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.

(image credits: top / top right / bottom / bottom right)

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.”

(top credits: very top / top / top right / bottom / bottom left) 
(bottom credits: top left / middle / right / bottom left)

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.

(image credits: top left / top right / bottom left / bottom right)

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.

(cover photo credits: left / middle / right)

I am looking forward to February's first blooms of crocuses, snowdrops, camelias, hellebores, wild narcissis, daffodils, and the intoxicating sweet scent of daphne... 

A few years ago, I was absolutely delighted to come across the work of British illustrator Kate Greenaway  who had a thriving illustration business during the Victorian Era and who mostly became known for depicting her subjects in early 18th century garments. A Victorian gal inspired by the likes of Jane Eyre, or rather Regency style! Isn't that just delightful?!?

I love coming across artists in history who were very clearly inspired by another era other than their own. Perhaps because I always look to the past for inspiration that I feel such a kinship to these artists. What I adore about Kate Greenaway's work is that while she was inspired by a different era, she didn't try to replicate it exactly and instead took the notes of inspiration and made them entirely her own. 

I adore her use of color and her color palettes I am forever inspired by. I adore how she illustrates flowers and especially the tiny little blossoms she illustrates into frames around her subject and also the way the garments seem to appear as if her subjects were just caught in a brisk Spring or Autumn wind. Her work has hints of art nouveau, but only just a bit which I adore. Sometimes too much art nouveau can be a bit too gaudy, for me personally anyway. 

A Special Talent in... Dainty Colours

Kate Greenaway first got her start illustrating greeting cards! During the Victorian era, greeting cards became a HUGE industry and Kate's freelance work with Marcus Ward & Co, a prominent publishing company known for illustrated books and greeting cards, were very well received and it was said that “her special talent was in the direction of costume figures and dainty colours...” and some of her valentine's day card illustrations would sell 25,000 copies in a week! Can you imagine selling 25,000 copies of your illustrations every week? 

Nostalgia for the Country

Kate lived in London and as you can imagine, Victorian era London was noisy, busy, and dirty. Her father was a draughtsman and received a large new commission to work on engravings for a new edition of The Pickwick Papers, a novel by Charles Dickens. He sent Kate and her mother to live in the countryside (with Dear Ole Mum's family) while Dear Ole Dad stayed in London to work in solitude. Sadly, the company that had hired Kate's father went bankrupt and so the family became nearly penniless. However the time spent in the countryside was formidable for Kate's young years and she would often recall such fond memories of the countryside as "...she felt it to be her real home, a country of the mind that she could always reimagine." (I feel ya Kate!)

Influence on Fashion

Kate's mother was a seamstress and after the engraving commission fiasco, she opened up a dress and millinery shop in Islington and the family lived above it (Kate was an only child). There was a little garden in the back where Kate could often be found spending hours admiring and studying all the flowers and having little moments of solitude. Le sigh, this sounds like a dream to me, I want to live above my shop and have a garden in the back! Also, Dear ghost of Kate Greenaway, you are an AV Girl through and through if there ever was one!

Perhaps it was because Kate's mother was a seamstress that she paid such close attention to the details of the garments her subjects wore. Her decision to depict children and adults in Regency inspired clothing really influenced the fashion of her time and mothers (in higher society circles) started to dress their children in "Kate Greenaway Fashions" and even the famed Liberty of London came out with a collection inspired by Miss Greenway.

I mean, how MODERN does that sound? An illustrator influences fashion trends and does a collaboration with a hugely known brand? Sounds a lot like what's happening in our current times. Ahhh, I adore coming across stories and tidbits of history like these because it reminds me we are not so different so apart from one another even in the threads of time. 

Further Reading

If you would like to find out much more about Victorian illustrator Kate Greenaway, do visit Illustration History / Kate Greenaway and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers. I had so much fun researching Kate and spending hours pouring over her illustrations many of which are now part of the Public Domain, so a quick and simple search will afford you many more examples of her work!

- F I N -

le MUSES articles feature inspiring women from history and modern day who capture the essence of mypiggywiggy's favorite quote, "Live the life you always imagined" (Thoreau). We love to research and share information about women who have paved the way to living truest to oneself... independent, creative, driven, daring, unconventional, and timelessly beautiful.

A lot of my favorite outfits Sabina has worn are her spring and summer outfits and her earlier looks on Instagram when we she wore more peasant tops, soft ruffled blouses, and garments that had a slight bohemian tone to them (like the floral embroidered vintage Hungarian blouse and the white and red Ukrainian peasant top she wears in another outfit)

image credits: All images are from Sabina's Instagram which I highly recommend you peruse for much more inspiration and be sure watch her cute make-up tutorials! 

