Friday Video: The Story of 'Keep Calm & Carry On'

Susan reporting:

The slogan "Keep Calm and Carry On" today appears on t-shirts, bumperstickers, and coffee cups, and it's been adapted in countless other ways to promote everything from cupcakes to Bob Marley. I knew that the slogan and poster had originated in Great Britain during the Second World War, but I'd no idea of its story or true significance. This wonderful short video is also an understated advertisement for what has to be one of the most delightful bookstores in the U.K. To us here in America, where independent bookstores are closing at an alarming rate, this shop in an old train station truly looks like a reader's heaven.

A Barber of London in 1829

Loretta reports:

Contrasting with the description of a footman, this presents the barber as offering a kind of paradise to his clients.

~~~

THE BARBER.

The members of this ancient and gentle profession—foul befal the libeller who shall designate it a trade— are mild, peaceable, cheerful, polite, and communicative: they mingle with no cabal, have no interest in factions, are "open to all parties, and influenced by none;" and they have a good, kind, or civil word for everybody. . . . Their small, cool, clean, and sparingly-furnished shops, with sanded floor, and towelled walls, relieved by the white-painted, well scoured shelves, scantily adorned with the various implements of their art, denote the snug system of economy which characterises the owners. Here, only, is the looking-glass not an emblem of vanity: it is placed to reflect, and not to flatter. You seat yourself in the lowly, antique chair, worn smooth by the backs of half a century of beard-owners, and instantly feel a full repose from fatigue of body and mind. You find yourself in attentive and gentle hands, and are persuaded that no man can be in collision with his shaver or hair-dresser. The very operation tends to set you on better terms with yourself; and your barber hath not in his constitution the slightest element of difference. The adjustment of a curl, the clipping of a lock, the trimming of a whisker, (that much-cherished and highly-valued adornment of the face,) are matters of paramount importance to both parties—threads of sympathy for the time, unbroken by the divesture of the thin, soft, ample mantle, that enveloped you in its snowy folds while under his care . . . The veriest churl is softened by the application of the warm emollient brush, and calmed into complacency by the light-handed hoverings of the comb and scissors. A smile, a compliment, a remark on the weather, a diffident side-wind inquiry about politics, or the passing intelligence of the day, are tendered with that deference, which is the most grateful as well as the handsomest demonstration of politeness.
—George Cruikshank, Robert Cruikshank, The Gentleman’s Pocket Magazine, Vol 3, 1829

The Myth of the Regency Sylph

Susan reporting:

Seeing the fashions of 1810 featured in Loretta's blog yesterday reminded me of how fashion influences more than just silk and ribbons: it can also determine the stylish ideal of the body beneath those clothes.

Too often, however, the modern perception of what was hot in the late 18th-early 19th c is more a reflection of 21st ideals, especially as influenced by contemporary film versions of Jane Austen's novels. Our sylphs would not have been theirs. Keira Knightley, right, and Gwyneth Paltrow would have been pitied as sad, scrawny creatures, even perhaps consumptive. The ladies that everyone was ogling in a real Regency ballroom would have looked much more like this caricature of the notorious Emma, Lady Hamilton, left, by Thomas Rowlandson.

While later in her career, Emma would be cruelly depicted as blowsy and obese, here she is shown as an eminently desirable and fashionable beauty, with high breasts and well-rounded thighs and bottom. The same kind of lush figure tumbles through countless other drawings by Rowlandson and James Gillray; Google either artist, and you'll see these women over and over. It's easy to look at this body-type and imagine it wearing the clothes in the 1810 fashion plate, or in this one from 1808

The more flattering portrait of Emma, below, also shows exactly how robust a stylish lower half must have been. With fashion dictating a temporary respite from boned corseting, narrow waists lost their importance as an erogenous zone. Instead the interest  shifted to the lush, voluptuous curves below the waist, revealed by the drifting drapery of light silks and linens. For men who had been raised in an era when these mysterious body-parts had been hidden by hoops and heavily draped skirts, the sudden change must have been...exciting.

Where did this different kind of body ideal come from? Just as ancient Roman and Greek art and architecture was influencing nearly every aspect of the decorative arts in the late 18th-early 19th c, fashion, too, took a classical turn. High-waisted gowns and draping shawls were designed to emulate ancient fashions, embroidery patterns featured classical motifs, and looped and knotted hairstyles showed a classical influence as well.

But the undressed bodies of ancient nude statuary also set new standards of physical beauty. While Georgian aristocrats on their Grand Tours were busily checking out naked marble goddesses all across the Continent, one of the must-see statutes was the Aphrodite Kallipygos, right, on display in Naples. This much-admired statue is thought to be a 1st c BC Roman copy of an earlier Greek bronze, and her provocative pose must have left a definite impression of classical booty on countless young Englishmen.

The statue may also have influenced Lady Hamilton, living with her husband Sir William in Naples. For special guests to their villa, Emma performed her "Attitudes," a series of graceful poses inspired by classical art – the same "Attitudes" satirized by Rowlandson in the caricature at the top of this page. While Emma performed in a quasi-classical costume, not in the buff as Rowlandson shows her, there is a similarity between the pose – and the voluptuous figure.

Top left: Lady Hamilton's Attitudes by Thomas Rowlandson, 1790
Lower left: Detail, Emma, Lady Hamilton as Ariadne by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, 1790
Lower right: Aphrodite Kallipygos, artist unknown, 1st c BC, National Archaeological Museum, Naples

Fashions for March 1810

Loretta reports:

Once again, we get one black & white and one color print, this time in La Belle Assemblée.  Umm, you might also note the derrière of the lady at the piano.  The dresses are not as clingy as many people think; that damped muslin thing seems to be a myth; and we're getting the distinct impression that a well-rounded rear end and very full thighs were viewed as hot.

