Lost in the past: August 2019

Annie Rose Laing, artist #MondayBlogs

A Helensburgh Breakfast

Annie Rose Laing came to my attention because of the painting “A Helensburgh Breakfast.” I was born in Helensburgh and this painting reminds me of the light shining in from the Gareloch in the mornings. I love her choice of subject and on further investigation I discovered her propensity to paint sunlit tables where children and young women sat. There are often flowers and a feeling of relaxation. You feel you want to sit at the table too.

At the breakfast table

Annie was born in Glasgow in 1869 and she studied at the Glasgow School of Art shortly after the famous Glasgow Boys. Glasgow became a major cultural centre and from 1890, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife Margaret MacDonald added to the fame.

The Mirror

Annie exhibited her first picture in 1894 and in the following year she travelled to Algeria. In 1896 her Algerian pictures were exhibited at the Glasgow Institute exhibition after which she turned to the portraits and interiors for which she became renowned. In 1898, Annie married the artist, James Garden Laing, who was 17 years older than her and the couple lived and painted in Glasgow. After her husband’s death she moved to Italy before settling in London in the mid-1920s. She died in 1946 and was buried in Crowborough, East Sussex.

Sewing

Using Paper Patterns #MondayBlogs #Fashions #Nostalgia

My mother made nearly all my clothes when I was a child and she often chose a style which could be used for similar dresses for the two of us.

I don’t have the patterns my mother used during the 1950s but this pattern she bought in 1968 was perfect for the psychedelic fabric she bought in Arab Street in Singapore to make me some fashionable culottes.

I loved the bolero top I made with this pattern to match my flares. I used chocolate brown Thai cotton with a pattern including pink. It sounds awful but it worked.

Returning to a cold English winter in the early 1970s a maxi coat was a must-have.

In 1975 everyone wanted a flared skirt with a frill and this pattern adapted to winter weight cord or soft cotton for the summer.

Woman and Woman’s Realm magazines offered patterns to purchase which my mother loved.

In the early 90s I faced the challenge of making two bridesmaids' dressers for my children but this helpful pattern made it possible.

And we were all pleased with the result.

Peranakan culture and style #Singapore #Malaysia

Colour and pattern are the things which come to mind when I remember living in Singapore in the 1960s and although it is now a very modern city state those two aspects are still vibrantly present in the style and culture of the Peranakan community.

Peranakans are people of mixed Chinese and Malay heritage. Many Peranakans trace their origins to 15th-century Malacca where their ancestors, Chinese traders, married local women. Peranakan men are known as babas while the ladies are known as nonyas (or nyonyas) from the old Portuguese word for lady, donha . The word Peranakan is derived from anak "child" and means descendant, locally born of ancestors from afar. The Peranakans were also known as Straits Chinese as they were usually born in the British-controlled Straits Settlements of Singapore, Penang and Malacca.

Peranakan fashion is stunning, in sizzling colours, with beautiful embroidery on gorgeous fabrics; always worn with grace.

Beautiful embroidered kebayas worn above batik sarongs.

In the past, Peranakan girls were expected to be skilful in embroidery and beadwork, the two distinctive features of Peranakan fashion. The traditional costume for Peranakan women is the kebaya. Originally from Indonesia, the kebaya was adopted by both Malay and Peranakan women but with important differences. The Malay kebaya is a loose-fitting long blouse made of opaque cotton or silk with little or no lace embroidery, but the nonya kebaya is a shorter, tighter-fitting sheer fabric blouse that is often decorated with embroidered motifs (known as sulam) such as roses, peonies, orchids, daisies, butterflies, bees, fish and chickens. Being semi-transparent, the kebaya is usually worn over a camisole and secured with a kerosang, which is a set of three interlinked brooches.Beneath the sarong kebaya intricately hand-beaded slippers known as kasut manek are worn..