Quality Children's Clothes

It becomes more and more of a challenge to find appropriate and well-made clothes for small children. So many of the clothes we get at the mall and at various superstores fade after one or two washings. Many of the styles are too sophisticated for little ones. While shopping for a Christmas dress for a five year old this past year I had to sift through outfits that looked as if they were created for a nightclub, sleeveless and covered with sequins, completely inappropriate for a little girl. So much of what is found in mainstream stores is overpriced considering the shoddy manufacturing. I do not mind paying a little more for quality, but I hate to pay a lot for trash.

It makes me remember how my grandmother made most of our clothes for us, knitting beautiful sweaters and sewing little smocked dresses. Grandma came from a large family where clothes were made to last, since they were passed down from child to child, and sometimes even into the next generation. Her work was of a quality difficult to find nowadays. Difficult, but not impossible, especially since I have discovered Estella, a store which designs clothes for children that remind of the kind my grandmother used to make. The clothes at Estella are not the type that fade after a few washings or after one season. They are made to endure. To quote from the Estella website:

In a market that is often filled with too-trendy or overtly trite baby clothing, Estella stood out with its fresh take on designer baby clothing, presenting cutting-edge designs that are modern and possess incredible detail, unusual colors and sumptuous fabrics. The store is filled with clothing that is chosen for its quality, beauty and character rather than their brand.

January is the time to take advantage of all the sales and stock up on clothes for the year to come. Just about everything at Estella is marked down, including summer clothes. Here is a coupon code for an extra discount of 10%, which I want to share with readers of this blog: pjJanSale. There are also gifts for mothers, as well as baby gear, and safe toys, so if you have a moment take a look. Since I don't know how to knit, I am glad that there are still some nice shops around which provide the craftsmanship of others.


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The Tea Table

Somehow in the course of the last fifty years, tea-time has come to be seen as belonging to the domain of the wealthy and privileged. How odd this is, since "high tea" was at one time the principle evening meal for working class and middle class families, "low tea" being comparable to an afternoon snack. Yes, tea parties can be formal affairs, but tea-time can also be a cozy gathering of family and a few close friends. Sometimes, it is pleasant to talk to people face-to-face, rather than merely on the phone or over the internet. Unfortunately, so much of our human relations are focused on the computer or television. At tea-time, it is nice to turn off the television, close up the lap-top, and give our undivided attention to those whom we like and love. At tea-time, the emphasis is on the conversation rather than on the food, unlike regular meal times.

Here are some instructions on how to arrange the tea table. Invitations are mentioned but it is possible for friends to gather informally.

Here is a selection from the writings of the original Emily Post concerning tea parties. According to Mrs. Post: "A 'tea,' even though it be formal, is nevertheless friendly and inviting. One does not go in 'church' clothes nor with ceremonious manner; but in an informal and every-day spirit, to see one’s friends and be seen by them." Mrs. Post provides detailed advice on how to arrange the table, HERE. Very entertaining, in a quaint sort of way; Emily Post's book has recently been updated to fit modern situations, which is helpful as well.
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The Cultural Continuity of the West

Aristotle at Mont Saint-Michel. This is book review is a must-read. It says:

Long before the late Eduard Said invented “Orientalism” to exalt Arab culture and Islamic society at the expense of the West, bien-pensants like Voltaire inclined to express their rebellion against the dwindling vestiges of Christendom by representing Europeans as bigots or clowns and raising up exotic foreigners – Voltaire himself wrote about Turks and Persians of the Muslim fold – to be the fonts of wisdom and models of refined life in their tracts and stories. The sultan and dervish look with amused tolerance on the gaucheries of the European rubes. The rubes swing their elbows and knock over the pottery. It was the Eighteenth-Century philosophes and illuminati who coined the pejorative term Dark Ages to refer to the centuries immediately following the collapse of the Roman imperial administration in the West under pressure of the Gothic assertions of the Fifth Century. Liberal discourse often casually extends the same term to apply it to all of medieval European civilization up to the Renaissance. Specialist historians have, however, long since demonstrated that no such absolute discontinuity as the term Dark Ages insinuates ever existed, which means that the Enlightenment version of history is at least partly wrong. And yet the usual story retains its currency, as an item in a kind of liberal folklore.

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Looking Ahead

St. Valentine's day is just about a month away. Anyone who is searching for a special and romantic gift might want to visit some of the following sites for ideas. Tuccini has about every kind of perfume and fragrance in the world. For gifts of fine jewelry, there are some lovely inspirations HERE. As I used to tell customers when I worked at a jewelry store years ago that any piece of jewelry should be seen as an investment; it lasts forever and can become an heirloom. Like any gift, the true value lies in the love it represents; authentic love, of course, is beyond measure.

For those who are becoming engaged anytime soon, HERE is an article on the etiquette of giving and receiving an engagement ring.

(Artwork courtesy of Art Renewal) Share

Brides of the New World

Lucy has a fascinating post on the filles du roi, the women who were sent to marry the settlers in French Canada. More HERE. Share

Fifty Years of Barbie

Has the doll had a bad effect on our girls? Here are some thought-provoking reflections:

Barbie is unhealthy for girls, not just because she is immodest, but because she is so impossibly thin, with a figure that does not conform to normal human proportions. The International Journal of eating disorders has reported that if Barbie’s dimensions were projected to human size, they would be 38-18-34. Barbie dolls can cause girls to dislike their own body shape, and lead them toward eating disorders. The Journal of Developmental Psychology reported on a study conducted to assess the impact of images of dolls on young girls. This study showed that, across the board, girls were more dissatisfied with their shape and desired more extreme thinness after seeing Barbie doll images than after seeing other pictures.