~~~

FASHIONS

FOR

MARCH, 1810.

EXPLANATION OF THE PRINTS OF FASHION,

ENGLISH COSTUME.

No. 1—HYDE-PARK WALKING DRESS.

A pelisse of black Merino cloth or velvet, buttoned from the throat to the feet, made to fit tight to the shape with a band and crape, ornamented with a double row of gold braiding, or an oriental embossed silk trimming, worn; over a chemisette of French lawn. A Spanish hat and flat drooping ostrich feather tipped with orange. Half hoots of black or orange coloured Morocco, Angola muff lined with yellow; the hair lightly curled on the left side with a thick braid crossing the face. Earrings of gold, or amber. Gloves of York tan.

No. 2.—EVENING FULL DRESS.

A white satin round dress, with half yard train, laced up the back and seams with gold twist, ornamented round the neck with a full twill of frosted satin or white crape, and down the front and at the wrist with gold braiding, and small drop buttons. It is made to sit high on the neck; cut to a point in the centre of the bosom and back: a gold band encircles the waist. A white satin Emsdorf helmet trimmed with gold, ornamented with two white craped ostrich feathers. White satin shoes embroidered with gold; white kid gloves; gold necklace and ear-rings ; cornelian brooch. The hair dressed in ringlets on each side the face, with a long Theresa curl falling over the left shoulder.

No. 3.—SECOND FIGURE.

An India muslin train over a white satin petticoat. A boddice of green velvet, ornamented at the seams with gold braiding, and trimmed round the neck with a twill of green crape or velvet. A Spanish cap, with green craped ostrich feathers.
—La Belle Assemblée, Volume 1, 1810

NHG Library: "In the Words of Women"

Susan reporting:

March is officially Women's History Month. This has always seemed a mixed blessing: yes, it's wonderful to shine the limelight on women of the past, but why does half the world's population only merit one month's worth of attention out of twelve? Perhaps that's more apt then I want to admit, for often it does seem that men garner eleven times the ink in history books.

I've recently discovered a new book that will help tip the balance more fairly. In the Words of Women: The Revolutionary War & the Birth of a Nation 1765-1799 by Louise V. North, Janet M. Wedge, and Landa M. Freeman is a collection of the writings – including letters, diaries, poems, and journals – of dozens of women living in the turbulent era of the American Revolution. Whether addressing matters of daily life such as tending sick children and coaxing unhappy husbands, difficult questions of loyalty versus patriotism, or the shocking violence and loss of the war around them, the voices of these women, both patriots and loyalists, sound with astonishing clarity. This is one of those books that's a treat to read straight through, or to dip into a random, and I can't recommend it enough. For more from the book and about the authors, visit their website/blog here.

This passage from a letter from In the Words of Women shows how vulnerable women were to enemy forces. Eliza Yonge Wilkinson (1757-1813) of South Carolina was a young widow of twenty-three and a firm believer in the patriot cause. When British and American forces converged on Charleston, she took refuge in her sister's nearby plantation house, but on June 3, 1780, the house was ransacked by British troops:

