Best Cafes and Tea Rooms in York

It's getting pretty chilly outside which makes me think of warm drinks and wholesome cakes. I begin to miss York and all it's wonderful cafes and tea rooms. Not to mention it's more congenial winter. So here is my list of some of my favorite places. I can assure you that this is nowhere near a complete list. These are just the places that I liked to frequent. If you go there, please let me know what you think. So in no particular order: 

Betty's Cafe and Tea Room  

6-8 St. Helen’s Square     

There is no place fancier than Betty's! The afternoon tea there is rather pricey, but the experience is unforgettable. From the perfectly formed finger sandwiches to the white table cloths to the delicious scones to the piano playing while you are enjoying all this goodness. If an afternoon tea is a little too much for you, you may try their normal menu, which, I can assure you, is anything but ordinary. The tea is served in lovely silver pots and you can enjoy a variety of cakes and savory snacks. I had their pavlova and both the appearance and the taste were divine. But the place is very popular so you may end up queuing before you can enjoy all of that.     

Cakes d'Licious  

61 Clifton

This one is my favorite place in York. A little out of the way, but it's definitely worth a visit. It's a charming 1940s style tea room, with friendly staff, amazing afternoon tea and probably the best cake selection in town. It's really popular with the locals and it does get very busy around lunch time. My personal favorites - scones, naturally, and brie and grapes sandwiches.

   

The Cake Shop & Tea House 
24 Fossgate

This place is no Betty's, but it has undeniable charm. It has a lovely 1930s aesthetic and a quiet relaxed atmosphere. The afternoon tea is served on a wooden stand and the cakes are amazing. They are delicious and have a real homemade feel to them. My only regret is that I only had two opportunities to try all their delights.

Gatehouse Coffee 

Walmgate Bar

If you can only go to one cafe in York, I suggest you go to this one. I would not go as far as to say that it is the best one, but it is most certainly picturesque. It's located on Walmgate bar (Remember, in York all streets are gates, all gates are bars, and all bars are pubs) and it's a perfect place to sit down and relax as you're making your way around the York city wall. The place inside looks like something out of a Harry Potter movie with wooden benches, tiny windows and old arm chairs. My personal recommendation is their aptly named London fog tea and mini cinnamon rolls. It is very popular with students, so beware.       

Cosy Time 
23 Fossgate

This place is so cozy, no lie. They have comfy chairs, lots of books around so you can sit and read something light and frothy as you are enjoying something light and frothy. Again, I can definitely recommend their scones. And their tea sets are so lovely.       

Fashion Vocabulary: Dinner Dress vs Formal Dress

Naked or décolleté dresses are suitable only for small parties or extremely formal occasions. A dinner dress is more suitable for the theater or the opera. If you are of limited means, buy a dinner gown rather than a formal gown. For you can wear the dinner gown to formal affairs but you can't possibly wear a formal gown to a public gathering.                                                                                                      ~ Orry-Kelly     

Orry-Kelly, the costume designer responsible for such Hollywood classics as Casablanca and Some Like It Hot, gives this piece of advice in the January 1940 issue of Photoplay. The issue contains many more bits of great and terrible advice on how to  make a good first impression from such luminaries of the 1940s Hollywood as Edith Head, Max Factor, Jr. and Adrian. I will post more of it here soon, but right now I want to get back to the Orry-Kelly quote above.

As I read this, I was immediately curious to know what is the difference between a"dinner dress" and a "formal dress" in the context of the 1940s. Now, a sensible person would have just gone to Wikipedia. But I am not that person. I decided to figure it out based on context using Photoplay and other such magazines as my guide.

Figuring out what a dinner dress looks like was not a difficult task. Almost every issue had a fashion spread that featured at least one gown that was described as a dinner dress.
 

Carole Landis wearing a pink-pearl crepe dinner dress with a slim skirt and a slim peplum, decorated with silver and crystal beads tropical leaves. The skirt is slit at the hemline and the top features an off-center V-neck. Designed by Adrian. 1943

As I pored over the dinner dresses, a pattern emerged - they were mostly floor-length, with long sleeves and relatively high necklines.

The problem was that "formal dress" did not seem to feature in any of the fashion spreads. That, perhaps, is not too surprising as Orry-Kelly advises the average woman to step away from formal gowns and go for a dinner dress.

But after following a few clues, I came to the conclusion that a formal gown is one that is sleeveless or even strapless with a low neckline or exposed back.

