Dress Of The Day with Angela

Socks prevent shoes, sandals and boots from rubbing your feet. When you develop blisters on holiday, it's not just the extra walking. It's also going without protective socks because you are in hot weather.  Socks are also required by some restaurants and clubs in hot countries. So others don't get bothered by smelly feet. Because it looks neater. You can sometimes wear shorts, go topless, or wear a swimsuit, in a poolside bar. But covering up is the rule in the smarter restaurants. It looks neater. More formal. So that is the reason for wearing socks in the day time.  But why wear socks at night? Surely in the dark, with your feet under a dining table, nobody would notice? Why Wear Bedsocks? You wear bed socks for warmth at night. Especially nowadays, when we have duvets instead of blankets. They keep you warm if you turn over and stick your foot out. Or your sleeping partner rolls over, removing the duvet from your side of the bed. Bed socks also keep you feet warm if you...

Socks and Sandals  In France I wore two pairs of socks, The long socks were an accident. I did not expect to wear them except rolled down. i just grabbed them at the last moment because I wanted a pair of socks.  They were a blessing in two ways.  1 They were long and an extra layer of warmth. I could wear them under or over a pair of short socks.  2 I thought they looked odd. However, a lady at the table behind me, with her back to me, turned and said to me, "I like your colourful socks!"  We quickly became friends and exchanged phone numbers. I wore adjustable sandals to fit over the double socks. I had no tights. Then I discovered, leftover from my trip to Thailand, very thin rayon trousers. I wore them in lieu of tights. Leg covering. Another layer of warmth.  Skirt and Slip I wore a long red skirt. Underneath I wore a long black half slip. How could I cover my legs? I had brought no tights. I had to cover my legs. I found  my black swimshorts,...

 Amazingly the Egyptians had toe socks back in around 300 A>D>. The Victoria and Albert Museum in Kensington in West London has a pair. I found a picture of them in Wikimemdia Commons. More details The description reads> Pair of socks 300-500 Egypt Wool (knitted) These socks are the earliest knitted items in the V&A's collection. Made in 300-499 AD, they were excavated in Egypt at the end of the 19th century. They have a divided toe and are designed to be worn with sandals. The socks are knitted in stocking stitch using three-ply wool and the single-needle technique. This type of knitting is a slow technique more like sewing. It was a forerunner of the faster method of knitting with two or more needles. Textile historians often find it difficult to tell whether early knitted objects are made using a single needle, as here, or using more than one needle, as the finished articles are so similar in appearance. Given by Robert Taylor. On first reading I thought the informa...

  Angela Lansbury is wearing a Hanukah night dress, 165. Photo by Trevor Sharot. Colours   Looking carefully at the night dress pattern, I notice that it has more than one shade of blue. The  pale blue is the background, with darker blue. Other colours are red, yellow, and lavender.  The Cut Hardly visible is the pocket on the  left breast (on the right of the picture). The night dress is ankle length. The sleeves are short.  The Pattern The first thing you notice is the hanukiah or nine branch candlestick. Eight branches for the eight days of Hanukah; the ninth candle in the middle is for lighting the others.   The dreidls, or four-sided spinning tops, have four Hebrew letters. The circles, which I had not noticed until today, .are in two shades of yellow. The circles represent the Hanukah coins. Nowadays children and adults are given gold covered chocolate coins. I bought this night dress in the USA, in Rockville, Maryland, on the outskirts of W...