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Art Design Fashion Luxury People

Black Heroes Foundation + Mary Martin London

Matters of Fact

“Just don’t give up what you’re trying to do,” believed the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. “Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.” Every month should be Black History Month. But not every day can be National Windrush Day. To mark the 73rd anniversary of the Empire Windrush ship docking into Tilbury, bringing workers from Caribbean countries to help fill postwar British labour shortages, Black Heroes Foundation opened an exhibition in central London on 22 June. Chair of Trustees Joyce Fraser explains, “I set up Black Heroes Foundation in memory of my late husband. Recently, we entered a competition organised by Westminster City Council for a pop up in Piccadilly. We were one of 11 successful applicants out of a total of 120.”

The Foundation is a community based charity for the development and promotion of talent, together with cultural and artistic initiatives in the community. And as Joyce succinctly puts it, “A world where Black Heroes are acknowledged, respected and celebrated.” The Chair’s late husband, Peter Randolph Fraser, known to all as “Flip Fraser”, was the first Editor of The Voice newspaper and joint creator of the show Black Heroes in the Hall of Fame. The ground floor of the exhibition is devoted to the Windrush Collection and the Black Heroes Wall of Fame.

The Windrush Collection includes a living room, bedroom and kitchen furnished with typical West Indian items from family portraits to a porcelain book of the 23rd Psalm. A commemoration of Flip Fraser is joined on the Wall of Fame by inspirational people from the past and present: the Classic Collection, London’s Great Women of Colour and Wandsworth People. Take Harriet Tubman. She was a slave born in Maryland who fled to the free state of Pennsylvania in 1820 aged 29. She returned to Maryland over the next decade to rescue both family members and friends at great peril to her life. Harriet was buried with military honours in Fort Hill Cemetery New York in 1913. As African American civil rights activist Asa Philip Randolph observed, “Freedom is never given; it is won.”

“My heart will always be in Brixton,” Olive Morris, a heroine on the Wall of Fame, once said. Born in Jamaica in 1915, she came to the UK aged nine. Her first home was off Wandsworth Road and she went to Lavender Hill Girls’ School. As an adult living in Brixton, her activism took off. Olive was involved in many campaigns including the scrapping of Suspected Person Laws which permitted police to stop and search anyone suspected of loitering but was used indiscriminately against black people. She died in 1979.

A showcase of some of the dresses of the UK’s leading black fashion designer Mary Martin London is on display on the mezzanine level of this exhibition at 12 Waterloo Place. “I’m thrilled to have been asked to be part of this important event,” Mary confirmed. The designer is providing demonstrations each day on how her clothes are actually made: the sewing machine is clearly on overtime. Pointing to one of her pieces she exclaims, “It’s called the Death of a Queen as it nearly killed me making that dress!” Attendance has been lively. Westminster Councillors were at the opening and the flow has been constant ever since – the exhibition lasts five weeks. Heather Small, the Voice of M People, and soprano Nadine Benjamin are two of many well known supporters to enjoy it so far.

Councillor Matthew Green, Cabinet Member for Business, Licensing and Planning, pointing to Mary’s Marilyn Monroe Dress exclaimed, “A faux foxtail. Oh golly! Has somebody worn that? This is all so fantastic. I’m really pleased to see the whole exhibition too.” Councillor Louise Hyams, Deputy Cabinet Member for Communities and Regeneration, added, “I’m also really pleased to see the exhibition. It’s beautifully choreographed for the venue and so interesting. Mary’s show is great: she could easily harness her creativity into the world of film costumery.” No doubt Councillor Hyams would agree with Dr Mae Jemison, the first African American female astronaut, who believes, “Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.”

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Fashion People

Lavender’s Blue + Twilight

Purple Reign

Janice Porter at Twilight © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Twilight. The seeping of day into night. Flux made manifest. A liminal state, a period of transformation, both optical and psychological. As light fades, our eyes play tricks on us, inventing horizons, altering distances, rediscovering amethyst tinged silhouettes and moonstone obliquities. We become more obscure to ourselves as well. Soon we will be diner, dancer, lover. But in this viridian moment, the last territory of the light, the cobalt night is not so much young as hardly begun.