As one fashion forecast proclaims:

Sleeves will be more generally used in dinner and evening dress than they have been for a decade, but will be most heartily approved in transparent fabrics. ~ Photoplay, 1939  

Ginger Rodgers models an evening gown from Once Upon A Honeymoon. The gown is satin in sun tan, a color described as richer than beige and deeper than ivory. It has a tight-fitted strapless bodice and a flaring skirt with bugle bead and rhinestone embroidery. Designed by Leslie. Photoplay 1943    

One other feature of such a dress was its price. A formal dress would cost more than a dinner dress as the cost efficiency of dressing less formally is repeatedly remarked upon. 

Maureen O'Hara wears an evening dress of printed satin and silk jersey. The white satin skirt is decorated with black tulips and the bodice is made of draped silk jersey. Raab and Harmell. Photoplay, 1941 

A formal dress can be styled to serve multiple purposes. A sleek black evening gown can be worn as a dinner dress with a matching over-blouse. It can be worn dancing with a pink chiffon scarf draped over the shoulders and pinned at the waist. And it becomes appropriate attire for a restaurant paired with a tight-fitting lamé jacket. (Photoplay, 1941). A last year's strapless dress can be turned into a dinner dress by covering it with a matching bolero or a lace jacket with long-sleeves (Hollywood, 1940). 

It seems that the decade between 30s and 50s was a little more relaxed in terms of attire for formal occasions (for obvious reasons). At least for women. Here are two images of couples dressed for black tie and white tie.

Source: Photoplay 1940

Source: Photoplay 1940

While the man is dressed very formally, the woman seems to wear outfits that are relatively informal. For black tie (top image) she wears a crimson jersey blouse with jet embroidery and a slick skirt that flares in front. The entire outfit would have been available from for about $15. For white tie (bottom image) the man wears "tails", while the woman wears a white flannel suit decorated with pastel pearls and gold embroidery. The skirt is slit in front and has a small train in the back. The entire outfit could be had for $20. The outfit looks modest but the price is anything but. According to some calculations, $20 would be more than $300 today.

In stark contrast to such conservative ensemble is a delightful story in the gossip section of one of the Photoplay magazines from the 1940s about a famous actress who gave her stand-in a nightgown as a gift and threw her a birthday party. To the great shock of everyone, the young woman turned up to the party wearing the nightgown thinking it was an evening dress. I would imagine that such mistakes would have been pretty common at the time: night gowns were very lavish. 

The Goldstein Museum of Design 

Nightgown or evening dress, who can tell.  

For more on formal wear in the 1940s check out a great article by VintageDancer.  

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

It's Christmas! For me, it's the beginning of the holiday season that will last for four weeks. First, it's a traditional Christmas with my boyfriend's family. Then, a fun Russian New Year's celebration with my family. Then back for Russian Christmas, which is celebrated on January 7. And finally, Old New Year on January 13, which is the beginning of the year according to the Julian calendar. Old New Year is not an official holiday, but people like to celebrate it with a hint of irony.

Christmas also means a lot of my favorite things:

Great TV & Christmas movies

Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

Agatha Christie's Poirot

Miss Fisher's Murders Mysteries

And wonderful music

Santa Claus Got Stuck In My Chimney - Ella Fitzgerald

Run Rudolph Run - Chuck Berry

Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt

Have a great one, everyone! 
    

How to Make Dorothy's Ruby Slippers

So you want to be dress up as Dorothy from Wizard of Oz? That's easy! All you need is a white blouse, a blue dress and Toto. But what about the ruby slippers? If sparkly shoes are not in this season, you can make a pair yourself with just a little patience and a lot of glitter.

The original ruby slippers made for Judy Garland in the Wizard of Oz (1939) were dyed red and then covered with organza, decorated with burgundy sequins, and then two bejeweled red leather bows were added.

The original ruby slippers via Smithsonian National Museum        

Since sewing sequin is pretty time consuming, simple glitter would do the trick. 

You will need:
- a pair of pumps or ballet flats (if they are red, that's a plus)
- loose glitter
- craft glue or Mod Podge
- glitter glue
- a few paint brushes you're not too attached to
- hairspray
- disposable cups
- a stiff red ribbon
- a glue gun
- scissors
- red rhinestones in different sizes
- needle and thread

STEP 1
Clear a working space for yourself and make sure to cover it with cooking parchment or some disposable paper. Glitter has a tendency to get everywhere. I made these shoes a week ago and there's still bits of glitter I find in my bedroom and on my balcony.

