Dress Of The Day with Angela

Indigo Moon coat with pockets worn by Angela Lansbury. Photo by Trevor Sharot. Edited (background cropped) by Angela Lansbury.  Indigo Moon Clothes Without And With Pockets  I love Indigo Moon clothes. The sequins. The fancy metal big buttons. No two alike. Individual. Despite being produced long ago, they are mostly in good condition. Some of them are flimsy without linings. I bought a dozen and none of them had pockets. Lots of jackets were available. Very few coats. No coats in my modest price range of under twenty pounds including postage of up to five pounds. Then I did a search for long coat or jacket with pockets. Up popped this one. Pockets! Indigo Moon Clothes Colours The coat was in dark green, almost black. Affordable. Not the bright colours I loved. Dismal green. Would I want to wear such a sombre colour? Would it suit me? Would it look right and co-ordinate with my other clothes? I took a chance. I ordered it.  Yes, the colour is dark, dull green.  Advan...

  These leggings have two great advantages.  Pockets Leony Sweets leggings pockets. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. Number one is the pockets. I love pockets. The pockets are small, but stretch big enough for my smartphone in its case Lying neat and flat, the pockets are big enough for a paper hanky (Americans say tissue}.But any pocket is better than no pocket. I think I must have found these in the one pound rummage box in St Luke's Hospice charity shop in Hatch End. I would have looked at them and thought, pretty pattern, too small for me, wait a minute, great pockets, maybe I can cut them out and add them to another garment. Only one pound. Cheaper than buying pockets. Or use them as decoration.  When I got home I tried on the leggings and was amazed that I could just about get into them. They were so stretchy. Tummy Control As for the tummy control, for me the main advantage was not the appearance, but that I felt comfortable with my tummy held in. No exercise w...

I found Quacker Factory clothes while hunting for fun items with sequins  They use rhinestones, all sorts of embellishments and styles.  I was searching on ebay for my current (2025) favourite label, Indigo Moon.  Indigo Moon Advantage Their clothes are made in bright, strong colours. The colours are enhanced by sparkly sequins and bright beads. Just right for appearing on stage and being the speaker, poet, comedian or master of ceremonies (MC for short) or Toastmaster. Up popped a new to me label, Quacker Factory.  Quacker Factory Spelling At first glance it looks like quaker, but it's got an added c in the middle.  How do they compare with Indigo Moon?  Place of Origin - Indigo Moon Label Indigo Moon clothes are made in India. Both words, India and Indigo start with the same four letters, Indi.  Quacker Factory clothes are made, manufactured, in China. How can I remember this? Both words, Quacker and China contain the letters c and a. Indigo Moon Emb...

Angela Lansbury wearing a Bravissimo dress with pockets.  Photo  by Trevor Sharot. Copyright.   Why pockets? For two, or more, reasons. 1 Holding things handy. A hanky needed in a hurry, with an impending sneeze  At weddings and funerals.  To help others. Baby wipes, toddler wipes, kiddie wipes. Toilet paper and drying hands. Removing lipstick before trying on clothes. Or at the dinner table. 2 For Carrying Things Keys. Money. 3 For Hiding Your Hands Relaxing. Not working. Resting. Slouching. Not writing. Psychologically, feeling safe. Protecting your tummy. And genital region. Holding your arms down.Why? To relax your shoulders and straighten your neck. Fan your fingers. Why? So that your forearms relax. Hiding your hands. Concealing peeling nail polish. One of the above. All of the above. When wearing clothes on stage, public speakers need to keep their hands visible. Then it is easier to gesture. However,  pockets can be usef to conceal props. To ge...

  Angela Lansbury wearing her second Moyabo dress with pockets. Photo by Trevor Sharot. I loved my previous Moyabo dress. I had searched for a dress with pockets. I was hungry for pockets, after a red dress from Shein left me anxiously waving my two hands around my waist, hunting for non-existent pockets, like two bereaved mothers. The first Moyabo dress I bought had a navy blue top, and a flared skirt printed with white flowers, with pale brown accents. Whilst I am not keen on pale brown, I matched the brown accents on the dress pattern with a pair of pale brown sandals. I also found a pair of sandals with blue. Angela Lansbury wearing her first Moyabo dress with lantern sleeves and larger flowers pattern. Photo by Trevor Sharot. Copyright. I loved the lantern sleeves. The elastic at the wrist kept the sleeves neat. Also the handy elasticated cuffs kept well out of the way when washing up dishes, washing your hands, doing anything. I wore the dress most days on holiday. When I got...

