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| Clear evidence, from Grès’s 1986-7 collection, that her techniques are amenable to a very contemporary look |
I’m doing some blog-thinking right now, trying to decide how to reconcile the copious material I still have to share from my travels with my concern about maintaining the flavour of the blog as established — that is, as a record of my daily life, moving from family to garden to wardrobe and style concerns, both here on our little island and as we wander around Vancouver.
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| A close-up of the dress I showed in an earlier post, with detail of the intricate colourwork pleating. |
I’m also thinking ahead to my fall schedule, which will leave much less time for the blog-writing.
My awareness of this coming restriction is struggling with a growing desire to write a series of more substantial posts — I’m thinking of following up a few suggestions and writing a series about Pater and I and our travels, weaving together some observations about our marriage, our joint histories, whatever seems relevant.
It seems to me that one way to do this might be to restrict some of my posts to photos with minimum commentary, to guard the writing time, saving it for a weekly, even bi-weekly, even monthly post, and see what happens.
That’s what I’m trying to do today, actually, buying myself some thinking and writing time by offering you more photos of the Madame Grès exhibit at the Antoine Bourdelle museum in Paris. (those are links to my two earlier posts on the exhibit).
Details for the sewists among you . . .
How about a little black dress?
Or two?
Or three?
I know that many of us are facing the same sort of quandaries over the time blogging takes in our lives, the results we want to get from it, the direction we want to move it in. Blogs take on a life of their own, gathering up a momentum through a feedback loop between readers and writer. I know I have to work out my blog’s direction on my own, finally, to make the best, most productive, use of my own time, but I’d be grateful for any feedback you might offer as I think this through.
Oh, and by the way, we’re still not done with Mme. Grès. I suspect that none of you mind. More glorious creations to come.
OMG, gorgeous photos. I may have to save some of them to my inspiration file. You know, whatever your write, whenever you write it, and whatever you post, I always look forward to it.
But I can't help with direction at the moment. I'm trying to figure out my own.
I think alternating between posts with 4-5 photos and a few words, and posts with more substance, is a good idea. And you know I'd love to hear more on long marriages. Inspiration.
I can only speak personally, but as someone who is quite a bit your junior (early 40s), the more I read your blogs (I do like your reading blog, as well), the more I see you as a mentor of sorts. Someone who I can hold up as an example of how to achieve a rich contented life. You're a wonderful example of someone who has been able to balance it all. As a mom to young kids, I am on that path of learning that life is an adventure that unfolds and we can be good mothers, wives, career women while honouring ourselves, our intellectual curiosity, our need for beauty, fashion, travel, etc. Just my two cents.—Hope
The details are breathtaking, thank you for thinking of us sewists!
Sometimes I wish all bloggers would move to the model you're considering, because it's hard on everyone keeping up with frequent posts, both writers and readers, and I find increasingly that I'm not as interested in blow-by-blow narratives as I am in more distilled reflection, which takes longer to write hence can't be posted as frequently. This model is more like real-life friendship, at least mature friendships. Friends don't keep in touch every single day, they tend to make special time now and then and catch up, with some photos and reports on what's been going on, but also more reflective observations.
Pictures do communicate so I think posting photos in between thoughtful posts is a great idea.
I never get tired of learning about relationships so I will look forward to your thoughts on marriage.
I am with you on this one; especially as I will be doing more of my own work next year. I have had to take a step back this week which is irksome as it really does help keep my sanity but the model you propose sounds good to me and maybe one I emulate/copy.
I think from your photographs that Haider Ackermann has been very influenced by the Gres back catalogue I see a lot of similar silhouettes in his evening gowns. I wish I could have seen this exhibition, oh to have cheaper travel across the channel.
Mardel: It's tough, isn't it? But at least there are wonderful and beautiful distractions in the world to distract us from our unsureness of direction.
Lisa: Thanks for the encouragement, again. I think I will experiment with this model for a few weeks at least.
Hope: I'm flattered, and I'll take your words into my consideration. I do hope, though, that you can see that "balancing it all," for me, means deliberating dropping some of the balls some of the time. If not, I need to think about being more honest about that. Yarn Harlot had a powerful post on this a few days ago — worth reading.
Susan: Aren't they amazing? They must represent a staggering number of hours hand-stitching, never mind the staggering yardage involved.
Your feedback is very useful — it's true that it can be overwhelming to read my favourite blogs as carefully as I'd like to, and well-chosen photos can convey a message more succinctly. Or they can just be a way of saying a quick "hello."
Alison: I saw your exciting plans but haven't commented over at your place yet. Yes, I can see that to take that on, you'll have to scale back on blogging — not too much, I hope. Perhaps you'll be able to integrate the two.
I'll have to look at the Ackermann gowns — and did you notice at the Yamamoto exhibt at the V&A that several of his gowns were direct tributes to Grès?