Vintage Portraits - Real Housewives of the 1960's

Let’s go back to the 1960’s.

Hello Friends,

Bravo TV announced this week that they are developing a new series with a working title of Real Housewives of the 1960’s.

Here’s the series synopsis;

“In this imaginative docu-series, a cast of modern women will be sent back to the 1960's to experience the ultimate era of the American Housewife. Living in a cul-de-sac of authentic Sixties homes, these women and their families will be transported back into a traditional decade where men made the money, women made the home, and teenagers actually did as they were told. In living through the ‘golden age’ of Sixties family life, the cast will discover if more time spent together, traditional husband and wife roles, and no digital distractions might actually improve their chaotic lives and even fix their relationships.”                            source:  www.vulture.com  

source: www.bravotv.co.nz

R. Eric Thomas from Elle.com called the new show, Wife Swap meets Handmaid’s Tale.

“The “golden age” was remarkably ungolden for many women of color, queer women, and-this may shock you-even some white, middle class housewives.”

He asks what tradition are we talking about here. Or it could be that time when the Wi-Fi went out and move on.

        source: www.elle.com

And the final opinion comes from writer, Taylor Ferber at Bustle.com

“So maybe there is a message and purpose in the madness. Maybe the housewives involved will be unable to live life with such archaic and dated expectations and gender roles. Watching them try and get frustrated and roll their eyes at it all could prove how far things have come, and that we're clearly not in the '60s anymore.”

      source: www.bustle.com

The 1960’s was an era of social upheaval, rebellion and backlash. It was the time of the Vietnam War. There were working mothers, feminism, the arrival of the birth control pill, mini-skirts and the androgynous modelling of Twiggy. JFK was assassinated. Martin Luther King marched on Washington. Technological advances landed men on the Moon. The 1960’s social and political uprisings would shape history for many decades to come.

The new Housewives reality TV series maybe entertainment without the Wi-Fi connection. Will it tap into the revolutionary culture of the 1960’s and give those traditional roles an authentic shake-up? That would bring some va-va-voom to the drama.

Have a happy weekend, 
♥ Ashlyn

Vintage Portraits - The Fashionable Body

“…the exhibit stresses how, throughout the centuries, women in Western culture have been forced, even physically constricted, into molding to bodily ideals.”

—Angelica Frey, https://hyperallergic.com 

Hello Friends,

Have you ever watched a period drama to see the beautiful costumes the characters wore? Ever noticed the portrayal of lithe, or willowy and waif-like figures of the women from centuries ago?

In December 2017, an exhibit at the Museum, Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, showcased society's obsession with the ideal female body through garments from the late 1700s to the present.

Women’s bodies naturally come in all shapes and sizes. Hundreds of years past, striving for fashionable bodies and ideal silhouettes meant creating the illusion of a small waist, hips and bust. Creating such an appearance used torturous devices like metal busks and boning of corsets to narrow the waist. Paddings, girdles, and caged bustles were used to accentuate the derrière or put plainly to make big bums. Other contraptions were designed to do something with the surplus fat and achieve the lissome figure.

The extreme hourglass figure was desired in the Victorian era.

Corsets were worn under maternity dresses.

In the early 20th Century, plus-sized clothing was called stoutwear.

Thank goodness the 1970’s came, and fashion sought to free a woman’s body from all of the unnatural stuff. In the present day, social media is now showing us the diversity of women’s body types and shapes across the world.

If you would like to read more about the evolution of fashion showing in the New York exhibition, here’s two articles.

How fashion has constricted women's bodies over 250 years.

Jezebel spoke to the exhibit’s curator, Emma McClendon, about body positivity, her aims for the exhibition, and the history of clothing for “plus size” bodies. Read the interview.

Maternity corsets and vintage 'stoutwear': Charting 250 years of fashion and the body.

Enjoy your weekend, 
♥ Ashlyn

2018 Happy Mother’s Day

The Mommy’s Incredible Tummy.

Six year old Tommy was worried about his mother’s tummy growing bigger and bigger.

She laid his hand on her stomach and he felt the kick from the baby inside.

Tommy was shocked.

He stopped talking about his new sister or brother.

One day at school, his teacher asked him about the little baby.

