Mad Moments, Two New Dresses and a Horse

I have already told you about the 'Design a Dress for a Doddington Wedding' competition that is being run alongside the exhibition, in an earlier post.  In the very early stages of planning of the exhibition I had one of my 'mad moments' and thought it would be a good idea to make a film about it i.e. the schools visit the Hall to gain inspiration for the dress, choosing the winning design and then the making up of the dress.  So, in the last few weeks I have been attending workshops to learn how to do this - I am attending another on Tuesday so that I can get even better or should I just say better!  I have ordered the equipment that I will need to do this and by the time I understand the instructions the exhibition will have been and gone. 

However, I do hope to produce a film that you will be able to watch when you visit the exhibition!

This morning I had a call out of the blue from a lady who lives about two miles from Doddington Hall.  She visited the Farmshop yesterday and picked up one of the leaflets and decided that she would like to lend her wedding dress to the exhibition.  I was thrilled - I have no idea what it looks like but I know that it is ballerina style and is decorated with Solomon Seal .... doesn't it sound lovely.  I shall have some photos to show you after my visit to meet the owner on 14 June.

Another wonderful dress that is going to be shown was worn by a bride who rode a horse to and from the church!  To show the dress it its best, I am busily trying to track down one of those model horses that you see in saddlers.  A friend is on the case .... when I discussed the idea with him, there was a huge pause on the other end of the phone.  Can't understand why..can you... I don't think it is such an unusual request.  I hope to have some pictures of ths wonderful dress for you soon.

I realise that I haven't told you about that 'special dress' and I won't be able to tell you now until about 16 June ... I shall tell you the whole story about why I can't say more then.  Sorry to keep you on tenterhooks.

My other big job this week is to decide what to choose form the vast collection which belongs to Lincolnshire County Council - there's so many to choose from and it is going to be very difficult for me to choose what to leave out. 

 

You May Lick the Bride

If you own a dog or perhaps even a couple of dogs, like me, I am sure, you will talk to them as though they were human - you know they will never answer you but you live in hope!

Whilst researching dresses for the exhibition I stumbled on a website called Urban Pup (http://www.urbanpup.com/) and discovered there was such things as wedding dresses/tuxedos for dogs. 

Dogs and cats have been dressed by humans for years (poor things) ... I used to dress my dog up and push it around the garden in my doll's pram when I was child and I am sure some of you who read this blog have done the same.  Not my granny though, my granny had a monkey when she was a child which she used to dress up and push around in a pram.  I remember the day I discovered she had a monkey .. no mention had ever been made of this fact to me in the past.  After my granny's death, we were looking through some photograph albums and I noticed this black and white photograph with a particularly ugly baby featured.  When I asked my mum who this ugly baby was she replied ...'of that was my mum's monkey'.. as if it was the most normal thing in the world!  What normaly person had a monkey to play with as a child?  Apparently, it got too wild and it was packed off to Glasgow Zoo.

The Bride and Groom

Back to reality, I contacted Urban Pup and a very helpful lady called Allison Cosgrove was only too pleased to offer some items for the the exhibition.  So, when you visit the exhibition you will be able to see a dog bride and groom ... I would have loved my dogs, Magpie and Dora, to model them but I decided that was a bad idea.  So Alison has kindly agreed to lend two canine mannequins too.  I can tell you that Miss Dora Dog and Mr M Pie are not happy with my decision.

AN EXCITING EVENT

I knew that there was something else I had to tell you .... not so much tell you but more to ask for your help!

Do you by chance still own your wedding dress or bridesmaid's dress and fancy giving it an airing one more time?  I really do hope so, because you are invited to a special event at Doddington Hall on 15 August for which I need your help.  On this day, I would like to add some more dresses to the exhibition...... the one that you wore on your own wedding day or as a bridesmaid at someone else's wedding. 

For just one day, there will be a selection of new dresses so come along ... along as you are wearing an exhibit!  Everyone turning up in their wedding/bridesmaid's dress between 1 and 5 pm, will be given free entry to the Hall, gardens and exhibition.

For more information contact me via email:  fiona@doddingtonhall.com

I really look forward to having lots of you turn up to what will be an extremely fun day.

THE CONTENTS OF A VERY LARGE BLUE BAG

Now I know this large blue bag doesn't look to exciting I know but what's inside it IS extremely exciting! 

