Muse: Tasha Tudor

I cannot believe I have never done a journal entry about how Tasha Tudor's style! The children's illustrator/master gardener has greatly influenced the aesthetic of not only mypiggywiggy, but also my personal life. She is so influential in my life that for my upcoming clothing line, I even have a dress named and inspired by Tasha! So, it goes without saying that a Style Muse entry is long overdue for the wonderful Tasha Tudor herself.

Oh, I must clarify that I HAVE done a post about Tasha Tudor which you can read here: A Peek Inside Tasha Tudor's Garden. 

What is it about Tasha Tudor I love so much? How did I first come to know this woman? Well, once upon a time (over a decade ago to be precise) I came across Victoria Magazine and noticed that this woman was featured in several issues. I was instantly enamored by her charming illustrations and her love for a simple life inspired by a long bygone era. As I read up more about her, the more I adored her and how she ardently held on to her beliefs of how to live her life. She even quoted Henry David Thoreau, "to go in the direction of your dreams, to live the life you have always imagined..." and I knew, if there was ever a kindred spirit of mine, Tasha Tudor would be one. Though I am far less brave than Tasha.

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I admire her so much because she truly embodied, down to the very minute details of daily living, the sort of life she wanted for herself and for her children. From only donning antique garments (the 1820s to 1840s were particularly her favorite), to walking barefoot around her garden, making her own candles and butter, hosting doll parties and weddings, and if course tending to a beautiful garden that wrapped around her 1820s replica house that her son built for her in Marlboro, Vermont. (Me thinks a pilgrimage for yours truly should be taken this year...)

“I enjoy doing housework, ironing, washing, cooking, dishwashing. Whenever I get one of those questionnaires and they ask what is your profession, I always put down housewife. It's an admirable profession, why apologize for it. You aren't stupid because you're a housewife. When you're stirring the jam you can read Shakespeare.”

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Tasha was born Starling Burgess in Boston, Massachusetts (she was later rechristened as "Natasha" hence, Tasha, and later changed her surname to Tudor because she liked how Tasha Tudor sounded). I watched the documentary, "Take Joy! The Magical World of Tasha Tudor" on Amazon a couple of years ago and learned that during her childhood, Tasha was exposed to a carefree idyllic childhood in the countryside and it forever changed her and the life she would want for herself.

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Tasha Tudor illustrated nearly 100 books and her "fame" for lack of a better word, didn't really become prominent until she was much older which is why so few of the photos featured her are of Tasha when she was younger, they are mostly from her later years of her life. 

Which, in my mind, is so very comforting. Our modern society seems to think our golden years are only in youth, and I just find it so lovely that Tasha was still out there doing her thing, being herself, living up her dream life in a dream world she created and was doing it till the end of her days (she died at the age of 92). I endeavor to do the same.

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