There’s palpable tension in this transition between our day and night selves, a metaphoric transformation from clear definition to suggestion. In Laughter in the Dark, Vladimir Nabokov’s doomed character Albinus experiences it on a visit to his mistress. ‘Lights were being put on, and their soft orange glow looked very lovely in the pale dusk. The sky was still quite blue, with a single salmon coloured cloud in the distance, and all this unsteady balance between light and dusk made Albinus feel giddy.’

For lost souls, the magic hour passes unobserved, pre empted by the explicit reds of sunset; or its nuances eclipsed by the acid glow of streetlights. F Scott Fitzgerald beautifully captures the melancholy of fading day in The Great Gatsby when his narrator observes, ‘At the enhanced metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others – poor young clerks who loitered in front of windows waiting until it was time for a solitary restaurant dinner – young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life.’

The subtle apostrophe-free lavender blue of twilight deserves to be the scene snatcher. Even the near obsolete words associated with it are seductive: crepuscular, gloaming, penumbra. Little wonder the Romantics – Coleridge, Keats, Wordsworth – were obsessed about fixing twilight as a poetic shortcut to existential meditations. ‘The violet hour’ as T S Eliot writes in The Waste Land is ‘when the eyes and back turn upward from the desk’. Just dwell on yet more literary episodes imbued with meaning, entwined with being: Mrs Dalloway kissing Sally Seton on the terrace, Mrs Moore’s moment of transcendence in A Passage to India, Marlow’s mistruth about Kurtz’s last words in Heart of Darkness. Not to mention the hotbed of nefarious doings at twilight in gothic novels, from Dracula to Frankenstein.

Twilight. A hymn for vespers. Victor Hugo and Les Chants du Crépuscule. A habitual sense of belatedness. The time when the power of reason wanes and fantasy weaves its own tales. Full of frisson, danger, desire. Moral and social structures loosen as the first stars appear. Under the diffusion of smoky mauve light there is heightened sensitivity to the promise of life; anything is possible in this magic hour of nocturnes and nostalgia. Grasp it, for the intensity is almost tangible; feel it, before going forth into the night; derivative yet original, living in the unregretted present yet loving the lingering evening of the past.

Lavender's Blue Twilight © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

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People

The Violet Hour + Janice Porter

Janice Porter © lvbmag.com

Animal rights campaigner, charity fundraiser and children’s councillor Janice Porter on her favourite things. Living in rural Ireland allows her to indulge in country pursuits while frequent city jaunts ensure she keeps her wardrobe well stocked. Lavender’s Blue catches up with Janice in a rare spare slot of her hectic schedule juggling committee meetings, coordinating volunteers and saving animals (10,000 so far and counting). The setting: her rambling country house.

My Favourite London Hotel… Park Plaza Westminster Bridge. The vegetarian breakfast is the best in the capital and I love the club lounge with its views across the Thames towards Big Ben. Dukes Hotel is high up my list as well. It’s so discrete and elegant.

My Favourite London Restaurant… The Wolseley. It has the right combination of atmosphere, food, service and a great location for a night out in London.

My Favourite Omagh Restaurant…  The dining room of Tullylagan House. Beautiful surroundings for an evening meal. The Suitor Gallery at Ballygawley does the best cinnamon scones around.

My favourite Weekend Destination… London of course! Like Dr Johnson, I never tire of the city.

My Favourite Holiday Destination… Guernsey – I regularly visit the island. It has great coastal walks and St Peter Port is my ideal town. Afternoon tea by the pool at Longueville Manor is one of life’s pleasures.

My Favourite Country House… Drishane House. I studied the literary works of Somerville and Ross for my degree in English and this was their home in West Cork. In 1996 I had a memorable private tour of it. The house is so atmospheric – descendents of the writers still live there.

My Favourite Building… The Lanyon Building. I studied at Queen’s University Belfast and the Lanyon Building is its flagship piece of architecture. With its distinctive collegiate appearance it has long gained iconic status in Belfast.

