It was lovely to see you and Annabel yesterday, and I did enjoy our practising yoga together! As I rushed off to the station to get the train up to London- I caught sight of myself in a shop window. I had thought about what I was going to wear today (changeable weather, two days in London, small overnight bag= one of my new t-shirts, oversized lightweight shirt, old Weardowney fave knitted jacket, my smartest jeans and trusty practical/smart boots.) However- what I saw in the window's reflection was a dishevelled GiGi, post playing with her Grand-daughter and laden with bags.
This didn't overly concern me Em, it's a regular observation- and one in my case there is not much point fighting. I do intend to be smartly turned out- I love seeing other people do so. It's just that I rather get in the way of my own objective. Doesn't matter what occasion it is- I just cannot stay tidy! My hair gets tucked behind my ears- my lipstick rubs off- high heels get removed as soon as comfort beckons. My own answer to this habit- is to at least start the day by making the effort- and then not worry about the undoing.
If you had seen what I saw in the shop window, and been at my side- it would have looked something like this!
Yes Em, I know- it's not a giant leap of faith to see why I'm drawn to appreciating those who uphold my own messy traits. Our Mrs Cameron (pictured as I believe Lewis Carroll cariacatured her) was forever shawl and bonnet-trailing- and even covered with photographic chemicals (hah, that makes me tidy!) And here is another heroine- we've spoken about her before- Rosa Lewis of Cavendish Hotel and Castle Rock in Cowes-fame.
Here she is in a painting by Chile Guevara. At work- as a Cook (favoured by Edward V11 and the Edwardian noblesse) and Doyenne of the Cavendish Hotel in Jermyn St- she liked to wear white. From head-to-toe. Or black. And she had a knee length strand of amber beads ('me yellers') that clanked as she walked.
However- I like to think she was one of 'us' in the messy sense- this example from the Duchess of Jermyn St by Daphne Fielding...
Rosa's excursions from the Cavendish into the outside world often took the form of an assault, for she ignored such trifles as invitations.
Most of all she liked making an impromptu visit to Covent Garden at five in the morning with a cavalcade.
The sight of evening dress in the early morning market is something that has quite disappeared; but in those days Covent Garden porters were quite used to these elegant intrusions. Rosa would often be in bed and asleep, but to take her to buy flowers had become traditional and so she would be woken up.
She wasted no time in dressing and used to slip her sable coat over her nightdress, which trailed behind her, sweeping up old cabbage leaves and broken blossoms in its passage.
One of my own reasons for making Rosa one of our Red Queens though Em, was right here on the Isle of Wight. Having established herself as a self-styled Grande Dame- all the way from Walthamstow-via the kitchen, and into or rather on top of the society she served- she decided to buy a little holiday-home.
This was in Cowes- and was named Castle Rock. It just happened to be next door to the Royal Yacht Squadron. There, she set up Court- with paying guests a-tow, her clique sitting in the little summer-house overlooking the races at Cowes week. Gossipping a-plenty, she repeated this routine each summer. Eventually- when the RYS had deigned to let Ladies onto their lawn- and Rosa graciously allowed them 'conveniences' at her Ballroom- the RYS were persuaded to part with a very large sum in order to buy it from her.
She sounded like fun Em!
To end this case for Red Queenly appreciations- another paragraph from the same book;
Through the double doors of the Cavendish, painted Guardi green, past the porch where an enormous hooded leather chair stood like a monument, I found an Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass world that enchanted me, where the faster one ran the more one stayed in the same place. Here, Rosa reigned, both as Red and White Queen, with her 'off with his head' manner and ephemeral chateaux.
Three Cheers Emily!
A tout a l'heure,
your ever-loving Grand-mother,
GiGi xxx
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