On Friday 30 April, I travelled to Nottingham to meet a lady called Angela Vickers who hand makes stunning wedding dresses.  Her studio is based at Nottingham Fashion Centre on Lower Parliament Street in Nottingham.  After navigating myself around the rabbit warren that is the City of Nottingham and found the studio, I was given an extremely warm welcome by the lady herself. 

Every gown that Angela makes is individually crafted using only the finest silks, satins, delicate lace, feather, specialised embroidery and embellished with fabulous crystals.  Brides come from all over, even abroad, to her studio.  In the showroom there was a dress that took my breath away:  Angela then told me it had been bought by an Italian girl and she was taking it to Italy!

We moved into another room and Angela disappeared behind rows and rows of gowns, I didn't think I would ever see her again but then a she appeared with a dress, disappeared again, then she appeared with another dress.  This went on for about ten minutes and by the end of that time I was surrounded by some stunning gowns.

When I got the dresses home, I just had to get them out of the bag again.  And this photo shows them hanging in my dining room.  The room resembled a very up market fancy dress hire shop. 

Below I have given you a glimpse and a brief description of just a few of the ones that Angela has kindly loaned to the Exhibition.

The photo on the right shows an copy of the wedding dress worn by Lady Jane Grey.  She was the nominal Queen of England for just nine days in 1553, as part of an unsuccessful bid to prevent the accession of the Catholic Mary Tudor.

Jane was born in the autumn of 1537, the daughter of the Marquess of Dorset. Through her mother, Lady Frances Brandon, she was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII. At around the age of 10, Jane entered the household of Henry VIII's last queen, Katherine Parr where she was exposed to a strongly Protestant, academic environment. Jane developed into an intelligent and pious woman.  In October 1551, her father was created duke of Suffolk and Jane began to appear at court. There, real power lay in the hands of the fiercely Protestant Duke of Northumberland, who acted as regent to the young king, Edward VI. In May 1553, Jane was married to Northumberland's son, Lord Guildford Dudley.

It became clear that Edward was dying, and Northumberland was desperate to prevent the throne passing to Edward's half-sister and heir, the Catholic Mary Tudor. Northumberland persuaded the king to declare Mary illegitimate, as well as Edward's other half-sister Elizabeth, and alter the line of succession to pass to Jane.  Edward died on 6 July 1553. Four days later, Jane was proclaimed queen. However, Mary Tudor had widespread popular support and by mid-July, even Suffolk had abandoned his daughter and was attempting to save himself by proclaiming Mary queen. Northumberland's supporters melted away and Suffolk easily persuaded his daughter to relinquish the crown.

Mary imprisoned Jane, her husband and her father in the Tower of London. While Suffolk was pardoned, Jane and her husband were tried for High Treason in November 1553. Jane pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death. The carrying out of the sentence was suspended, but Suffolk's support for Sir Thomas Wyatt's rebellion in February 1554 sealed Jane's fate. On 12 February, she and her husband were beheaded. Her father followed them two days later.

Lady Jane Grey's signature

This is a close up of the exquisite embroidery on the sleeves and body of the dress

 

The Lady Jane Dress is very elaborate but a favourite of mine is very 'Jane Austen'.  I love its simplicity.

 

 

Waiting for Mr D'Arcy

Angela also loaned her copy of the late Princess of Wales' wedding dress.  Most of the materials used for Princess Diana's dress were made in Britain. The designers constructed the dress from three different types of fabric, including high-quality taffeta made from silk woven on Britain's Lullingstone silk farm, more than 100 yards of tulle, and lace that once belonged to Queen Mary, which the designer and her mother hand-embroidered with more than 10,000 pearls and sequins.  The lace came from Nottingham.

The original dress worn in 1981.

After the dresses were packed away, we had to get them down to my car somehow.  Angela and her Assistant, kindly packed them into a huge bag which made it a lot easier but I still wasn't sure if I could get them in the car but we had to try.  On our way down the stairs, we met a couple coming up who looked at us in horror as they said it looked as though we were disposing of a body! 

The dresses fitted in my car but the petticoats for each of the dresses didn't so I will collect these at a later date.  Not a problem, as I will know exactly how to find Angela's studio!!

I am very grateful to Angela for taking the time out of her day on Friday and for the wonderful collection of dresses that she has loaned to Doddington Hall.  For information about Angela visit http://angela-vickers.co.uk/.

