The Shirred Dress

Oh, how I chuckle over this photo of me as a little girl. I am not sure how old I am – maybe five or six. I look so sweet: resigned but patient of dad’s mission to fill the family album. He was always taking photos, and was fond of posing his four daughters in front of foliage. We must be on some family outing, for this is certainly not our garden.

I often wore these shirred, spaghetti-strapped dresses as a child. Mum must have made me wear the t-shirt to prevent sunburn. I really liked that style of dress, but I loathed the necessity of wearing a t-shirt – it totally ruined the line. It gave me an ugly tan line too.

Those Roman sandals I am wearing were extremely ubiquitous then too. I’m not sure that I can call them fashionable, as they were plain and sturdy brown leather, and all little girls wore them. Worn with socks, they were part of our school uniform. Even some little boys wore them during the summer – and hence spring a generation of sock-and-sandal-wearing granpas! School principals have a lot to answer for …

Mayday, May Day Already!

Heavens, it’s the first of May already! That means it’s May Day spring festival … only it’s the last month of autumn here in old Melbournetown, so I’ll be celebrating falling leaves instead of spring blossoms. And I’m going to do it with this gorgeous photo out of the family archives, of my sister Blossom and her husband in 1973 (I think this may have been taken when they were living in Canada). I remember loving this photo when I was a child, and I still do.

Blossom was such a style queen – I love looking at photos of her in those days. Check those big sunglasses, and the totally teal skivvy and navy shoes – such a 70s colour palette she’s wearing. And dig those flares on my bro-in-law! 

Sisters Livin’ in the Seventies

So here are my sisters and I lined up on a metallic gold jacquard vinyl couch in the house on Huntingdale Rd. It's the 70s, and the little cutie in a red frock with white bobby socks and desert boots is me.

Star is still part of the white sock brigade like me, rustically teamed with fluffy blue slippers. I'll bet anything my mum picked out that purple and white geometric print dress, since purple is her favourite colour. She inflicted an equally hideous magenta purple garment on me when I was about eight, for Lily's wedding.

My oldest sisters have discarded socks and graduated to sandals and wedges.  Blossom (who must be around 17 or 18) is holding me. She is fetchingly attired in a lurid plaid dress featuring a built-in white short-sleeved cardi. My other sister in the Alice band, Lily with the Legs, is wearing what is probably a polyester floral-print dress.

What a pity all these clothes must have been consigned to the charity bin decades ago!

Blossom Gets Married

My sister Blossom and her husband look just like a classic wedding-cake topper!My sister Blossom was married very young, at sixteen. I absolutely love the faded colours of these mementoes, the now-vintage furnishings. Recently I asked her about her about these photos (possibly taken by a cousin or uncle), and she smiled reminiscently.

The dress was hired, which she has no regrets about. It’s a very modest gown, high-necked; the veil and pretty, lace-trimmed chiffon cloak are what lift it out of the ordinary. I remember admiring this photo (above) as a child; at the dusk falling turning her dress blue, and thinking it looked the epitome of romance. The newly minted couple look like the classic bride and groom that sit atop wedding cakes.

Showing off the heart-shaped cake. Why is dad lurking in the corner?

The couple look so happy cutting the cake. And oh look, there are Naughty Amelia-Jane’s parents on the far right, with her older brother and sister.Her cake, she tells me proudly, was heart-shaped, a detail which you can’t quite see in the photos. That’s just so sweet! I believe the casual little reception was held at our parents’ home, with our relatives in attendance. And that little toddler walking into the shot could just be me. 

I am happy to add that many years later the wedding glow hasn’t faded: they are still happily married.

The bridal couple with my parents. Is that me in the corner?

A Little Red Bag

Over the weekend I spent some time playing with the iPhone app Lo-Mob. Quite different from Hipstamatic, it allows one to apply filters simulating different types of films, or contact prints made with 30s glass masters etc. I happened to be in the city on Sunday morning, and I snapped some photos to experiment with. The results reminded me of this photo out of my own family’s albums.

My parents, aunt and three older sisters are walking along Swanston St Bridge in Melbourne, on a bright morning in the very early 70s. My sister Star is prancing ahead of everyone else, jauntily swinging her bag. I remember her telling me how she liked to be off in the front, and how she particularly loved that little red bag.

What is it about red accessories? I remember having a red bag when I was little too. Perhaps that is why I still love red bags and shoes to this day – they fill me with such nostalgia. For my birthday this year a friend gave me a red patent vintage bag, and today I created my own nostalgic moment with it.

My oldest sister – whose birthday is close to mine – visited me today for a combined birthday lunch, over which we exchanged gifts, and then took a stroll around the Botanic Gardens.

I asked her to take a photo of my bag with my Hipstamatic. Afterwards I took the photo into Lo-Mob to give it a classic wide border. Serendipitously, I had forgotten to warn her to keep her fingers away from the lens – the result lends the photo even more authenticity!

That’s what I love about these retro camera apps: hardly anyone uses real film anymore, and often mistakes and unflattering photos are deleted. But sometimes it is the mistakes that are the real delights.