Santos-Dumont was acclaimed as the first man to fly he holds another distinction. After complaining to Louis Cartier that with both hands "driving" his balloon he was unable to get to his pocket watch, Cartier came up with the first wristwatch for men aptly named the Santos.



So the next time you check the time, remember that you have Alberto Santos-Dumont to thank for it. Nancy Winters has a lovely little book filled with great pictures of Santos-Dumont. (And one or two of his namesake watch.)


Little did Lois know when she cut out the advertisement for the trapeze aerialist what would transpire in the next decade with balloons or flying machines or time pieces or even Opelika.

Alabama Tornado

While we have been writing about Royal weddings and fashion, the phone lines to Alabama (when they were working)have been buzzing. The good news for me: All my friends and family are fine, alive and well with minimal damage.



But 285 people lost their lives and countless others lost everything they own. When I first heard the weather report, I called my BFF Beverly who reported everything was fine. A few hours later I picked up my messages to find a wild and almost unintelligible call -- the tornado had gone over Beverly's house and she was calling from the central bathroom, decidedly upset. The tornado didn't pick up anything from her house but it did deposit debris. Later, they lost electricity and phones. They are still without power with no end in site.




But everyone is alive and well. CNN is features a great "How To Help" list. I know times are tough, but if you can, help out.

Inspiration Dior

Everything that has been part of my life...

has expressed itself in my dresses.
Christian Dior

On February 12th, 1947 Christian Dior presented his first collection and the New Look was born.

At the Pushkin Museum in Moscow the inspiration for many of Dior's iconic designs is being explored.

"Inspiration Dior" looks at the internal visual dialogue between designer and artists, such as Picasso, Renoir, Modigiliani and Hokusa and how that vision is externalized into couturier.

The dresses juxtaposed against the art are sublime and I only saw them in video on TV5!

This tradition of art into fashion has followed the great designers of the house of Dior.

From Dior, himself, through Yves Saint Laurent , Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferre and John Galliano, each designer has manifested Dior's vision that everything in life eventually becomes a dress.

Here are several prime example of of painting transformed into fashion.

This embroidered grey pinstriped jacket from Fall-Winter 2003-2004 is worn over yellow velvet bra. It is shown next to John Singer Sargent's La Carmencita.

Suzurka-San coat from Spring-Summer 2007 is embroidered white linen which has been hand-painted.
It is shown with Katsushika Hokusai's The Great Wave off the Coast of Kanagawa.

Kazimir Malévitch's Woman with a Rake bears a striking resemblance to this 2002 black-and-white silk faille coat worn over a white leotard and black-and-white white linen skirt.

Another view.

I am not off to Moscow anytime soon, but truly these pictures are worth at least a thousand words.

Here is a short introduction.

Other Wedding Notes

We got the dress right. Sarah Burton did indeed design the dress. During the coverage there was much talk about missing Diana, but I missed Lee McQueen and more than that, I missed Isabella Blow.


We loved posting about the 22-page Etiquette booklet sent out by the Palace for the wedding. As one might expect, David Beckham failed to read his copy as we predicted. He wore his Order of the British Empire (OBE) medal on the wrong side. By the end of the day, there will no doubt be a 22-booklet of David Beckham blunders (he hasn't had to eat anything yet!). Still, he look nice in his undies.


And speaking of cake...


Did we forget to mention the cakes? At Cookbook Of The Day we have both the Wedding Cake baker and the Groom's Cake recipe.

And the winner is...

The Scroll/The Cartier Halo/The 1936 Halo/The Halo

Like Kate who is now Catherine or the Duchess of Cambridge, this tiara seems to be getting a name makeover.

The Scroll was purchased from Cartier by the Duke of York for his wife in 1936. Three weeks later he would become King George VI. His wife, Elizabeth (who would eventually become the Queen Mother), gave it to her daughter, Princess Elizabeth (now the Queen) when the Princess turned 18, but there is no evidence she ever wore it. The Scroll was considered to be a "starter" tiara.

It fell to Princess Margaret who wore it quite often.


Princess Anne also wore it quite a bit after Margaret upgraded.

Tiara Time

I, like most everyone else, is growing weary of "Royal Wedding" coverage. Basically, I am weary because there is just nothing to report, so one finds oneself watching news reporters interviewing each other. I find it highly improbable that Sarah Burton is going to push past Anderson Cooper and Meridith Vieira at the bar at The Claridge and tell the bartender that she needs a pint to celebrate because she just finished the final alterations on Kate Middleton's gown. It is not going to happen. I want to see the dress when she exits the Rolls and I want everyone to leave it alone until 6 a.m.!!

