The Hour – Series two, episode four, BBC Two 5.12.2012

Tags

1950s, bbc, ben whishaw, blue, circle skirt, collar, dominic west, dress, dresses, facings, fashion, inspiration, Jimmy McNulty, pintucks, pleats, romola garai, shirt dress, suez crisis, the hour, the wire, tv series, vintage

Dear blog,
Apologies for being so quiet of late. Yes, it’s not like me, but I have been a touch preoccupied with work and other pursuits. I am a whole FO behind with the blog, as there is a long-sleeved Sunday People #494 that’s been worn a few times but still hasn’t made an appearance here.
Other than that I have mostly been finishing UFOs and experimenting with scraps of fabric and different functions of Judy, due to me having the attention span of a peanut at the moment.

I have also watched Episode 4 of the Series 2 of The Hour, and I cannot begin to express my disappointment with the overall quality of this series compared to the first one.
(click here for my posts on Episode One, Two and Three respectively)

From a costume point of view there was very little in Episode 4 that we hadn’t seen already. These are real people after all, and they only own so many garments.
However this outfit worn at home by Marnie Madden makes it all worthwhile. It’s a glorious full skirt in some embroidery style silk pattern with a matching knit top:

The top is a very simple shape, with built-in sleeves with scalloped edges and the tiniest bit of ribbing at the neckline:

For such a seemingly simple construction it is gorgeous, even from the back:

Finally, in an image that’s been lightened but it’s still too dark, the full fabulous twirlyness of the skirt:

I love how this outfit manages to combine black and colour in a bold yet elegant way. I am not sure I could pull off the whole “jade green and black and silk and full skirt” combo in my day-to-day life, but there is a lot of inspiration to be drawn from this gorgeous outfit.

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