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The Queen's Compassion

It is often forgotten that the royal family of France were seen as belonging to the people. As described in the novel Trianon, the palace of Versailles was open to the public; anyone could enter as long as they were appropriately attired. For gentlemen this meant wearing a sword; swords could be rented at the palace gates. The tradition of freedom and openness meant that the royal family often dined surrounded by crowds of people; the princesses were required to give birth in public. Merchants set up stalls in the grand salons, selling ribbons and snuff; beggars roamed the corridors. Security did not seem to be an issue. Unfortunately, such liberty led to Marie-Antoinette being stalked by a mental patient, but she refused to have the culprit arrested. Madame Campan relates the situation as follows:

Among the characteristics which denoted the goodness of the Queen, her respect for personal liberty should have a place. I have seen her put up with the most troublesome importunities from people whose minds were deranged rather than have them arrested.

Her patient kindness was put to a very disagreeable trial by an ex-councillor of the Bordeaux Parliament, named Castelnaux; this man declared himself the lover of the Queen, and was generally known by that appellation. For ten successive years did he follow the Court in all its excursions. Pale and wan, as people who are out of their senses usually are, his sinister appearance occasioned the most uncomfortable sensations. During the two hours that the Queen’s public card parties lasted, he would remain opposite her Majesty. He placed himself in the same manner before her at chapel, and never failed to be at the King’s dinner or the dinner in public. At the theatre he invariably seated himself as near the Queen’s box as possible. He always set off for Fontainebleau or St. Cloud the day before the Court, and when her Majesty arrived at her various residences, the first person she met on getting out of her carriage was this melancholy madman, who never spoke to any one.

When the Queen stayed at Petit Trianon the passion of this unhappy man became still more annoying. He would hastily swallow a morsel at some eating-house, and spend all the rest of the day, even when it rained, in going round and round the garden, always walking at the edge of the moat. The Queen frequently met him when she was either alone or with her children; and yet she would not suffer any violence to be used to relieve her from this intolerable annoyance.

Having one day given M. de Seze permission to enter Trianon, she sent to desire he would come to me, and directed me to inform that celebrated advocate of M. de Castelnaux’s derangement, and then to send for him that M. de Seze might have some conversation with him. He talked to him nearly an hour, and made considerable impression upon his mind; and at last M. de Castelnaux requested me to inform the Queen positively that, since his presence was disagreeable to her, he would retire to his province. The Queen was very much rejoiced, and desired me to express her full satisfaction to M. de Seze.

Half an hour after M. de Seze was gone the unhappy madman was announced. He came to tell me that he withdrew his promise, that he had not sufficient command of himself to give up seeing the Queen as often as possible. This new determination: was a disagreeable message to take to her Majesty but how was I affected at hearing her say, “Well, let him annoy me! but do not let him be deprived of the blessing of freedom.”

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About Fairy Tales

The traditional, scary ones have more of an impact. As I have written before, the old fairy tales helped children (and adults) confront very real fears and dangers, while reminding them how to stay out of trouble. They were tools for learning survival skills in a hostile world rather than mere entertainment. Not that small children should be exposed to blood and gore but neither should their stories be too watered down so as to be all sweetness and light. Life is a little bit of both.

(Artwork from Hermes) Share

Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Part I

Last Sunday, I thought that the latest BBC version of Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles would be something nice to have on in the background while editing my novel. I got drawn into it, though; it is an excellent production. Back in 1979, I loved the Roman Polanski film; no other rendition ever equaled that one for me until now. It appears to be fairly faithful to the novel thus far and, unlike the earlier film, it fleshes out the personalities of Tess' parents a bit more. As for Tess, she is beautifully portrayed by Gemma Arterton with the right combination of passion and purity. Tess has all the vulnerability of a poor girl along with an unflinching sense of justice, which in some ways is her undoing. She embodies the noble spirit and ancient Faith of the Old England, drowning in the tide of crass industrialization, where people are bought and sold like commodities. Although Tess' family claims descent from a faded Norman dynasty, her seducer, Alec, is from a new money family which has bought the rights to the D'Urberville name, and so he also undertakes to claim ownership of Tess.

As for Angel Clare, he is one of the most frustrating characters in all literature and in some ways I hate him more than I hate evil Alec. Angel pretends to be idealistic, open-minded and a liberal free-thinker, divesting himself of his family's Protestant conventionality. However, when he discovers that his bride is not a virgin, he reacts with typical puritanical hypocrisy. This is especially disgusting since Tess was taken advantage of by her wealthy employer, against whom she had no recourse.

The music and scenery of the new production are all phenomenal. As Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times writes:

In one scene, Tess, having left the grave of her infant and, she hopes, the past behind her, sets out to find work where no one knows her. Pale and drawn by her grief, she stands on the top of a green hill and, as the sun drenches the land, she looks at the verdant scene before her and the viewer can feel her heart lift. She is a young woman still, and there is such beauty in the world to balance the pain.

For people who know what awaits her, it is a bittersweet moment. But without joy, there is no tragedy, and without such visceral visual beauty, there is no "Tess."

I am looking forward to seeing Part 2 on Sunday.

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