Tommy burst into tears and said, “I think Mommy ate it.”**

Hello Friends,

Mothers are adventurous people. That’s why they were brave enough to have us as children. We turned their life upside down and inside out (hopefully for the better).

Photo by Janko Ferlič on Unsplash

Mothers love us when we’re babies, and also when they’re exhausted from caring for us. Some bubs grow into brats and teenagers with attitude (oh yes, she knows where that attitude came from).

Old mothers don’t know much compared to young adults. Googling, Wiki, and social media sites have the low-down on everything under the sun. I hear you, old Mums can quit being a teacher. They can put their feet up, relax and wonder if their kids will wash the pile of dirty dishes they left on the sink. I still have a manual dishwasher in my kitchen.

Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

Being a mother is being a superhero to the brood. Mothers keep caring and providing the creature comforts for their children. They give us a safe place to express emotions and they love us—the real person who is inside of us.

But mothers aren’t perfect. Sometimes they lose their cool with their small or big kids.

My kids call it,  

“Yelling” when I raise my voice.

 I call it motivational speaking for the selective listener.”                                                                                                                                                                                       source: LoveThisPic.com

At my day job there’s a sign in the kitchen that reads something like, “you didn’t bring your mother to work, so clean up your own mess.”

“Are you kidding me?”

Oh, where did the saying come from?

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Photo by Brian Fraser on Unsplash

Got It!

What do young computers do on Mother’s Day?

Give memory cards to their motherboards.

                                                                                                              

source: funkidsjokes.com

To my children:

Never make fun of having to help me with computer stuff.

I taught you how to use a spoon.

                                                                                                              

source: Pinterest

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash

Catz are Cool

Two street cats often visit me at my home. Their moods are predictable. Her and him don’t like each other. The hisses are terrible.

www.someecards.com

www.someecards.com

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

♥ Ashlyn

**I adapted  The Mommy’s Incredible Tummy from a mother’s day joke at, www.myenglishpages.com

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

           More Mother’s Day Posts

   2017

To remember mothers, I have written two stories about difficult times when women were in need of charity. While to celebrate mothers, I have links to four stories about inspiring women who turned their good ideas into reality...

Mothers Day Tribute

2016

It’s time to think about our Mums and what they mean in our lives.

I’ve searched the internet looking for touching tributes to mothers. The sickly sweet, all-sacrificing Mum who is a fountain of ever-renewing love is not a woman I can relate to. I’ve had my bad days of being a mother...

Happy Mothers Day

2015

Hooray to all the mothers, mums, moms and mammas, young and old!

Thanks for the love and for keeping the world going round.

Enjoy your special day and every day with your closest and mostest!

Happy Mothers Day

Truth Bomb Mom & Toilet Trauma 

“Motherhood is Messy, Get Dirty” -- Kristina Kuzmic, US Social Media SuperMum

Life and Motherhood is not perfect, and Kristina Kuzmic is a woman who learnt the lessons first hand.  She’s another social media star whose life hit rock bottom from a divorce, depression, being homeless with two children, food stamps and poverty...

Truth Bomb Mom

The Grandmother Warrior

Hello Friends,

In 2017 & 2018, Hollywood gave us movies with fictional female warriors such as Wonder Woman and Black Panther’s, Nakia—a fierce warrior, Okoye, the General and greatest warrior of the nation, and the Dora Milaje—the all-female army.

India has a living warrior, and her name is Meenaskshi Amma. She started martial arts training at the age of 7. Sixty-six years later, Meenaskshi, a grandmother, still practices the ancient tradition of Kalarippayattu.

Kalarippayattu, shortened to Kalari was popular during the medieval period. The martial art is not for any destructive or harmful activity, but for sports and developing strength and self-defense. Interestingly, she says, “any injury caused through Kalari can be cured back with Kalari too.”

Meenaskshi does performance shows of fighting. She also teaches Kalari at her school which also includes children, and she helps young girls to defend themselves. She is a Kalari Gurukkal, which means a master. Sword-wielding and turning swiftly to defend herself, the grand lady warrior of Kalarippayattu defies age.

Watch her in action.

Have a happy weekend,

♥ Ashlyn

The picture of Meenaskshi Amma was sourced from www.indiastudychannel.com/