Next week I shall be visiting another lady who is kindly loaning her dress - it was made by her and has a wonderful story attached.  However, until I meet with her and get her approval to tell you the story, my lips are sealed!  I spoke to her on the telephone last night and she is quite a lady!

BROKEN PROMISE

I am sorry that I didn't deliver the promise I made in my last post!   I know it is now the 27th of April and I promised to come back to you all on the 22nd! However, don't despair I will let you know in due course if the news is good.  So far so good but I just to find a special piece of equipment and then I will let you all know of THAT dress.  I do so hope you will find the news worth the wait!

As well as working on THAT dress' I have also been busy trying to secure other dresses as well as working on launching a competition that we have just been given funding for. 

In March I attended a seminar at the University of Leicester which had been arranged by MuBu which is part of Rennaissance East Midlands (www.mla.gov.uk/renaissanceeastmidlands).  It was one of the most interesting seminars I have ever attended and was all about how to use the 'digital age' to promote an event i.e. by using Facebook, Twitter etc etc. 

Before the seminar, I had an idea of running a competition alongside the exhibition whereby (this is a simplified version) a wedding dress would be designed by students of Design and Technology from the County's secondary schools, the entries would then be chosen by a panel from Lincoln Univeristy Art and Design Department and the winning entry would be on show at the exhibition.

At Doddington, we have excellent relationships with primary schools who come to visit the Hall and take part in our education programme - they are also able to take part in events arranged in the Kitchen Garden.  Bishop Grosseteste college has helped us quite a bit in the past but I really wanted to concentrate on the secondary schools and perhaps give a student, who wants to go on and study fashion and design, a step on the ladder.

Last Friday I met with the staff at the University of Lincoln and outlined what I had in mind and they confirmed that they would be thrilled to be involved ... hallelujah!  So today, I have been working on the outline of the competition and am just waiting on having it approved - the University are the ones who are going to make up the dress so it has to be something that they can work to.  I will keep you updated on progress.

Due to the funding, we shall be able to make a film all about the life of the dress i.e. the inspiration, the material, the making of and finally the finished article in all its glory playing its role in the exhibition.  We are extremely grateful to Renaissance East Midlands for their help with this project.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, I am attending the first of the training days to help with the project and I am looking forward to it immensely and will tell you all about it in my next update.

Yesterday (Tuesday) I spent the morning with Sara Basquill who is the Keeper of the Collections for a number of the Lincolnshire County Council museums like Gainsborough Old Hall and the Museum of Lincolnshire Life to name just a couple.  Sara was kind enough to let me look through her database of costumes which are held at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life.  I came away with about 75 sheets of paper which I now have to look through and decide what to choose.  What a job ... how on earth am I going to choose what to leave out ... it's doesn't seem fair.  Sara mistakenly gave me details of a tank .... this is one exhibit that I won't have to think too hard about.

After lunch, I made my way to Tasty Vintage (http://www.tastyvintage.com/) which is a wonderful shop based at 9 Steep Hill in Lincoln and is owned by a lady called Harriet.  She sells vintage clothing and accessories from the 1920s through to the 1970s.  She showed me to her newly created 'wedding room' and what she had in there was mouthwatering.  I have chosen a number of dresses which include a couple from the 1960s ... very Twiggy and a wonderful velvet number from the 1920s which has a headdress a bit like Julius Ceasar's laurel wreath.  Not only has Harriet offered to lend me these dresses but she has also offered her own wedding dress - you can see it in the photo on the right.  This too is from the 1960s.

Also, this week we have been busily designing the flier for the exhibition.  It is very stylish and you will soon see these in and around the venues in Lincoln ... do pick one up or even a few so that you can pass them on to your friends.

This Friday I will be in Nottingham looking at another collection of dresses.  Again, I will have some difficult decisions to make but will let you know of just a few that might be making their to Lincoln.

LOCAL HEROES

Just before the Easter holiday, I received the most wonderful news about a very special dress that will hopefully be coming to the Exhibition.  I can't tell you anymore until after 21 April when I will decide whether or not it is feasible to bring the dress all the way to Lincoln.  Logistically, it could be a nightmare so I have a tough decision to make .... I promise to let you have all the details on or around 22 April.

However, since Easter I have been a rather busy wedding dress locator.  Immediately after I finished my last chocolate egg, I drove over to Wainfleet, near Skegness to meet a lovely lady called Nola Shaw who wore her grannie's wedding dress at her own wedding. 

