Art, Religion, Food - Part I

My brain is slowly being assimilated by Ancestry and Gedmatch. Eventually I will no longer remember how to blog, how to sew, how to talk to living people. I am writing this as a last gasp of self-direction, telling myself it is Wednesday and therefore a writing day. Then again, can you call it writing if the starting point is to look at your photos? Perhaps I should call it journaling instead.

Vivien and I got together on one of our increasingly rare days out and the planned activity was to visit a fashion exhibit of Northumbria University students on display at the Discovery Museum. 



It wasn't a large exhibit but we examined every item (most of them black), chatting and (me) snapping as we circled the room.




There were old clothes, new clothes, old items, a slide show, some photos and sketches and a bit of text:

"Re-Fashion showcases sixty exquisite objects from the museum collection made between 1701 and 1916.  These objects have been selected as a starting point to explore the idea of real and imagined histories inspiring future garment design. Fashion Students and Lecturers from Northumbria University School of Design have researched the collection to develop the final garment designs which will be exhibited in May."

I'm fairly fascinated by the idea of re-fashioning clothes. Who doesn't have a bunch of old clothes they hang onto because of the lush colour, the superior fabric, the potential usefulness, never quite realized; blame it on (formerly) blogging, (currently) family history addiction. Well, OK, maybe it's just me.  






I've no idea what design students go through. So much of the verbiage that accompanies art is meaningless, at least to me, nearly imprisoned in my left-brain. Mind I can twaddle on myself just fine. This post started out as "Day Out in Newcastle", then became "Fashion, Cathedral, Patisserie" and  I even considered "Seeking Sustenance". What grandiose gabble I can produce.

Oh, while I'm thinking of it, I recently read Gods and Kings, by Dana Thomas, and I highly recommend it. The book is pretty much a biography of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano and it is fascinating. I also think it might put anyone off being a really successful fashion designer...



I gather that academia requires documenting certain steps in the creative process, like developing mood boards or sketching ideas or draping fabric, researching background something or other. I can sometimes see the point but most of the time I think I would lose the will to create. But no matter, I'm not going back to school. 



There were indeed some exquisite objects on display, particularly the Victorian and Edwardian age dresses, suits and shoes. 

Of course one doesn't normally see a lot of old every-day clothes worn by ordinary people. Those will have been worn out and used up and probably made into rags. The clothes in museums tend to be ball gowns or special dresses saved in someone's closet for decades. 

After scouring the exhibit we did the same with the shop. I love museum shops. I don't buy much but I do sometimes take photos of the books in case I want to look for them elsewhere. I can often just list them on my Amazon wishlist and be satisfied by the Look Inside! feature. 

The best things in this shop were the silly children's toys and I'll likely return nearer to Christmas. Bill and his adult children are highly entertained by such things. 



We had a bite of lunch at the cafe and with no particular plan that I recall we happened to drop into St. Nicholas' Cathedral. But that is another blog post.