My Favourite Novel… I’m an avid reader and enjoy autobiographies and biographies as well as novels by Molly Keane and Maeve Binchy. My all time favourite novel though is Wuthering Heights.

My Favourite Film… Pretty Woman. I watched the film in Spain when it first came out. Julia Roberts and Richard Gere have such strong screen chemistry.

My Favourite TV Series… Downton Abbey. Maggie Smith is quite simply hilarious and I love the plots even if there is the occasional slip of authenticity! Julian Fellowes is a very talented screenwriter.

My Favourite Actor… Bill Nighy, especially in Love Actually and Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I love his nonchalant manner and unique voice.

My Favourite Play… Macbeth. It’s amazing how a play which is nearly half a millennium old can still be so pertinent today.

My Favourite Opera… Carmen is magical. I love The Phantom of the Opera. Does it count?

My Favourite Artist… Renoir. His paintings never fail to have a calming effect on me.

My Favourite London Shop… Lizzie’s off Northcote Road. It is a small boutique selling one-of-a-kind clothes and handmade items for the home. I never come out empty handed.

My Favourite Scent… Stella by Stella McCartney.

My Favourite Fashion Designer… I frequently treat myself to Louis Vuitton bags. You have to pamper yourself!

My Favourite Charity… Grovehill Animal Trust. I am Vice Chairman of the Trust and we have just purchased new premises for the expanding charity.

My Favourite Pastime… Walking through the countryside around where I live with my four canine companions.

My Favourite Thing… Brown Hunter Wellies.

Categories
Country Houses People

Lavender’s Blue + Twilight

Feeling Blue 

Janice Porter at Twilight © lvbmag.com

Twilight. The seeping of day into night. Flux made manifest. A liminal state, a period of transformation, optical and psychological. As light fades, our eyes play tricks on us, inventing horizons, altering distances, shrouding landmarks. We become more obscure to ourselves as well. Soon we are diner, dancer, lover. But in this moment, the night is not so much young as hardly begun.

There’s palpable tension in this transition between our day and night selves. In Laughter in the Dark, Vladimir Nabokov’s doomed character Albinus experiences it on a visit to his mistress. “Lights were being put on, and their soft orange glow looked very lovely in the pale dusk. The sky was still quite blue, with a single salmon coloured cloud in the distance, and all this unsteady balance between light and dusk made Albinus feel giddy.”

For lost souls, the magic hour passes unobserved, pre empted by the explicit reds of sunset; or its nuances eclipsed by the acid glow of streetlights. F Scott Fitzgerald beautifully captures the melancholy of fading day in The Great Gatsby when his narrator Nick Carraway observes, “At the enchanted metropolitan twilight I felt a haunting loneliness sometimes, and felt it in others – poor young clerks who loitered in front of windows waiting until it was time for a solitary restaurant dinner – young clerks in the dusk, wasting the most poignant moments of night and life.”

The subtle apostrophe-free lavender blue of twilight deserves to be the scene snatcher. Even the words associated with it are seductive: crepuscular, gloaming, penumbra. Little wonder the Romantics Coleridge, Keats, Wordsworth – were obsessed about fixing twilight as a poetic shortcut to existential meditations. “The violet hour” as TS Eliot writes in The Waste Land is “when the eyes and back turn upward from the desk”. Just dwell on yet more literary episodes imbued with meaning: Mrs Dalloway kissing Sally Seton on the terrace, Mrs Moore’s moment of transcendence in A Passage to India, Marlow’s mistruth about Kurtz’s last words in Heart of Darkness. Not to mention the hotbed of nefarious doings at twilight in gothic novels, from Dracula to Frankenstein.

Twilight. The time when the power of reason wanes and fantasy weaves its own tales. Full of frisson, danger, desire. Moral and social strictures loosen as the first stars appear. Under the diffusion of mauve light there is heightened sensitivity to the promise of life; anything is possible in this magic hour. Grasp it, for the intensity is almost tangible; feel it, before going forth into the night, both derivative and original, living in the present yet loving the past.

Lavender's Blue Twilight © lvbmag.com