June 24

Sian has decided to become a retro girl.  She loves the 1940s and 50s and spends ages googling fashions, hairstyles and . . . er, music.

Now, I am a bit of a retro freak, although probably more in terms of objects like typewriters and record players than clothes - not because I don't like the clothes, but because it is difficult to buy anything like that here unless you are prepared to work your way through ginormous piles of clothes at the bendover market.  The shops tend to sell cheap Chinese stuff.

Sian, however, would love to go the whole hog and must be the only fifteen year old (possibly in the world, most certainly in Bulawayo) who studies whilst listening to Vera Lynn and the like.  Every time I go past her room, I can imagine a couple from the 1940s waltzing around before pouring themselves a whisky and soda and discussing when the war is going to end.

I read about a woman in the UK who was so obssessed with living in the 1940s that she actually had black out curtains that she would draw every night.  I can't remember if she had an air raid siren or not, but it did seem a little excessive.  There are quite a few people apparently who love a certain age so much, that they dress to suit that era and won't have anything in their houses if it is not true to the time.

I have an article I've kept on a man in London who dresses as though he lived in the eighteenth century.  Apparently, he has a lot of followers; the irony being they only know about him through his Facebook page.  He also receives lots of online orders from all over the world to make clothes like his.

Maybe Sian can do something similar - invent a Retro Girl label and make and sell clothes online.  Th only problem is Zimpost - by the time you get your order, you might be in a different era altogether.