MY MOTHER'S RED DRESS

Party time in the 70's. Photographer unknown.

This photo is gold! We can all feel the glamour of the 1970's. We can almost hear the laughter and the music in the background, perhaps a jazzy sound by James Last.

Did I intend to have 5 months go by since I posted on the blog? No, but sometimes life gets in the way and trows away all your plans and intentions: my lovely mother Laila, the beautiful woman in the red dress on the photo is no longer with us and my world has turned upside down. But on this photo, from a glamorous gala in the 70's my mum is still very much alive. They are all so good looking; long colourful dresses, smoking with bow tie. Soo cool! Soo glamorous!

The handsome man next to my mum is my father Stig, the cutie in the brown flower dress is Thyllan and next tho her stands her husband Åke. All four of them is gone to another place, heaven probably: a nice cozy place abowe the rainbow. I don´t know what clothes they wear in heaven but Oh Boy did they look good in the 70's!

Beautiful Laila with Åke, my fathers colleague. Photographer unknown.

As a little child I fell in love with my mother's red dress and as a teenager I decided to adopt it! I didn't really fancy long dresses so I dediced to upcycle the dress and transform it into a mini-dress.

Paris is for lovers! Photo by my friend Christina in March 1986.

The red dress followed me to Paris on a holiday when I was 18 years old. Here I pose on a Parisian bridge, probably Pont Notre-Dame, with a man namned Yves. One can almost not see the man and I only know his name because I wrote it on the back of the photo. I have forgotten about the man but I still remeber the dress!

In a Parisian café, I try to imitate the singer Sade. Photo by my friend Christina in March 1986.

Don't know if I can say that it was aesthetically correct to upcycle the long dress into a short one, but at least it continued to be worn. And that is the main purpose of clothes - they should be worn! We live our lives in clothes. Clothes are our second skin. Right now I think that clothes are the thing that helps me coping with grief and it stops the low mood from taking hold.

I really look forward to upcycle the clothes in my mothers wardrobe. There are no fancy gala dresses left, I think I have used and/or re-made all of them, but my mum always wore lovely clothes and now I will give those clothes a new life. I will keep you informed and soon I will show you all the upcycled treasures!