WELCOME !

Hello, my name is Lucy and welcome to my blog.

I have been wanting to start a blog for years but never really knew what topic to focus on. I collect and wear (daily) vintage clothing from 1900-1950 and adore the aesthetics of these eras but didn’t want to write about me and my every day life. I have also just finished a Degree in Film Studies, with my dissertation being about British Wartime cinema and *cough* politics, but writing a blog on that didn’t much take my fancy either. Don’t worry, I won’t be talking any politics on this blog.

I’ve decided to address a topic that is quite important in my life, living history.

If you are not familiar with what ‘living history’ is, then let wikipedia tell you …

Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to reenact a specific event in history, living history is similar to, and sometimes incorporates, historical reenactment. Living history is an educational medium used by living history museums, historic sites, heritage interpreters, schools and historical reenactment groups to educate the public or their own members in particular areas of history, such as clothing styles, pastimes and handicrafts, or to simply convey a sense of the everyday life of a certain period in history.

A wonderful yet horrible habit that comes with this hobby is an eBay addiction. Side effects of this are usually a vast and in some cases, fast accumulation of uniforms / props / clothes and even skills that will aid a living history display. They get thought about 365 days a year but probably only worn <20 times a year.

If you are here reading this blog, then living history is likely to have quite an important place in your free time too. If you’re a female, you’ll know that on top of eating up your free time and also your bank balance, researching you preferred impression, namely the kit/uniform it isn’t always an easy schlep.

I know the struggle of trying to work out what is right and wrong, learning all the different patterns of uniform, attaching them to a date and then desperately trying to find all of it in record time so that you can wear it to the next nearest event on your calendar, we’ve all been there ! What never helps, is the lack of detailed online sources regarding British Women’s uniforms of the Second World War.

I have spent many an hour squinting at minuscule original, primarily black and white photographs of nurses and WAAFs trying to work out their uniforms and it is nothing but painful.

So, in a political leader like manner, I am pledging to any fellow ladies who do LH or just want to collect and curate an amazing array of original WW2 British women’s uniforms, that I will try my best to start an online database of above average, detailed photos of kit, clothes, tips and more to help you with your hobby.

I will be talking about and showing you my collection of British Women’s uniforms and other living history related things. My biggest hobby, alongside rummaging through piles of rotting, moth eaten clothes & watching old films, is living history, which I do with a group of my friends (check out ‘spirit of Britain’ on Insta / Facebook to see what we do).

My collection consists of a LOT of WAAF (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) kit, QAIMNS (Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service), WVS (Women’s Voluntary Service) and the start of some ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) kit. I’m sure that over the next few years, this will spiral out of control (if it hasn’t already) and I will have to rent a separate 4 bedroom house for all my kit to live in.

Anyway moving on, thats now enough about me. Enjoy the blog !

All the best,

Lucy

Me in WAAF Working Dress, cap and shoes at Duxford

Myself, Jennifer Leatherby, Casey Drabble and Anne Voorham in the EARLY WAR QAIMNS(R) WARD DRESS