A School Uniform Mock-Up

You're probably thinking, quite rightly, why is he f%$£!!&g around knocking up silly pictures we he should be writing and getting volume 2 damn well finished the lazy b'stard. Well in my defence I have to say that I'm at the point where I'm having to give some serious consideration as to the cover design and having gone nowhere near The Gimp (a sort of Linux version of Photoshop for those that don't know - I can't afford the real thing, I have a drinking habit to support) for one hell of a long-time I. need the practice (as you can probably see, I am not that good at it). The real reason is of course that I got completely hammered yesterday and couldn't face writing today -it would be different if I was putting down new ideas but the stage I am at now with volume 2 it is all about rearranging stuff that I have finished, proofreading and adding odd paragraphs here and there to keep the continuity flowing. Rather than end up doing nothing at all I thought I would combine getting a bit of practice in with a little whimsical thought as to the design of a uniform suitable for young ladies undergoing, shall we say, a somewhat rigorous and well structured educational regime... the sort of regime that might be instigated at the hands of a strict governess... or that might exist vouchsafed behind the barred windows and locked gates of a certain institution.

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Obviously the young Lady would in reality be anything but smiling, there should be a neatly knotted school tie of course...and a striped blouse, well starched and with a suitably high, uncomfortable and stiff collar - buttoned tightly needless to say.

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And that hair would have to go... we can't have her running around with her her hair up in a bun like that, far too sophisticated. She should be grateful if her guardian or governess - or the staff at the institution, if she is so housed - let her retain her locks at collar length. It should certainly be no longer and even then only if kept neatly and tightly braided and tied off with ribbon bows of a suitable colour, perhaps striped to match the blouse. Of course a young Lady in her late teens or even early twenties may well be expected to object, citing the style to be too juvenile for

her - and for her the clippers and razor are always awaiting.

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Then, unseen, there is the underwear of course - seventeen hours a day, seven days a week, spent crammed into a cramped little Victorian schoolroom desk and chair combination is bound to result in her gaining a little...plumpness, shall we say, even allowing for the hour long supervised and strictly enforced physical education session she undergoes before breakfast each morning. The best way to deal with that, if one is to avoid unsightly bulges ruining the smart lines of a uniform that has not only been carefully designed but that has been rather expensively made-to-measure for the wearer so as to ensure a snug fit, is by way of suitably strict and restrictive corsetry. Should a certain degree of plumpness be considered appropriate, or even somewhat becoming for that matter, depending on one's personal taste, then by way of good firms 'stays' that plumpness can be encouraged to develop in those regions where one might wish it, for example around her bottom, bosom and / or thighs.

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Then there is the question of posture, both when seated and standing -and with her expected to spend a least one to two hours of every single day standing with her nose pressed into a corner, with hands on head or fingertips on shoulders with elbows out to the sides, some back strain is likely to be inevitable. This is where the corset's backboard comes in to its own of course.

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It is possible that even with the restriction of a stiffly backboard each corset, if she is given to somewhat tomboyish ways, then she might still be thought still somewhat too active or boisterous and one way of dealing with this without upsetting the lines of the uniform, the pleasant flare of the pleated skirt for example, is by way of a tightly fitting under-slip. Although not really required conventionally as one would expect the tailor-made gymslip to be properly lined in any case, nevertheless the full-length slip / petticoat in some practical and hard wearing man-made fibre, for example nylon, should always be a required part of her apparel in any case. Given the above expedient then the slip would be exceedingly close fitting, tightly sheathing her thighs and bottom and ended at a hem tightly girdling her just above her skirt hem. It is possible that such a garment would have a sprung steel hoop sewn within the hem and another at the waist, the latter parting at the rear and fastened by a clasp, the whole thing fastening by zip running from the waist to the upper part of her back, just below the neck, the tab of which might well locate into some sort of locking arrangement, should a particularly stubborn or recalcitrant young lady be encountered who might be in the habit of divesting herself of these arrangements. The aim here is of course to present an image of relative normality, of the free and easy flowing lines of her uniform skirt or dress while still enforcing an enticingly feminine gate, appropriately small-stepped and graceful - there is going to be no more running about hither and dither for her, I'm afraid.

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As for yesterday, I got absolutely nothing written because every pub a went into was totally packed and I couldn't get a seat with a table. I ended up in the flask in Hampstead - nice beer but just as packed as everywhere else. Incidentally, on Saturday (Valentine's Day) I went with the 'other half' first to the Design Museum on the Southbank (River Thames) and then to the opera, The ENO (English National Opera are) at the Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. I'd never actually seen the Magic Flute (Mozart) before although I know the music well. I was somewhat startled therefore by references to bondage and implied guarded references to a woman's corporal punishment - blimey... it's everywhere.

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PS: If you click on the pic you'll be shuffled of to a very early section of the blog where I discussed an alternative title and cover design of Volume 1- one possibility for volume 2 is to recycle part of the alternative design that I had for volume 1 and that I never used...what do you thing...please let me know.