Exhibitions at Gainsborough Old Hall

 Last week we went to Gainsborough Old Hall to see a couple of exhibitions before they finished.  I have visited the Old Hall before and you can see my posts about the visits here, here, here and here.  The first was a textile and art exhibition based around Medieval animals, both real and fantasy.  I liked the woodcut bear above and it was printed onto a old piano roll which I though was really clever.

 This read dragon looked very much at home in such an ancient building.

As did this willow unicorn.

The costume exhibition was focused on costumes created for films and I picked out the costumes that appealed most to me.  The photos are not as clear as I would have liked, but this was due to the low lighting.  This first one was for Kenneth Branagh in Henry V.

 This was made for Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth - we all noticed what a small waist she had.

 I was surprised at the level of detail. I thought that short cuts might be taken as the costumes would mainly be seen from a distance, but this was not the case.

These three costumes were worn by Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes and Dame Judi Dench from Shakespeare in Love.

 Dame Judi's sleeve had a beautiful basket weave type pattern.

 Emily Blunt wore this embroidered gown in Young Victoria.

 Robert Downey Jr's flamboyant costume came from Restoration.  I liked the slashing on the sleeves and the ribbons.  (I have obviously watched far too much Doctor Who in my lifetime as I kept thinking this mannequin had moved!)

 This costume was worn by Helena Bonham Carter in Suffragette.  I only saw this film earlier this year and it made quite an impression.  Until then, I hadn't really considered the difficulties faced by the male supporters of female suffrage, or the families of the suffragists or suffragettes.

 Finally,  Kristen Scott Thomas' costume from Darkest Hour.  Again, we noticed how tiny she is, although this was more apparent from the back of the suit.  There are more photos from our visit to Gainsborough which will be in my next post.

Suffragette and #Vote100

Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst - photo from wikipedia

One hundred years ago today, women in England (over thirty years old, who met the criteria of owning property) were given the right to vote.  It was something to be celebrated, but it took another ten years for women to received the same voting rights as men.
I watched the recent-ish film 'Suffragette' starring Cary Mulligan, Helena Bonham-Carter and Meryl Streep at the weekend and thought it did a good job of showing the difficulties that women (and the men who supported the Suffrage movement) underwent.   Some women were force fed in prison and there are some harrowing accounts here of the brutal treatment this was.

Every time I exercise my right to vote (and I always do), I am grateful to these amazing women who stood up to the government and made their voices heard.
There are many events all round the country as part of the #Vote100 campaign.
I hope that the many women all over the world who still need to make their voices heard can be inspired by the suffragettes.
Thank you to all of the women and their male supporters who enabled us to vote.
Edited to add: Channel 4 have created a thought provoking advert for the #Vote 100 campaign - the link to youtube is here