A Century of Style at Glasgow Kelvingrove

Husband and I managed a quick visit to the wonderful historical fashion exhibition at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow with promise of lunch at the end of it, although he went for a walk in the nearby park while I enjoyed a glimpse into the past. A Century of Style: Costume and Colour 1800-1899 is running until 14th February and the venue itself is one of my favourite places as it's such a stunning building filled with great art.

The exhibition did not disappoint, although it was predominantly Victorian style with the odd Regency outfit included. I took loads of photos for future research and made sure it was okay to include some on my blog. It was fascinating reading about the different colours and materials used and they even provided little samples of fabric for us to examine here and there. They also provided information on the dyes used throughout the period, with the relevant clothes arranged in colour-coordinated sections. 

It was equally fascinating to imagine these sumptuous outfits being part of well-to-do life in Scotland at one time - some of the cards accompanying the outfits told us to whom they had belonged and when they were worn.

Here a few of my favourites

Regency dress and spencer

Silk dress

Cotton print dress

Victorian dresses with crinoline

There are too many to show here and some of the accessories were also interesting - mourning outfits for instance included everything in black from the corset to the jewellery. I'm so glad I didn't miss this as there's nothing quite like seeing original costumes if writing historical fiction!

Rosemary

Trains, Hair, and Eavesdropping

What an enjoyable, productive day I’ve had – and a decent hair cut that included a shiatsu head massage from a new (to me) hairdresser in the centre of Glasgow. Before going for the train, I managed to get a good section of the contemporary novel written for the NaNoWriMo count.

On the half hour journey into the city, I started writing the next part of the Victorian novella I’m trying to get finished before Christmas. But I thought it was going to be too distracting at first. Two young women, one of whom was obviously a psychology student, were having the most interesting conversation and I was sitting a little too near to avoid hearing them until I eventually managed to block out their voices.

The problem was that the psychology student’s opinions and theories about serial killers and psychotics was so fascinating that I started to imagine a whole new type of novel that could feature such a character. Fortunately, when they finally moved on to other subjects, their voices dropped a little and I was able to get on with my novella. And guess what? I’ve just transcribed the section I wrote to find it was almost 700 words! I definitely think I should be writing outside the house more often.

The hairdresser appointment turned out to be equally interesting. I don’t really like getting my hair cut and blow dried as it usually takes at least a week before I get used to the slightly shorter style again. And to make it worse, my previous hairdresser in the next village has given up her job. But today was an absolute treat, with the wonderful massage first, then a very nice young male hairdresser who knew exactly what he was doing and how he should shape my hair.

While waiting for the head massage, I picked up a small free publication about things going on in Glasgow and a few other places wider afield. And now I have two or three ideas for further scenes in my contemporary novel, although I’m hoping I remember them as I didn’t write them down.

So it turned out to be a great work day, even though some of it felt more like a holiday. Hope the rest of the weekend is so interesting and enjoyable, although I don't think we're travelling anywhere by train. The photo at the top is one of my favourite steam trains, not the one I was on today!

Rosemary