Many of Sabina's feminine french looks can be replicated with pieces in the shop. They're effortless and timeless. To make sure your outfits don't date you to a specific "Instagram Epoque of Fashion" (haha I just made that up), keep your accessories simple and feminine and classic. Jewelry should be delicate and minimal, stick to classic colors for handbags and shoes, keep your make-up fresh faced and simple. 

Her Style

Constance dressed the part of a typical, conservative mother and housewife of the 1920s, though she was anything but. Constance's clothing did evolve into more tailored and simply elegant outfits over the decades, yet it was in her artistic outlet, flower arranging, that she explored the depths of her creativity. At mypiggywiggy, we do so often think it's about how you live in clothing, not necessarily the clothing itself that makes the person. However, we can still take inspiration from the life that Constance lived to inform the way we dress anyway! She's often pictured wearing long sleeve tops, work-wear frocks and aprons, and always accessorized with elegant pearls or beads about the neck. 

Her Legacy 

Having studied nursing as a young woman, she worked her way through lectures and lessons to being appointed as the secretary for the Dublin Red Cross. However she yearned for a change in life, and left her first husband in Ireland to move to England with her son, where she then met her second husband, Henry Ernest Spry. Tricklings of her passion for beauty and the ephemera of flowers began. 

It wasn’t until the age of 41, after a successful career as a headmistress, that Spry’s amateur talents as a floral designer were noticed by an influential lunch companion, leading her to Norman Wilkinson, a theater designer and kindred spirit whose encouragement would launch her meteoric design career. With a commission to do flowers for cinemas and a perfume shop, Spry took her unorthodox visions of gathered materials and artful references out of the homes of friends and into the public eye, where she was lauded for displays that in an incredibly modern twist included leaves, berries, seedheads, wild clematis, and golden hops mixed with exotic orchids. Her fate was sealed. (Flower Mag)

The Original English Rose

David Austin, florist and rose enthusiast, named the first rose he bred as the Constance Spry Rose, as a tribute to her education and inspiring force. This was dubbed the original English rose, with a rich and full scent of sweet myrrh. If you visit the English countryside, you may just find yourself in a heavenly cloud of its fragrance and spot some climbing up the odd barn or lattice against a cottage. 

Wish to Channel Constance?

We adore flowers and always make sure to keep some floral pieces in stock at the shop. Check out our Vintage Dress collection our or Vintage Inspired New Arrivals for something floral and romantic!

What About You?

Wouldn't you just love to be the namesake for a new flower breed? What kind of flower or plant would you choose? We would love to hear your answers with your names in the comment section below!

Our Style Muse articles feature inspiring women from history and modern day who capture the essence of mypiggywiggy's favorite quote, "Live the life you always imagined" (Thoreau). Sometimes an outfit inspires an adventure, sometimes your favorite adventures are remembered by the dress or cardigan you were wearing. In any case, we like to research and share information about women who have already paved the way to living truest to oneself... independent, creative, driven, daring, unconventional, and timelessly beautiful.

Intellectual, curious and entirely unique, Virginia pioneered a new age of modern literature in which women were to be respected and revered just as highly as their male contemporaries, if not more. Her best known works include "Mrs. Dalloway", "To The Lighthouse", and "Orlando". Perhaps more famously, she penned the feminist essay "A Room of One's Own" from which she is often quoted for the revolutionary opinion, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.", thus sparking a idea for independence in her readers throughout the world for generations to come. 

Thank you, Virginia, for your relentless pursuit of independence, a most important conduit to the liberation and artistic expression for your readers who may not have had the tools to voice such without your lead to follow. We are inspired by your words, beliefs, style, and legacy. 

Are you a fan of Virginia Woolf? Let's take a look at her personal style to see how we might channel the experimental writer in today's world. After all, mypiggywiggy is all about timelessly feminine, vintage inspired clothing.

Her Style

Virginia Woolf was not famed for her fashion taste exactly. She seemed to focus more on her intellectual growth, creative expression through writing and personal relationships above aestheticism. However, this is not a qualification we look for in our style muses at mypiggywiggy. We take inspiration from women throughout history not because the clothing they wore, but the lives they wore in that clothing. That being said, we also really do enjoy the transformative powers that clothing may possess, and have fun pulling ideas from inspiring people like Virginia Woolf's wardrobe so that we may carry a bit of their spirit with us wherever we go. 

Virginia was born in 1882 in London, England, at the height of the Victorian period with all its societal morality, suppression of the marginalized, and therefore insurgence of creativity and political activism in art. Most of the photos we can find from her life took place between 1930 before her death. From these photos we can see that she dressed simply, with timeless femininity, in straight silhouettes and classic pieces of jewelry. She liked wearing tops and dresses with tidy collars, uncomplicated designs that wore plainly but practically, letting her personality shine all the more. She wears her tresses up in a a few pins and barely wears makeup if any at all. 

