Spring Break: Luxembourg (part 1)

As I mentioned, I had an amazing time in Luxembourg.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous while I was there, which meant in addition to eating lots of amazing food (I tried hare!) and exploring beautiful historic sites, I also spent a lot of time outside with Lydie soaking up some much-needed sun!
The first day we went out roller skating in Ingeldorf (the village I was in) and over to Diekirch (the next town) to explore and get some ice cream.  It was a blast, but it turns out I don't remember how to stop or slow down while roller blading...the things that keep me humble. haha.
I probably also would have been more graceful if I hadn't been attempting to also snap pictures of the countryside as I whizzed by.

Ingeldorf church

A little bit of home! (or rather, New Hampshire)

Diekirch was a charming town, and also lends its name to one of the Luxembourgish beers (I tried it on my last night-it was actually pretty good mixed with lemonade, but I'm not really a beer person).  If I remember correctly, there are two brands, one from the northern part of the country and one from the south.  Diekirch is the northern brew.
The town also has great ice cream, which was much more exciting for me.

the main street in Diekirch

The mascot-ish thing for Diekirch is a donkey, and there were images of them everywhere, including this fountain.  The ice cream was also different than American ice cream: milk-based, like normal ice cream, but with a much stronger fruit flavor more like sorbet.

In the afternoon we went to 'the lake', which has a real name but nobody uses it.  'The lake' us part of a reservoir system created by a massive damn, which we also went to see.  The lake was absolutely lovely and because we were off-season, also really empty and peaceful.

On the way back, we stopped at a viewing point so that I could see a castle.  Although the entire country of Luxembourg is only 2,586 sq km (998 sq mi), it has 7 castles.  I saw four during my trip, but only went inside one.  It was a great re-awakening of my love for tiaras (more on that later).  It even had turrets!  Edinburgh Castle, while awesome, was a military fortress and does not have turrets.

That night Lydie's sisters and I made dinner and I was introduced to 'bretzel', which is a pretzel but sweet and filled with almond paste and also possibly chocolate.  Around Easter there is a tradition where Luxembourgish boys give girls they like a present on a specific Sunday, and then the girls have a different Sunday to give the boys something.  One of these things is a bretzel and the other is a special Easter egg, but after much debate I can't remember which gender gives what.

mmm.

Fairy Tale Country

I'm home for the night after an absolutely wonderful four days in Luxembourg with a good friend and her family.  I'm off to London in the morning (ugh-two early travel days in a row!), so I'll do a much longer post about the trip when I get back...in the meantime, here are a few pictures from some of the lovely places we went.  The countryside is absolutely gorgeous, and because so many of the historic buildings have been preserved, really does look like a storybook.

the view while roller skating the first day

at the lake

one of the castles I went to

Luxembourg City, the capital, looking down into the 'old town'

sunset in the capital

taking in the air at another castle

Even more tartan!

I turned in all my work last week, and had my last class yesterday, so I'm off to Luxembourg tomorrow afternoon.  I'm so excited!  In the meantime, in addition to working, packing, dancing, and hanging out with friends before we all disappear for a month, I've also continued my obsessive search for all (fashionable) things tartan.

There are several descriptions in English Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century by Cecil Cunnington which, unfortunately, I can't access the pictures for (the downside of previews of google books...) that relate to the popularity of tartan in the mid-19th century.  Some highlights:

-1864: Carriage dress of tartan glace

-'tartan is the fashion and must be worn' (late 1860s, unsure of where this was quoted from)

-in 1859, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria described the humiliation of the Duchess of Manchester, who had gotten a hoop from her cage crinoline stuck on a turnstile, and when she fell her skirts were flung above her head.  Luckily, she was wearing the newly-fashionable 'knickerbockers': in fact, hers were scarlet tartan.  Totally unnecessary, but I want a pair now...would scarlet tartan possibly be the hunter royal stewart?  I'm making my ball dress out of the dress version.  How awesome would it be to have drawers in the other?

I considered writing a bit about all of these...but there are a lot and I'm feeling a bit lazy. (I'm also currently watching Beauty and the Beast with my flatmate.  Yes, we do watch 1990s Disney movies on a regular basis, thankyouverymuch.)  Instead, I'm just going to split them chronologically.

In general, there seems to be an impression that tartan came into women's fashion with Queen Victoria's obsession with it (starting in the 1850s).  I find this to generally be reflected in the images I've seen, but there are definitely some fabulous earlier examples:

Portrait, 'A Jacobite Lady', c. 1745

I love the military look!

fashion plate, 1830s

Check out the cute tartan apron to the bottom left.

photograph of Charlotte Lockhart, descendant of Walter Scott, 1846

After its rise in women's fashion, it also blended well with the bright colors available through new chemical dyes:

From Godey's Lady's Book, Oct. 1855 

The bright trim looks more like tartan when it's bigger...

