Retromania and the internet time machine

Well this post is a bit of an open ended question and one I'm not sure has an answer. I am a big retro fan but I cant help but wonder, is our constant look into the past, shutting down the opportunity to innovate or produce anything new? It seems I am not the only one who has gravitated towards this idea. In fact it has been something that has repeatedly popped up on the radio and in blogs over the last few days.

As a person who is partial to a bit of retro myself, it feels a little hypocritical to pick holes in it. I love Mad Men and the clothes of the 1950's and 60's. I like listening to Disco and Funk in fact I mainly listen to old music. Even the new music I listen to often samples music of a different time and place.

Writer Simon Reynolds discusses our cultures obsession with music of the past in his book Retromania, you can read about it in depth in this Guardian article.
I feel that this so called Retromania is effecting every part of our lives from the clothes we wear to the music we listen to, to the things we put in our homes. We get exited about things that were outdated before our time like vinyl and record players. Dancing round our front rooms to the same songs our parents listened to. Even holding in high esteem music our parents would have been ashamed to listen to. After walking into an 20 something artists studio for the 100th time and hearing Bob Dylan blasting out of the ipod docking station a voice in my head cry's, isn't it time we moved on? If we spent a little less time listening to the music of the past and invested a little more time supporting the music of the future, maybe the tween market would die down and we wouldn't be forced to listen to, yet another autotune rendition of some song that was too grim the first time round.
Like I said earlier its not like I'm a maverick myself. I'm not riding the cusp of a new wave of innovation because in my hart of harts, I'm not sure there is one. the more I think about it the more I wonder how can anyone do anything new? Even when you think you have and some sort of brain wave a quick google search turns up 100 people that are doing the same and that have done it before you! Would I be a more cutting edge if I turned off all my cutting edge technology shut my door and just got on with it?
I was talking with some friends about this earlier I asked what will define this generation if this generation is just a mish mash of things form the past? She said 'mybe that is what defines us?' 'we are the generation that takes the best its form the past and by putting them together turns them into something new' I hope she is right because if Lady GaGa is the most forward thinking and experimental person out there I might just lock myself away and be done with it!




P.S if you want to read a little more on this subject have  look at this very eloquent blog post by Ekow Eshun

Beautiful Ladies in Floral 50's

I love love love making my own patterns but I have to be honest I don't always have the time!

My good friends had their wedding recently and I was thinking about what to wear.......

A long awaited tidy up of my studio unveiled a half cut pattern I  had forgotten all about, from one of the best vintage pattern companies I have come across colette patterns

The cut of their patterns is the best they are so comfortable and so flattering. So when my work mate needed an outfit for a blitz party I was more than happy to share the love! 

And I am so glad I did because she looks SO BEAUTIFUL!

Its inspired me to cut some 50's patterns of my own. It might even be time to pick out some pretty florals or candy stripes! Not my usual thing...... I think the brief taste summer might have effected me.......

Dreaming about dresses

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I feel embarrassed even admitting it but yes i have been going to bed closing my eyes and dreaming about dresses. Not quite Marting Luther King is it? Saying this out loud is like admitting your favorite song is um bop or you love Harry form one direction....sad times!

I think writing this blog has heightened everything i was thinking before.....its more like a little diary of ideas for me. When i write about something exiting (to me of course probably not to everyone) like new fabric it turns me into a super geek and i am sure that i am the most boring person in the world. There is only one person i know that loves talking about sewing as much as i do and for the purposes of this blog she will be know as miss jazz. Oh the emails we send to each other would make most of you fall asleep at your desks! So i wont go into all of that instead I wanted to show you some pretty things i want to use along with the Kenyan fabric i posted yesterday.

MMMMMM lovely leather straps (oh god that does not sound entirely right does it?)

I also want a big fat gold kilt pin or a broach but they are either

to Scottish

or too old and expensive

So i think I'm going to give up on an online search and get out into the wild world and find something or make something myself.....

Oh and back to the dreaming thing..... so i went to sleep thinking about my fabric and what i could do with it and in my head i was thinking something kind of structured and 50's underneath and something a bit like the image below in the draped parts.......

(oh god it pains me to use a pic of this dude but its the only thing i could find that describes what i mean!)

Sorry getting back to the story..... when i woke up this morning Gertie had written a post about almost  the exact dress i had dreamt about.

if you want to read more form her blog you can here! http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/2011/04/daily-dress-whirling-turban-shaheen.html

this probably sounds like the weirdest combination ever but in my mind its beautiful.......

pics to be posted here once its done