STEP 2
Fill one disposable cup with a bit of glue and the other one with loose glitter. I don't usually like to use anything disposable, but this method will help you avoid contaminating your glue with glitter and will let you collect any loose bits of glitter afterwards.

STEP 3
Using a paint brush, cover a section of your shoe with a thick layer of craft glue.Sprinkle loose glitter over that section. Shake it off. I have seen some tutorials where people mixed the glitter and the glue and then covered the shoe with the mixture, but it didn't work for me. The glitter got too lumpy and wouldn't spread.       

   
STEP 4
Repeat this process over the entire outer area on both shoes. Avoid the inside of the shoe (you don't want to feel glitter between your toes) and the heel. Leave to dry over night.

STEP 5
See if your shoes still need some coverage in places. Cover those sparsely glittered areas with more glue and glitter. Now with a paint brush cover the heels of the shoes with glitter glue. I prefer this to covering them with glitter as glitter glue gives a smoother shinier finish and you can avoid sending bits of glitter flying everywhere when you click your heels together. Leave to dry overnight.

STEP 6
Cover the entire outer area of the shoes with glitter glue. This will help keep any loose glitter in place. Give the heels another layer of glitter glue. Leave to dry.

STEP 7
In the meantime, make the bows. Cut your ribbons into two strips, approximately 6cm each. Using needle and thread make them into bows. With the glue gun, attach smaller rhinestones all over the bows. Aim for as much coverage as you can get gluing the rhinestones close to each other and making sure to put some in every nook and cranny. Attach a larger rhinestone to the middle of the bow with the glue gun.

I took these pictures after a full night of partying, so some of the rhinestones were lost on the dance floor 

STEP 8
Once the glue on your shoes is completely dry, give them a nice even spritz with the hair spray. I had a real problem with loose glitter, so I had to spray them four times before I was confident that I would not leave a glitter trail behind me as I walk.

STEP 9
Once your shoes are completely dry and no loose glitter is left behind when you shake them, attach the bows to the front of the shoes with the glue gun.

Now put on a pair of bobby socks and you're ready to follow the yellow brick road!   

Dracula's Daughter Review

"Thank you, I never drink... wine."
- Countess Marya Zaleska, Dracula's Daughter 

It's officially Halloween season! Which means I will be writing about all things ghoulish and frightful.  

There are some disagreements as to who is the most iconic mistress of darkness out there. Morticia Addams, Vampira, Elvira and Lily Munster are all fan favorites. But my heart belongs to Countess Marya Zaleska, Dracula's Daughter.

Source

Played by Gloria Holden in the 1936 Dracula's Daughter, she is equal parts mysterious, deadly and vulnerable. The film has it share of cheese and the human characters are somewhat on the bland side, but Countess Zaleska is mesmerizing.    

Source

Plot (with spoilers): Being a squeal, the film picks up from where Dracula (1931) left off. Countess Zaleska and her manservant Sandor steal Dracula's body and burn it. The Countess hopes that this would rid her of vampirism. But it does not work and she gives in to the blood lust. She meats Dr. Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger), a psychologist and one of Von Helsing's foremer pupils, and after a conversation with him becomes hopeful that he could help her overcome her urges through psychoanalysis. But when she encounters a beautiful model Lili (Nan Grey), she cannot resist and drinks her blood. Countess Zaleska gives up any hope of becoming human again and lures Dr. Garth to Transylvania. Her attempts to make him her undead companion fail and she is destroyed by her manservant. 

I think this film and the character are often, sadly, overlooked when people think of the Universal Studios monster line up. The film has very striking visuals and atmosphere. Its treatment of vampirism is also somewhat different from what we are used to today. The lust for blood is framed not as physiological need, but as a psychological affliction. There is no indication that Countess Zaleska needs to drink blood to survive. She drinks blood becasue she cannot help herself. And she expresses remorse and disgust at what she does. Consequently, the suggested cure is not a blood transfusion or any other antidote one could take, but rather psychoanalysis. Gloria Holden is superb as Countess Zaleska, equal parts poised, commanding and tragic. Her line delivery is always on point and she possess that magnetism that makes her dominate every scene.  

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

If you want to know more about the film and its production history, check out a wonderful three part article over at Women Write About Comics or see the film, which you can sometimes find on YouTube.