1940 Around the World: Nepal

     Nepal

The next stop on our global 1940 tour is Nepal.  The Kingdom of Nepal declared war on Germany on 4 September 1939 and became involved in fighting in Burma against the Japanese in 1941.

I found the following photo of Bhaktapur, one of the three main kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley:

Photo credit: Explore Himalaya.com

The following photo is also from 1940 and shows a late 30s car being carried to the city because of the lack of accessible roads.  

Photocredit: http://imgur.com/uJNm3W8

I love the following two photos because they are so different from one another.  The first one shows a medical tent handling an outbreak of cholera, the second photo shows a group of men posing for a photograph--both are from 1940.

Photo credit: ECS.com Nepal

Photo credit: LostLightProject.com

Have you ever been to Nepal?

1940 Around the World: Malaysia

Malaysia

Continuing on with the series exploring the year 1940 across the globe, we stop in Malaysia...where I was very lucky to visit last week on a business trip....

The year 1940 was really the calm before the storm in Malaysia.  The following year, 1941, would see the invasion of the Japanese--literally an hour before the Pearl Harbour bombings.  This occupation would last for over a year, until 1942.

The Beautiful Sultan Abdul Samad Building in the heart of Kuala Lumpur

Photo credit: skyscrapercity.com

The buildings in the photo above, designed in a Mughal architecture style, sit on one side of the Merdeka Square (Independence Square) and were designed in the late 1800's to house government administration buildings.  During 1940, they housed the Federal Secretariat of the government.  Now, they house the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture of Malaysia.  But the neat thing is that across the street from this impressive building, is an equally beautiful site that now houses the National Textiles Museum!

A view of the amazing textiles in the museum: 

Photo credit: mybatik.org.my

Here's a great group of postcards from the early 1940s:

I think, but I'm not positive, that the impressive building in the second and third photos down on the left side are of the railroad station--which still look equally impressive today.

There are very few photographs of women from 1940 that I could find.  But I came across this amazing blog, which detailed the life history of a woman that turned 100 in 2012 (she is seated below with her family).  I just love the slightly colour tinted photo of her family:

Photo credit and blog story: http://ppunlimited.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/real-champion.html

Here's a photo from the early 1940's of the railway station which was completed in 1910:

It is still this beautiful white colour and looks almost exactly the same (just with a bit more traffic)!

Such a beautiful city.  Have you been to Kuala Lumpur or anywhere else in Malaysia?

Italy: Palazzo Pitti, the National Costume Gallery and the 'Aviator' Dress

The 1946 'Aviator' Dress sewn from an Advance Pattern

Shoes (and Jacket in later photos) from my favourite Scottish store, Ness

In Florence we stayed very close to the Palazzo Pitti, a palace owned by the Medici family.  We'd previously been to the amazing Boboli Gardens (previously blogged for my me-made Delphine skirt with photos in the garden) but we hadn't been inside to see the royal apartments or the costume gallery!

Here's the view of the Boboli Gardens from the second floor window:

I'm wearing a me-made dress from a 1946 Advance pattern (see the blog post on the inspiration and construction of this dress here).  The yellow in the dress reminded me so much of all the yellow I had seen in the buildings:

The courtyard of the palace is amazingly beautiful:

But the real gem of the place is the Costume Gallery, which is buried away at the top of the building. It's a very small collection but I read on their website that they regularly try to rotate the dresses on display.

Some of this amazing collection of dresses is from Sicilian aristocrat, Donna Franca Florio, one of the most famous European personalities of the belle époque period.  The gown with the blue robe is absolutely stunning (from Ventura Atelier, 1925-1930):

A close-up of the embroidery detail on the train:

Another lovely dress, owned by the same woman is the 1890s black dress with the amazing detailed bodice and sleeves:

Another highlight was seeing the 1920's masterpieces including three robes attributed to the French designer, Paul Poiret:

I wore my 'Aviator' dress paired with my Ness jacket and matching shoes (yes, my Ness jacket and shoe obsession is still going strong...hahahha...)

I definitely recommend this Costume Gallery, the setting alone is beautiful (and there are so many other things to see at this Palace).  I do wish they had focused more on Italian designers though...there is so much design history here!

