Sunday, March 08, 2009

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

I have watched the second series of The Tudors recently and tonight we have just watched ELIZABETH-The Golden Age.

I am astounded by the beauty of the clothes these people made and wore. Especially when I know everything was made by hand and was done either by daylight or candle light. Truly amazing. My own work pales into nothingness by comparison.

The colours were vibrant, the materials sumptuous, the styles elaborate. Equally for men as for women.

What a pity that clothes today are plain and tawdry by comparison. In the West at any rate. Places like India still know how to dress.

Even more of a shame that men's clothing is so dull. Men are expected to look stiff and dull. Dark suits, white shirts, perhaps a coloured one. Just as long as we look dull. The height of cool for a man seems to be white suit with a hat worn backwards and dark lensed glasses. Thrills.

These films provided a true feast of colour and display. Wonderful to watch. Strange how such beauty was created, worn and displayed by people who committed such dreadful, hateful and painful acts upon each other.

(It also becomes clear that war over religion is not new at all and that what we are experiencing today, the evils of fundamentalism-Xtian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu etc - is just the same a sit was then and the pain inflicted as wicked. All for pride and ideas. Nothing more than that.)

4 comments:

Susan said...

OOO I haven't seen that series I will have Carl go look on the web for me thank you.
Can you imagine the embellishment that had to be done after the main contruction? You are right it boggles the mind. Yards and Yards of bobbin lace...and the embroidery..?? shaking my head.
I am with you that fashion needs a swift boot. It is riduculous that human fashion is so boring and yet male birds bear the most beautiful plummage.
You sound rested, I'm glad to see that.
Take care,
Susan

CP Warner said...

Colin, I went to high school with a fella who always dressed nicely, if a bit conservatively, and if you want to see how he turned out, you must take a peek at his blog.

http://www.whatisjameswearing.com

If the link doesn't come through, let me know and I'll send it in an e-mail.

I was impressed, he has become so vibrant. I'm hoping to connect up with him again sometime soon. We were good friends my last year in high school, and he was always kind of shy and quiet. Not anymore! More power to him!

Nan said...

I know what you mean about the clothes. I first fell in love with them when I saw "The Six Wives of Henry the Eighth" back when I was a kid. All that blackwork embroidery made me drool. I even learned how to do it because I liked it so much.

We do dress drably and everything is so throw away. Many of the designers make things no one would wear on a dare. I'm glad that I can sew and jazz up my wardrobe a bit. I don't do bright colors (because they don't look good on me) but I have been known to make unconventional things.

Anonymous said...

I love the series. I love the clothes. I'm glad I don't have to wear them, though! I'm too hyperactive to be cinched into some of those torture devices. I'd have to go be an outlaw and become one of those infidel women who wore breeches!