 Jane Birkin who died in July 2023 was known for her erotic song, Je T'aime. The man she sang with was a singer-songwriter and although they never married, they were close all the time they were together and after she married somebody else. She is also known for the Birkin bag by Hermes. She was sitting next to the VIP from Hermes on a plane when her basket fell down, scattering the contents! She apologized and said she could not find a suitable leather bag for her travels.  He sketched out a possible design of a bag on the back of the airline sickness bag, with her imput. He produced it, and named it the Birkin bag. The bag became sought after by celebrities. The price went up, so it was also bought as an investment. Go to the Wikipedia entry and you will be astonished at the number of films, (movies), and TV shows which featured this bag.  It is outside my price range, but I am interested to see what all the fuss is about. It can be ordered in an assortment of leather t...

  Hair bow holder. Photo courtesy of funny, feisty, fashionista Faith. The pocket storage is from Diaso, from the Disney Princess range. Guess Faith's favourite colour? Pink. Pink is the modern colour for girls. Pink for girls and blue for boys. I read that the Victorians originally used the reverse colours.  Previously, pink was considered unsuitable for men. Then it became trendy. Queen Victoria made white wedding dresses popular. But the Chinese think red is lucky.  The Indians wear white for purity when burying the dead. They, too, would opt for a bright colour instead. Is pink the colour for romance, hearts for single hopeful women, dates for the single and date nights for the married. The Black Dress For Evenings and Businesslike Black In Daytime At one time the little black dress was de rigeur for evening wear. It was considered elegant, uncluttered, simple, sophisticated. What about daytime? Work? Would black and white look businesslike? Would black and white be m...

Angela Lansbury wearing navy waistcoat or gilet. Photo by Trevor Sharot. Angela wearing navy gilet at Toastmasters International, Singapore, speech contest. Photo by bystander. You can  see the dark navy gilet on my right shoulder. Your gilet or waistcoat has to be short enough to hide under the hem of your jacket, or the jacket must be long enough to cover the gilet. Traditionally, a man's suit consisted of a waistcoat which ended at the waist and had two outside pockets ending at the hem, whilst the jacket was longer. I have a waistcoat which has to be worn on every journey with every outfit. I actually have several traditional waistcoats inherited from my uncle, but the pockets have no zips. Not safe for doorkeys, credit cards, lipsticks or anything of value. What is a gilet? A French word for what the British call a waistcoat and what the Americans call a vest.   I thought my gilet came from Patra, but they made the light, silk, navy hooded jacket. My lightweight, nav...

Angela Lansbury wearing pineapple pattern pyjama bottoms converted into a skirt, dress of the day 591. Photo by Trevor Sharot. I am carrying a cut pineapple, in a Denby Seville bowl. The Sandals The sandals are from Clarks. Size UK 6, Europe 39. The closure is Velcro or a similar touch and close over both the toes and across the instep. Colour a warm rusty brown. Platform heel. Curved insoles. The Headband The headband is a piece of orange ribbon, tied in a bow. It is inclined to slip off so if worn around the town it would need a hair clip or a cap or hat to hold it in place to look neat and prevent loss.  The Dress or Skirt from a converted pair of pyjama pants (the British say trousers)  I had a pair of thin pyjama bottoms with a small repeating pineapple pattern. The pineapples were tiny pale orange, each with the turquoise green tuft, on a white background. In between the pineapples are small dots of turquoise green. I cut up the inside leg seam. I could have used pinking...

Pockets sewn shut are not a new idea. Whenever I look at pockets sewn shut, I think of the way they were sewn shut at the turn of the century - not this century, the last one, the year 1900.  Pockets were sewn shut on the uniforms given for free to the children at the Jewish Free school in the East End of London. That school, which most of us have now forgotten, was then not only the largest school in London, but also in the UK, and the largest school in Europe, with more than a thousand pupils.  Why were the pockets sewn shut? The whole of London had been shocked by Dickens story of Oliver Twist and the child pickpockets. So the sewn pockets had a dual purpose. Not so much that nobody had pockets which could be picked, More that the Jewish children would not slouch. The Rothschilds funded the school to give all the poor Jewish children an education, leading to gainful employment and respectability. (I discovered this when researching my novel.) Nowadays there are other reason...