Italy: Santa Croce and the 'Hiatus' Dress

McCall 3939 aka the 'Hiatus' Dress with handmade belt

Ness Shoes (from their store in Scotland)

My recent trip to Florence, Italy was one of the few non-work related travel I have done in the past couple of years.  What a lovely treat!  I absolutely adore Florence and still think it has one of the best fabric stores in Europe (check out my previous post on Bacci Fabrics), outside of Edinburgh, of course.  One of the sites I most wanted to see again was the church of Santa Croce.  I wore McCall 3939, called the 'Hiatus' Dress made from a 1940 pattern (check out my original post on sewing the dress here).

On the left is a photo of Santa Croce from 1940 and the right is the photo from today:

The front doors of the cathedral are MASSIVE:

The inside of the cathedral is amazing and is the burial place of Galileo, Machiavelli and Dante!

There are also some amazing painting and frescos within the cathedral :

A beautiful site to visit and along the way we stopped for a picturesque shot from the Ponte Vecchio bridge:

Such an amazingly beautiful city and a great place to wear 1940s fashions!  Have you been to Florence?

1940 around the World: Italy

I love traveling and I feel lucky in that I get to do a fair amount with my day job.  I often wonder what places and the people who lived there would look like in 1940.  Vintage travel photos from 1940 are incredibly hard to come by and I feel super lucky to have recently acquired the entire 1940 collection of National Geographic magazines that have some amazing pictures and features (for £5 on Ebay UK...can you believe it?)  Each month I'll try and feature a new location captured in the year 1940, and as much as possible try and match it to my work and holiday travel!

For January, I thought it would be perfect to focus on one of the fashion hubs - Italy.  I love Italy. The cities are beautiful, craft is still appreciated and honed, the food and wine are delicious and the fashion is admirable.

Let's take a look at a few photos from 1940 in Italy, starting with a feature in the March 1940 edition of National Geographic called "Italy, From Roman Ruins to Radio".

This first photo is from Rome and I love that we get a glimpse of a woman and her son walking down the grand staircase, with the little boy in an adorable suspender short play outfit:

Equestrian groups of Castor and Pollux, mythical patrons of games and horsemanship, stand at the head of the broad stairs mounting the Capitoline Hill where Romulus traditionally founded Rome.  Michelangelo designed the Capitoline Museum (left) and the staircase in front of the Senatorial Palace (background). 

Photo and caption from the March 1940 National Geographic Magazine

The attention of the article quickly shifts to Florence with the famous statues of David and Hercules in front of the Palazzo Vecchio:

A modern copy of Michelangelo's celebrated statue of the giant killers (left) replaces the original, removed for protection to the Academy of Fine Arts.  Back Bandinelli, rival of the Renaissance master, carved the group at the right showing mythological Hercules, triumphant over Cacus, Vulcan's son.  The fortresslike Palazzo Vecchio has served both as palace and prison; not iw contains municipal offices of Florence.  

Photo and caption from March 1940 National Geographic Magazine.

In the same square (Piazza della Signoria), we see the group of statues with the famous Perseus at the front. This statue was completed in 1554 and has been in this square ever since. This statue was restored in 1998.

I love how we get a glimpse of several pedestrians in this photo:

Benvenuto Cellini's bronze masterpiece and other great sculptures adorn the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florene.  To cast a bronze statue, the artist first holds was in the desired form over a rough core.  Then he pours on thin coats of a clay and plaster liquid which dries and makes a covering shell.  The wax is melted out and the space it occupied filled with bronze.  After the metal hardens, the outer case and core are removed.  

Photo and caption from the March 1940 National Geographic Magazine.

You can't talk about the experiences of anywhere in the world during the year 1940 without talking about WWII which was well underway in Europe and Asia.  This edition of National Geographic was published right as the Winter War ended, where the Soviet Union invaded Finland and a month before Germany was to invade Denmark and Norway. The photo below shows the mass crowds in Milan at a speech by Mussolini. Hitler would later visit Florence, Italy in October of 1940.

Tight-packed as poppy seeds, Italians jam Milan's cathedral square to hear their leader.  

Photo and caption from the March 1940 National Geographic Magazine

I also have a few recently acquired photos from the early 1940s in Italy which show more of the fashion of the times including this wonderful photo of women walking down the street.  I just adore the hats and the fur cuffs on the coat:

I'm a big fan of 1940s suits, especially with plaid jackets.  So, I absolutely adore this photo of several stylish ladies:

Finally, I just adore this 1940s 'lovers' postcard.  Check out her dress and her hair! 

I look forward to exploring this year in other locations.  It's an interesting year to focus on for fashion since it's in the beginning of WWII.  My goal is to showcase as many different types of source material as possible from the year – from newspapers to fashion magazines to other popular media.