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Thursday 4 February 2016

Sepia Saturday: Seaside Fashions on Parade



My eye in this week's prompt picture turned to the two girls on the left of the picture in their beach wear.

So my theme is Seaside Fashions - Down the Decades and Across the Seasons. 


The seaside is not just for summer!!  

Judging by the clothes, this looks to be taken in winter - My husband's Great Aunt Pat with her husband Frank King, Annette and small son, also Frank.  This could well be Margate beach in Kent. 



 
Wrapped up for a walk along North Pier, Blackpool, my cousins Stuart and Gloria with members of the extended family May Riley and Edith Fearneough, c.1940.  The children are wearing a cap and hat  (but bare legs) and the women are dressed formally with their hats and furs.    


 A walk along Blackpool promenade with my mother and paternal grandmother who of course  were wearing their hats.    I don't  look too happy, but I do like that little handbag I am carrying. My dressmaker mother made my coats, trimmed on the collar and pockets with velvet. 
October half term holiday and the only people on the beach at Blackpool were enjoying a donkey ride - daughter second from right in her jumper and pinafore dress. 
 
My daughter braving the elements on a windy North Pier, with the famous Blackpool Tower in the background. 

Another windy day in May 2005  on the Isle of Iona off the west coast of Scotland. 
  

Onto more summer seasonal weather:  

                          
Aunt Pat (from the first photograph)  and friends  - the cloche hats give away the era

Below my mother Kathleen Danson, her youngest sister Peggy and her great friend that I knew as Auntie Phyllis were enjoying the outdoor South Shore Swimming Pool at Blackpool in the 1930's.  

Two decades later in the 1950's,  I remember Mum taking my brother and I there for a swim.  In that era it was also a popular venue for national beauty contests   It was later demolished and  the site is now a car park  and the southern terminus of the Blackpool Promenade trams - a sad end to an iconic 1930's playground. 

Look at those shoes! 

Onto the 1940's and 50's
With my father on an unusually empty beach
                       
My brother in his sun hat and knitted swim suit.
Little Gloria, (from the second photograph above)  engrossed in something in the sand but keeping a firm hand on that big ball!   c.1935.



Left - A happy photograph with my mother.  She always made me a new sundress every holiday - here with a bolero jacket.   My mother in a large floral print dress that was all the fashion in 1950's. Right  in my gingham dress with white trim. 

And finally: 
A very happy beach photograph of daughter and granddaughter on the beach in East Lothian, near Edinburgh. 



Click HERE to see camera work from other Sepia Saturday bloggers. 

Sepia Saturday gives bloggers the opportunity to share their family history and memories through photographs. 

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16 comments:

  1. Makes me want to go to the beach!

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  2. Ah-ha! And you said you didn't think you had anything to go with this week's prompt. You certainly did & they're great pictures! Glad you took a second look at the prompt!

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    1. Glad to see you have a few photos of people in their togs/swimmers on the beaches as well as in winter woollies. Up until the 1960s there were still regulations about the minimum size of swimming costume and bikinis weren't allowed to be worn at Bondi, so that girl in the 1951 prompt wuld have been risking arrest.

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  4. Great take-off from the prompt photo! My grandmother also made me a little coat with velvet collar and cuffs when I was about 2-3 years old. But I never went to a beach in the winter-time until a few years ago.

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  5. Brr - I have no interest in the beach in winter, unless the beach is in the Caribbean! I'm amazed at how many off-season photos you have.

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  6. I particularly like the one of you and your father running on the beach. I wonder what he's saying to you - the lovely way you are looking up at him.

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  7. I enjoyed every photo. Lovely the dresses your mother made. It is sad when a favoured playground, this one looks nice, disappears to make room just for cars. It was so much nicer when people could enjoy its facilities. The seaside looks quite chilly. It is a great post!

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  8. I forgot to say the last one looks like happiness itself. A happy Mum and a happy baby!

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  9. Wonderful beach gallery Sue. I love the donkeyman’s pose too!

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  10. Wonderful! I especially like the photo of the three generations. You look adorable. The bond between you and your father is evident too. What a fantastic photo to have!

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  11. Enjoyed them all, winter and summer. loved the clothing your mother made.

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  12. Loved the read! Love the outline of pages, timeline and vary on your page. Helps me to organize what my family thoughts might reflect

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  13. Look at those shoes indeed. LOL. What are we wearing now that the next generation is going to laugh at?

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  14. Grateful thanks to everyone for taking the time to send such lovely comments. Never give up on Sepia Saturday. Yet again I thought I had nothing for this prompt - certainly nothing on film and cameras, nor sunglasses- but I had a sudden idea of swimsuits which broadened out into seaside fashions throughout the year - hey presto!

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  15. It's interesting how your collection shows the evolution of a British "day at the seaside", yet it is almost always about staying warm and dry.

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