Still, the wedding allows one (me specifically) to discuss one of my favorite things -- tiaras. And spending most of my time in West Virginia digging in the garden in my uniform of tattered men's shirts and a baseball cap, I for one am thrilled. This week a gambler placed a 6,000 pound bet at 12-1 odds that Kate will wear the tiara that Queen Elizabeth wore at her wedding. This is thought to be the largest gamble made on the wedding so far and the gambler stands to win 72,000 pounds. Ladbrokes, who took the bet, has stopped taking bets on Middleton’s head piece.

George III Tiara

The tiara in question is the George III Tiara. (It is sometimes known as the Russian Fringe Tiara not to be confused with the Kokoshnik Tiara which is also sometimes known as the Russian Fringe Tiara.) The diamond fringe tiara forms a gradual circle of vertical rows of diamonds. It looks a bit like an inverted necklace because in 1830 it was a necklace made of brilliant cut stones that belonged to King George III. It was made into a tiara and was worn to the opera in 1839 by Queen Victoria.
It was inherited by Queen Mary when she became Queen Consort in 1910, and she in turn gave it to her daughter in law, Queen Elizabeth in 1937 (not to be confused with Queen Elizabeth II, we will get to that later). The Queen Mother (Elizabeth) loaned it to her daughter Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) as “something borrowed” for her wedding in 1947. She (The Queen Mother (Elizabeth)) loaned it again to her granddaughter (Princess Anne) in 1973 for her marriage to Captain Mark Phillips.
The current Queen inherited it from the other queen and now she is set to lend it to Kate Middleton (whose middle name is Elizabeth as is mine...but I digress.)
Here are just a few tiara's from the Queen's closet. Seriously, she has more tiara's than Miss Alabama and Miss Mississippi combined! I am sooooo jealous.

Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara

In 1913, Queen Mary commissioned the Crown Jewelers Messrs. Garrard & Co. to construct a tiara based on the design of the Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara, that was once owned by her maternal grandmother Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, the Duchess of Cambridge. This new lovers knot tiara, also came to be known as the Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara, because of the resemblance of its design to the original Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara, and consisted of 19 arches, and 38 drop-shaped pearls, 19 hanging as pendants and 19 rising up as spikes. The 19 pearls that rose up as spikes could also be dismantled.


The tiara was willed to her granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II. She gave the Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara as a wedding gift to Princess Diana who returned it after her divorce. (And frankly, if you are no longer a Princess or Miss Alabama do you really need it? Well, yes, and I would have kept it!)

The Oriental-Circlet-Tiara
Burmese Ruby Tiara

 SEE COMMENT BELOW:
The Oriental-Circlet-Tiara with rubies and diamonds. This also called Indian-Ruby-Tiara was one of the favorite tiaras of the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Vladimir Tiara with Pearls

This tiara was made for the Grand Duchess Vladimir, the aunt of Tsar Nicholas II. Smuggled out of Russia during the Revolution by a British diplomat, it was sold to Queen Mary in 1921.

Vladimir Tiara with Emeralds

She adapted the tiara to take fifteen of the celebrated Cambridge emeralds as an alternative to the original pearls. The tiara was inherited by The Queen from her grandmother Queen Mary in 1953.

Kokoshnik Tiara

King Edward VII's queen, Alexandra, commissioned Garrard's to create a tiara similar to one worn by her sister, Empress Marie of Russia. This tiara is meant to replicate a Russian peasant girl's headdress. The Kokoshnik is composed of sixty-one platinum bars and filled with 488 diamonds. (Just like every other Russian peasant girl wears.)

Aquamarine and Diamond Tiara
or
The Lucinda Tiara

This is one of my personal favorites (and if I were marrying Prince William, I would have requested this particular tiara -- and I would have looked exceedingly glamorous in it!) as it is laden with my birthstone -- aquamarine. Originally made in 1957 and mounted on a simple platinum band, it consisted of the three upright rectangular stones which are detachable for use as brooches. The large central stone came from a pendant given to Queen Elizabeth by the President and People of Brazil in 1953 as a Coronation present. In 1971 the tiara was adapted again to take four scroll ornaments from an aquamarine and diamond jewel given to Queen Elizabeth by the Governor of São Paulo in 1968. (Clearly the Queen wants all her aquamarines in one place. Dear Heads of State and General Subjects: Please don't give the Queen anymore aquamarine jewelery or she will simply not be able to hold her head up.)

Since this is my favorite or "favourite" and since it does not have a nifty name, I am henceforth calling it The Lucinda Tiara.

Grab a nap this afternoon, 4 a. m. will be here before you know it!