1860, from the collection at the Musee McCord

This was worn in Canada to the dedication of a bridge in honor of the Prince of Wales.  Apparently the family was Scottish, and this is based on the clan tartan.

from Harper's Bazaar, 1870

I really like the tartan-as-trim look.  I happened to find a ton of examples for the 1870s; Here are some highlights:

basque from Harper's Bazaar, 1875

walking dress, Harper's Bazaar 1870

I do like the tartan-as-everything look too, though this is a bit much.  I have noticed that in all the images I've found, any tartan ruffle is done on the diagonal.  Something to note for future sewing...

travelling dress, Harper's Bazaar 1870

In the process of investigating, I also found this suit from 1897.  It's technically 'wool check', not tartan, but it's awfully close and it's just a gorgeous outfit.

And, as always, accessories are a great place to add fashionable touches to the wardrobe...plus, I know exactly where to get an abundance of tartan ribbon.  Let the hat-making begin!

fashionable hats, 1827.  The top and bottom left involve tartan ribbon according to the accompanying description

from Godey's Lady's Book, 1859.  Bonnet to the top right trimmed in tartan.

 Of course, not all accessories are hats, and this is one of my favorites.

tartan cloak, Harper's Bazaar 1870

 I can't get over the bow. So cute.

Just one last thing and then I'll call it a night, as I have a busy day tomorrow...these actually aren't 19th century, but I found them in the Museum of Costume collection (located in Bath) and thought they were fantastic.  Apparently, the designer created them because the outfit included a hat in the same fabric.  A good use for scraps, and perfect accessorizing!

taffeta, 1947

Scotland for the Win!

Yesterday I went with some friends to watch the Scotland vs. Italy game of the Six Nations rugby tournament. The six nations included are Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, Italy, and France.  We were supporting Scotland, obviously, and it was not only a very exciting game but we also won, which was even better!
I don't really understand the rules of rugby aside from how to score and the basics of play.  Basically, just enough to know when to scream and cheer for my team.  We got really into the spirit of it, and dressed up despite the cold-it was well worth the effort.  Actually, there were a lot of great outfits in support of both sides.

 We took a bus to Murrayfield Stadium, where the game was.  On the way back we walked, because the fans took over the streets and stopped all the traffic!  I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but all the Edinburgh city buses have tartan upholstery on the seats.  Obviously, I am a huge fan of this.

 We're outside the stadium itself here, proudly sporting the Scottish flag, which is called the Saltire.  It is also known as the St. Andrew's Cross--St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, and Saint Andrews Day is a national Scottish holiday.  We celebrated it this fall with--what else?--haggis, neeps, and tatties.

 Naturally, there had to be war paint.  I broke in the face paint by giving Ailie a full-face Saltire, and then the rest of us got stripes on each cheek.  Ailie also wrote 'FREEDOM' on Martin's forehead, a la Braveheart.

We were so much fiercer.

 It turned out we had amazing seats, behind one the the goal posts and pretty far forward-you could see the whole game easily, which was good since I was still trying to master the rules.  It was a lot more exciting than I usually find watching sports to be-quite possibly because it was really violent and awesome.  And we won. That always helps.

 The playing of the national anthems was also a lot more exciting than I'm used to.  The flag bearers marched around the bagpipers and drummers to form a Saltire with their flags across the field...and then when the Scotland team was announced, there were flames and fireworks.  I think if American teams entered through giant flames and fireworks came off the roof of the stadium, I might be more interested.

 The game was very exciting-we didn't score until the second half, and it was quite tense up until the final countdown...followed by massive cheers and lots of jumping around.  We walked back into town with the rest of the crowd and stopped at the Southsider, a pub near my flat, to celebrate with Irn Bru, which is a Scottish soda.  I think it's awful: it's bright orange and tastes/smells like bubble gum, but I haven't yet met a Scot that didn't like it.  Supposedly it's also a great hangover cure, but I've never had a need to try that, thankfully.  The commercials for Irn Bru are fantastic, though-I recommend looking some up.  Also, it outsells Coca-cola here, which is pretty incredible.

Scotland won 21-8. Cheers!

Post-Essay Fun

My last essay of the semester is due on Thursday, and I'm almost done with it.  I've at least done as much as I can right now...so I'm taking a break and feeling very inspired.  As previously mentioned, I've gotten really into tartan as a historical fashion thing this year.  I've already planned out a tartan ballgown, but it's expanding into tartan for every period of the 19th century.  I've learned some really interesting things, though!
Here's a dress from the BBC series of Wives and Daughters, which is extra cute because there's some discussion in the show about how it's not a 'proper' tartan.

and here's a real one from a slightly earlier period (and by real I mean image of a fashion plate, sent to me by the wonderful author of this blog):

the hat makes this one

Thanks to Wives and Daughters, I've fallen in love with the ridiculousness of the 1820s:

Parisian Ladies, 1826

1820-1835

And you can never go wrong with a tartan sash...

1863

Queen Victoria, c. 1850s

This one is totally unrelated, and of a Colonel stationed in India, but how cool is he?!

I'm still digging up examples, so depending on how busy I am, I might post some more.  In the process of doing all this research, I learned that the US also has a long history with tartan-did you know that April 6 is National Tartan Day in America?
It's even an official holiday as of 2008.

Many states also have their own tartans, including Massachusetts, which has the 'bay state tartan'!

It's amazing what weird things you find out on the search for fashion references.