The dress was first worn in 1947 by Margaret Joan Tebb (nee Harness) who was married at Carrington Church and then worn by Nola in 1995 when she was married at Thorpe St Peter's Church.  The dress had to be shortened and had a lace overlay added to cover some staining.

Nola told me that when she was getting married she had trouble finding the ideal dress and it was whilst clearing out her grannie's house that she found the dress that she eventually wore .... I think the fickle hand of Fate had a part to play.  For those who are or are about to be married, it's a nightmare trying to find the perfect dress....never mind trying to find the perfect man .. the dress is much much harder to find!

When Nola opened the box, we found all sorts ... not only Nola's headress but her grannie's too which is still rather beautiful.  However, the best thing of all was a pair of stockings worn back in 1947 on the big day!  They will all be joining the dress when it is on show in August.  Nola told me a lovely story about how the dress came to be which will be available to read during the exhibition.

From the Lincolnshire Coast I ventured over the border to Mansfield to collect a dress by Lindka Cierach, who made the magnificent dress worn by Sarah Ferguson when she married Prince Andrew .  We had this dress at our 1987 exhibition, so we are very grateful to the owners for lending it to us again.  When I saw the box it was packed in, I wasn't quite sure whether it was going to fit in to my car but it arrived safely back over the border to Lincolnshire late on Friday night.

Today Tuesday, I was in Fosdyke near Boston to meet a lady called Janet Verity who contacted me after my appeal on BBC Radio Lincolnshire last year, to tell me that she had a dress dating from 1939.   The dress belonged to her mother, and again like the dresses of that time, is very small.  It is made of silk adorned with painted flowers.  Janet told me that her mother wore the dress quite a lot after the wedding, as in those days, you bought something that you could wear again and again.  There is a rather sad story to this dress as the Groom left for War two days after the wedding.  I will have more to tell you when I next write as Janet will be sending me the complete wonderful story.  The good news is that the groom did return from the War and the happy couple were married for many years.

The lovely thing for me is that not only have the dresses been kept but there are hats, cards and other gorgeous little keepsakes.  Janet showed me a photograph of her daughter who was wearing the most divine red hat which was sat at a most precarious angle.....the same hat was laying on the table in front of me.  It turns out that it is the hat belonging to the wedding dress.  It has the original flowers and strap.  If you look to the right of the hat, you will see a card .... this is just one of a wonderful collection of cards exchange between Janet's parents during their time apart due to the War.

My friends always ask why I keep things that they think should be thrown away ... well this is your answer.... mementoes from important days or events should always be kept .... you just never know when someone is going to arrange an exhibition.  I have kept a scrapbook and diary since the 1980s and when I flick through them I am always amazed at what I have done over the years.  I always have a chuckle when I read some of my old diaries as I may have forgotten about a particular event. 

Don't forget to have a look on or around 22 April as I may well have some very good news.  

CHILD BRIDE

Whilst labelling some portriaits in the Hall today, I was 'grabbed' by Doddington's answer to Max Clifford ...the very lovely Amy Claridge who looks after the PR side of things at the Hall.

Amy needed to send out a press release out which she would like to do 'as soon as' and wanted to get some shots of me 'at work'.  I was quite reluctant as I didn't particularly look or feel my best and had ten lovely chipped nails which I would have to hide in the photographs she would have me posing for.  

Nevertheless,I looked out a couple of dresses, both of which wouldn't even fit over the mannequin as they were so small!  After much laughter, mainly from me, we managed to find one that fitted and the only reason for this is because it was worn by a child. 

This dress is rather special and has quite a sad history.  It dates from the Regency period (1820) and is made of cotton muslin.  The dress was worn by an illegitimate daughter of George IV at her wedding when she was only 12 year old.  It is incredibly small and has a low neck and the wide collar has bold indentations edged with ribbon and net lace.  It is decorated with Brussels lace under the bust and has huge leg o'mutton sleeves with similar decoration on the cuffs.  The skirt is embroidered in white with flowers.  

All of the illegitimate descendants of the Prince Regent's family were objects of shame in the Halsey family and so no reliable records were ever kept.  The family had received, until quite recently, a special pension. 

Whilst we were photographing the dress, Amy and I were discussing what the bridge might have felt on the day of the marriage, where the wedding took place and how she would have been feeling.

This dress forms part of the Doddington Hall collection.