Fashion roundabout

Fashion is cyclic. There are very few things out there that haven't been around before and come back into season. The probable exceptions are 'Ruffs' and leg warmers! Even the engineered jeans that were around a while ago, (You remember, the seams wrapped around the legs)? - these were almost a straight copy of saxon 'trews'. Though it's not our business to project future trends in modern fashion, it is quite easy to do. Some trend appears, it tends toward its extreme, then disappears. The mini skirt is a good example of this. The difficulty is that you cannot predict what we call 'design point breakthrough' - which doesn't necessarily appear on the catwalk. I wonder if this scenario actually happened?
"The last delivery from China of 200,000 pairs of jeans have all got the wrong size labels in, Mr Makuza"! "Nonsense lad, they're just err, um, aah, OVERSIZED jeans, new design and all that, Yes, that's what they are"!

Someone once said "Fashion is where you love something today that you didn't like yesterday - and will hate tomorrow"! and one thing is certain, fashions may go round and round - but true style goes on forever.

Local Resources

It strikes me that wherever we live, we ignore local attractions. They slip to the back of our minds and though we make special trips to the Victoria and Albert Museum or similar, we forget local resources. This week we spent a whole day at Tamworth Castle measuring the interpreters for new costume. Kirsty Sherwood and her team are doing a brilliant job at raising the standards and the castles' overall profile. They came in at 4th place in the 'UKTV Historys'' poll of Best Historical Sites and have won prestigious 'Tourist Board' and other awards.
Now, we must have visited the castle about half-a dozen times and still have never had time to actually explore. This time I made a concerted effort and spent a hour looking round this wonderful, though compact site. I was stunned by the artefacts I found and now have a research list for future projects.
I remember Gini once finding a victorian gown at Cusworth Hall with unusual features,which just goes to show. So, A new years resolution for us all in this 'searching-for-knowledge' industry should be, go and see!