Saturday 18 July 2015

fashion and politics

For those of you wondering about my arm, it is now thought that I did dislocate my elbow on falling but it righted itself as I was helped up by the paramedics! My lower arm has turned a deep purple, now fading slightly to a lovely yellow! I have photos but as they also show why I never wear sleeveless or short sleeved tops, they are not for publication! The swelling has gone down enough for me to be able to wear my wedding ring again and I'm nearly able to wear my watch on my left wrist. 
Movement is still impaired, automatically picking up the phone with my left hand is ok, getting it to my ear is another matter! Tomorrow I'm hoping to be able to wash my hair but at the beginning of the week I had to get an emergency appointment at the hairdressers to wash my hair and cut it to an easily manageable style. Which is why I was walking through a certain high street store in Hereford and happened to notice the colours of the clothes.
I have been interested in the history of clothes and national dress since I was small but in recent years have looked at why we wear what we wear. The colours we wear can tell a lot about our work as well as our personality. But even more fascinating is that politics seem to determine the fashion colours. Back in the sixties, green and purple were the in colours when we had a labour government. When the government is conservative in come the bright jewel colours; ruby red, sapphire blue and emerald green. 
However, when Blair came to power, the colours didn't change and many felt that 'New Labour' was more like old Conservative. Now the Conservatives are back, the shops are full of yellow and lime green; colours one couldn't find a few years back and more suited to Labour! Many were surprised that the Conservatives got in at the last election as well as it seems they themselves!
We are told that the austerity will get worse, if so, watch out for the longer skirt lengths.