boats and trains
The last post kind of put me in the mood to do what I really don't believe in, but it's my blog and I can do what I want, It made me hark back to a forgotten age, the 1920's. Yes, I now there are no such things as Golden Ages, everything looks better in the past, when in the present, otherwise what would the Tory party campaign on?
Yet I will play this game because I am in the mood. To me the 1920's symbolise the height of Travel, in a romantic sense. The Great steam powered ocean liners reached new heights of Luxury as they circumnavigated the great oceans and Trains were transcrossing Continents.
Out of the Great War came the Fine Art Deco movement that bought a new style to the world and the fashions,(mainly picked up from fancying Louise Lombard and hence, watching the House of Elliot). I know less than nothing about Fashion, but I will say through shear ignorance that to me the 1920's witnessed the birth of what we perceieve to be the modern fashion industry which I think happened in at least part to the Womens liberation movement exploding from the Suffragetes in the UK and other movements world wide, which gave women a greater sense of confidence and a previous unparralled sense of freedom to experiment with clothes and styles as never before, the roaring twenties bought the first short dresses allied with no more emphasis on the shape of the breasts, a flatter less feminine shape, tubular, became popular, more of the female body exposed through shear confidence of their new found confidence, The cloche hat, Jewellry inspired by the Tutankhamen excavation in '22. The 20's perhaps marked the death of the Victorian woman, and the birth of the modern woman.
It became known as the Jazz Age, Indeed, historically, it was perhaps the most exciting decade, good and bad of the last century. It must have been an exciting time to live if you were one of the wealthy or the middle class. As always the poor are still poor.
The Creation of Hollywood and the first 'talkies', Great, new Art Movements, Architecture, literature, by looking at an overview of them, so many points of change seemed to happen within this decade.
To get back to my point, Travel seemed to be, for the wealthy, an extension of Luxury. For those that could afford it Travel became a pleasure. I adore trains, though I don't spot them. Every time I sit in a train I sense the lost romance of Train Travel. I would love to have experienced the Orient Express, in it's heyday from Paris to Istanbul. As I would now, one day, like to take the trans-siberian from Moscow to Mongolia. There was a TV show called Great Train journeys of the World, and it was like TV heaven though it was not just for saddo losers like me. I guess this helps me understand why I used to so enjoy the Michael Palin series', where he used to travel around the world. It isn't just the journey but the way you would dissect through cultures on the way. Leaving 1920's Paris and finsihing in 1920's Istanbul would have been some culture shock. Cruise liners also, for there own reasons have a sense of romance about them, but I don't think as romantic as trains, but the 'Idea' of cruising appeals, where the actual doing, now, doesn't. Perhaps it would have been different back then, when it was so new, so cutting edge, almost on the level with Zeppelin flights or holidaying on a space ship. I think 1920'a Travel appears more romantic in my mind because it was the dawning of the many intercontinental toruists, as opposed to the occassional colonialist, Missionary or explorer of the Victorian world, and it opened a new sense of Style to travel which mirrored the new sense of style that was occuring in modern culture at the time. Does this make any sense? Did I mention, I ramble when I am ill?
Yet I will play this game because I am in the mood. To me the 1920's symbolise the height of Travel, in a romantic sense. The Great steam powered ocean liners reached new heights of Luxury as they circumnavigated the great oceans and Trains were transcrossing Continents.
Out of the Great War came the Fine Art Deco movement that bought a new style to the world and the fashions,(mainly picked up from fancying Louise Lombard and hence, watching the House of Elliot). I know less than nothing about Fashion, but I will say through shear ignorance that to me the 1920's witnessed the birth of what we perceieve to be the modern fashion industry which I think happened in at least part to the Womens liberation movement exploding from the Suffragetes in the UK and other movements world wide, which gave women a greater sense of confidence and a previous unparralled sense of freedom to experiment with clothes and styles as never before, the roaring twenties bought the first short dresses allied with no more emphasis on the shape of the breasts, a flatter less feminine shape, tubular, became popular, more of the female body exposed through shear confidence of their new found confidence, The cloche hat, Jewellry inspired by the Tutankhamen excavation in '22. The 20's perhaps marked the death of the Victorian woman, and the birth of the modern woman.
It became known as the Jazz Age, Indeed, historically, it was perhaps the most exciting decade, good and bad of the last century. It must have been an exciting time to live if you were one of the wealthy or the middle class. As always the poor are still poor.
The Creation of Hollywood and the first 'talkies', Great, new Art Movements, Architecture, literature, by looking at an overview of them, so many points of change seemed to happen within this decade.
To get back to my point, Travel seemed to be, for the wealthy, an extension of Luxury. For those that could afford it Travel became a pleasure. I adore trains, though I don't spot them. Every time I sit in a train I sense the lost romance of Train Travel. I would love to have experienced the Orient Express, in it's heyday from Paris to Istanbul. As I would now, one day, like to take the trans-siberian from Moscow to Mongolia. There was a TV show called Great Train journeys of the World, and it was like TV heaven though it was not just for saddo losers like me. I guess this helps me understand why I used to so enjoy the Michael Palin series', where he used to travel around the world. It isn't just the journey but the way you would dissect through cultures on the way. Leaving 1920's Paris and finsihing in 1920's Istanbul would have been some culture shock. Cruise liners also, for there own reasons have a sense of romance about them, but I don't think as romantic as trains, but the 'Idea' of cruising appeals, where the actual doing, now, doesn't. Perhaps it would have been different back then, when it was so new, so cutting edge, almost on the level with Zeppelin flights or holidaying on a space ship. I think 1920'a Travel appears more romantic in my mind because it was the dawning of the many intercontinental toruists, as opposed to the occassional colonialist, Missionary or explorer of the Victorian world, and it opened a new sense of Style to travel which mirrored the new sense of style that was occuring in modern culture at the time. Does this make any sense? Did I mention, I ramble when I am ill?
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