    I heard the horses of the inhuman Britons coming in such a furious manner, that they seemed to tear up the earth, and the riders at the same time bellowing out the most horrid curses imaginable; oaths and imprecations which chilled my whole frame....I'd no time for thought – they were up to the house – entered with drawn swords and pistols in their hands; indeed, they rushed in, in the most furious manner, crying out, "Where're these women rebels?" (pretty language to ladies from the once famed Britons!)....The moment they espied us, off went our caps (I always heard say none but women pulled caps!) And for what, think you? why, only to get a paltry stone and wax pin, which kept [the caps] on our heads; at the same time uttering the most abusive language imaginable, and making as if they'd hew us to pieces with their swords. But it's not in my power to describe the scene: it was terrible to the last degree; and what augmented it, they had several armed negroes with them, who threatened and abused us greatly They then began to plunder the house of every thing they thought valuable or worth taking; our trunks were split to pieces, and each mean wretch crammed his bosom with the contents, which were our apparel. &c. &c. &c.
    I ventured to speak to the inhuman monster who had my clothes. I represented to him the times were such we could not replace what they'd taken from us, and begged him to spare me only a suit or two; but I got nothing but a hearty curse for my pains; nay, so far was his callous heart from relenting, that, casting his eyes towards my shoes, "I want them buckles," said he, and immediately knelt at my feet to take them out, which, while he was busy about, a brother villain, whose enormous mouth extended from ear to ear, bawled out "Shares there, I say; share." So they divided my buckles between them. The other wretches were employed in the same manner....They took care to tell us, when they were going away, that they had favored us a great deal – that we might thank our stars it was no worse.

The detail of the painting, above, by John Singleton Copley, does not directly illustrate Eliza's letter (rather it shows a scene from the 1781 Battle of Jersey between British and French forces) – but it does convey the terror that faced women and children caught in the path of 18th c warfare.

Above: Detail from The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781 by John Singleton Copley, 1783, Tate Collection.
In accordance with some FTC rule or another (which probably doesn't apply to Loretta and me because we're writers, not reviewers, but better safe than sorry), I received a copy of In the Words of Women as a gift from the authors.

Breakfast Links: Week of February 27, 2012

Served up fresh: our weekly offering of Breakfast Links! Our favorite links to other blogs, web sites, pictures, and articles collected for you from around the Twitterverse.

• Eclipse, born 1st April 1764, died 26th February 1789 - perhaps the greatest racehorse of all time. http://bit.ly/xyshEI

• Growing your own buildings: a 1,500 yr old yew tree with three benches tucked inside - Herefordshire: http://bit.ly/Atzrbd

• The ultimate family feud -- Astor vs. Astor. http://bit.ly/zw9GKq

• Forget Oscars gowns. Pink striped silk ballgown with beautiful sleeves, hem detail c 1820 http://bit.ly/zeJXvV

• The Ghent Altarpiece in ultra-high-resolution. Incredible detail. Zoom in & keep zooming! http://ow.ly/9jqNG

• Excellent slide show: Lover’s Eyes : How Eye Miniatures Became the Mood Rings of the Late 1700s http://vnty.fr/y2XIZG

• The Great Dublin Exhibition of Art & Industry,1851: http://bit.ly/AjSY6B

• Teenage girls of 1940s America: http://bit.ly/xgNEBU

• The art of dry-cleaning in Paris in 1848: http://bit.ly/xK9SWN

• Pastel bowties, too. Are these London's most interesting underpants? http://bit.ly/zmNVnj

• This painting of an 18^th c couple in their library holds up a mirror to our own ideals of the civilised life: http://bit.ly/A4amYn

• 10 rules of the anti-flirt club of the early 1920s http://j.mp/yQVtbD

• Turn-Of-The-Century Gym Clothes http://bit.ly/z1nC9x

• Charlotte Brontë's lost short story to be published http://gu.com/p/35z47/tw

• Re-imagining Elizabethan London http://bit.ly/A9K6Ho

• "Bloomers" take advantage of Leap Year, 1862: http://bit.ly/y7SgVz

• Dickens at work as a boy in the Blacking Factory http://bit.ly/xr7EWO

• Knowing the weather at sea by the look of the moon, 17th century style http://bit.ly/wN3I9O

• Sir John Soane's Other Regency-Era House http://wp.me/p13rlt-1qY Pitzhanger Manor, Ealing. 

• Debauchery at the Bartholomew Fair http://bit.ly/z8Uc7Q

• An impressively detailed new microsite on the history of Titanic http://bit.ly/xZvCzj

• Undecorated: Heroines of the Civil War http://fb.me/1ExVhPeAy

• An heir & a spare but no love there - Queen Anne of Austria & Spain 1601–1666 - http://bit.ly/A8TAmY

• Amazing 1945 silk dinner-dress by Mainbocher that's straight out of the 1830s: http://bit.ly/wlVP3m

Friday Video: History of English in brief

Loretta reports:

Some of us have short attention spans and some do not.  Either species will, I think, enjoy this piece—and probably learn some things.  I did!

Readers who receive our blog via email might see only a black rectangle or empty square where the video ought to be.  To watch the video, please click on this link to the  Two Nerdy History Girls blog.