Get The Look

Channel Virginia by wearing simple, classic and feminine pieces. Collared tops tucked neatly beneath cozy knit cardigans and dusters, high waist skirts of solid colors with pockets for collecting treasures. Explore our vintage inspired tops, skirts and knitwear. And don't forget to accessorize! Virginia seemed to like her necklaces, as do we. We have jewelry delicate and bold, romantic and minimal.

Words to Inspire

 Our Style Muse articles feature inspiring women from history and modern day who capture the essence of mypiggywiggy's favorite quote, "Live the life you always imagined" (Thoreau). Sometimes an outfit inspires an adventure, sometimes your favorite adventures are remembered by the dress or cardigan you were wearing. In any case, we like to research and share information about women who have already paved the way to living truest to oneself... independent, creative, driven, daring, unconventional, and timelessly beautiful.

Your sweeping landscapes, your study of flowers and nature in abstract form, and of course your effortless and enduring style are just a few of the legacies you've left for the rest of time to draw inspiration from. Does one need a special reason to celebrate this iconic artist other than that today is Friday, the birds are out, and there's a warm breeze in the air? Not likely. 

mypiggywiggy is founded upon the pursuit of timeless, vintage inspired clothing that inspires a woman to chase her idea of feminine beauty but more importantly live the life she's always imagined. We believe in clothing that inspires a lovely thought, a memory, or an idea to realize a future dream. While we adore novelty prints and fun patterns, there is something magical to finding one's essential uniform, the epicenter of one's style that is simple and minimal on which one can build to foster their colorful personality. Georgia O'Keeffe found that magic and harnessed it to create her personal style that continues to inspire artists, mothers, friends, adventurers to date. Please, join us in appreciating the woman coined as the "Mother of American Modernism" and learn a few tricks to channel her timeless style. 

Her Style 

Just like her abstractions of magnified flowers and natural elements, Georgia is known for a simple and evocative personal style that set her apart from the norms and trends of her time, creating almost an abstraction of what a woman can or ought to be. She was known for cultivating (and sometimes designing and sewing herself) a wardrobe of loose fitting but finely tailored suits and outfits made of simple, elegant, and minimal pieces, creating an overall effortless effect

Below she wears timelessly stylish outfits made up of simple separates in classic stripes or gingham and in light colors. She pairs these with denim jeans or midi skirts. We love the balance of feminine and masculine that this classic combo creates. Not to mention, it's entirely comfortable and practical along with looking lovely. 

How to Get The Style

To channel a bit of Georgia's mastery of simplicity, you'll need to collect a few basics: think layers, and think neutrals. Creating different outfits from the same 10 or so pieces of clothing will be all the easier if everything sits together well within the same color palette. We love creams, dusty greys and soft browns but "neutrals" can be more diverse than that! Earthy olive and mustard tones, cool slate greys and blues, even blush pinks and sunset colors. Within that, there are hundreds of shades--go with the ones that make you feel most inspired and beautiful. 

We love separates that are easy to pair and build up with layers: midi dresses, midi skirts, solid tops to tuck in or tie at the waist, and comfy cardigans and jackets. 

Featured: Cafe Corners Cardigan, Thoughtful Pose Dress, Soft Happenstance Top 

Featured: In Residence Skirt, Orchard Plans Skirt, Claudel at the Easel Skirt

See more classic pieces like these in our Simply, Feminine Collection 

Read more about Georgia O'Keeffe at the official O'Keeffe Museum Site!

To channel your inner 1960s French Muse style, i.e. Anna Karina inspired outfits... here are some pieces you need in your wardrobe.

• A solid colored cardigan
• Midi skirts in solid colors or that feature subtle geometric patterns like stripes, plaid, or grid.
• Higher necklines, especially round ones
• Cigarette pants
• Oversized sweater
• Black closed rounded toe flats

Have you seen any of her films? She's featured in 17 Jean Luc-Godard films alone. If you're looking for something quirky, romantic, risque and a tad cynical this weekend, we recommend diving into one of these time capsule flicks. 

Our Style Muse articles feature inspiring women from history and modern day who capture the essence of mypiggywiggy's favorite quote, "Live the life you always imagined" (Thoreau). Sometimes an outfit inspires an adventure, sometimes your favorite adventures are remembered by the dress or cardigan you were wearing. In any case, we like to research and share information about women who have already paved the way to living truest to oneself... independent, creative, driven, daring, unconventional, and timelessly beautiful.