Dressed for Travelling, Hiking, and a Visit to the Opera

Dressed for Travelling, Hiking, and a Visit to the Opera

Packing for the trip through Germany I really dread packing. My suitcase always seems too small and my clothes inevitably weigh too much. And then I throw in things that I might need and would regret if I hadn’t brought along. The luggage scale is my enemy. Packing for our trip in Germany was a different challenge. We would be travelling by train and there […]

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French Kashmir shawl from the 1830s

French Kashmir shawl from the 1830s

In July, I wrote about my antique “paisley shawl” that I bought in Edinburgh. I was trying to figure out when and where it was made? I had spent time in the library and read all I could find, and I had narrowed it down to a European-made shawl from the early 1800s. Who could shed some light on it? Any “paisley shawl” experts? I […]

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I wish he may go to the East Indies, that I may have my shawl.

I wish he may go to the East Indies, that I may have my shawl.

Jane Austen died 200 years ago and her legacy is celebrated this year with exhibitions and events. Kerstin and I visited Skokloster Castle last week. Their exhibition, Jane Austen’s World, featured costumes worn in Austen’s movies, including the famous soaked shirt worn by Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. A theme in the exhibition was marriage as a guarantor of family survival. Girls’ education focused […]

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On the Hunt for Paisley Shawls

On the Hunt for Paisley Shawls

We really don’t know what kind of shawl Augusta, or her mother, used when travelling. Most likely, they had large, dark, wool shawls to keep warm. Where they locally produced or imported? In the 1800s, shawls with paisley pattern was the fashion. The shawls were large and multicolored. No artist can beat the Belgian painter Alfred Stevens (1823-1906) in rendering the beautiful Paisley shawls of […]

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