Yet More Gymslips I'm Afraid - I LOVE 'EM!

Yet once again I find myself forced to apologise for the sparsity of posts. As you probably know, from the outset I have undertaken to try to post at least once each weekday. But in recent weeks, what with the treatment I have had to my eyes and the complications thereof and then the banking crisis with the attendant insane shuffling around of bank accounts and out of blind panic (treated with a liberal dose of alcoholic bingeing) things have gone somewhat awry. When I have managed to post something it has of necessity been very short and sharp (and hopefully sweet) and part of a consequence of that is that the site has notably been gradually going off track of late. The aim as stated was always to discuss the INSTITUTIONALISED series, the things such as images, films, TV shows and books that have influenced me in writing it, the ideas I've had and others that have recently come to me and that I am developing at present - and also to provide a platform for you good readers to contribute your own ideas and feedback. In addition I try to keep track of the type of thing that visitors have come to this site searching for (those of you that arrive as a result of a Google, or other search engine, keyword search) and then try to provide either the relevant content (if it is relevant to the stated aims) or a link to it. But what with the various distractions I have had the tendency has been to provide content as quickly as possible and easiest way was to work around those keyword searches.

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This was something I had intended to address this week, to get this site back on track but again things have gone somewhat awry - I am behind with the writing of volume 2 of INSTITUTIONALISED, there is still the stress of all this banking nonsense and somebody, who shall remain nameless, sent me a link to a marvellous source of vintage pictures - a vein that could take weeks to mine to exhaustion and that I really should leave alone because of the time I'm spending on it, but it's just so damn addictive!! On top of all that I spent most of yesterday traipsing round various hair clinics receiving quotes for a transplant - just a little to either side at the front you understand, I'm still pretty much well thatched otherwise (honest). So far this week I've only managed one post and that pretty much consisted of a series of links to the various albums I've been building up. Of these, only Betty Bow 1973 has been much visited and I think probably because people are mixing up the name with that of Betty Page . The first is a British women's workwear and uniform manufacturer, the second is a famous vintage burlesque star (click on her name to visit her site) and muse of the great John Willie (AKA John AS Coutts, of which more we must wait for another time - as influential as his work was on me in my formative years).

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As for today, once again I am somewhat short of time so for the moment and the completeness and bracket and because people still come to this site having typed in gymslip is a keyword) I'm posting up a few more vintage pictures. And then at some later point I am going to place all the gymslip pictures I have together in a single album and supply any link to it from the sidebar. Later today or tomorrow I will endeavour to get the site back on track with some stuff actually directly pertaining to my writing and influences, with a couple of nice illustrative images I've come across, possibly a snippet from volume 2 or volume 3 and a story outline that I've sketched out and that will form part of the body of volume 2.

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Mind you, isn't it nice to see a bottle green one - so near-perfect for a girl's first arrival at the institution (think INSTITUTIONALISED volume 1). Of course the shoes would never do - and where the hell has her tie gone? That Should warrant a caning straightaway, don't you think? Far too slovenly - and her skirt is creased.

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Finally, I just couldn't resist this little pic of what so easily could be a nice little summer dress with a bit of imagination (perhaps in a nice bottle green or royal blue gingham check) - nothing like the type of thing that the uniforms I envisage the girl's wearing in the institution are based upon of course, but quite lovely in its way nonetheless. Girlish enough to be an acceptable for a young lady under the tutelage of a stern governess I should think - and brief enough as to invite frequent slaps across the back of her thighs and equally frequent visits to the caning horse.

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Thanks for your patience and best wishes - Garth (soon to be immensely hirsute - a rock god in the making I shouldn't wonder).

More New Links

Hi Folks
I've just added a couple more nice blogs to the blog list:
http://spankingdelights.blogspot.com/

• http://jamestephenson.blogspot.com/

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And to the Women's Workwear and Uniform Catalog Scans Collection I've added:

Garroulds of London
Harkington
Betty Bow 1973
Alexandra Workwear 1960s - 1970s

(Links in sidebar on right or click on company name).

I have now also added an album of my collection of Hardcastle's art from scans of Janus and web downloads (click the top illustration or check out the link in the side bar). Some of these I have posted before but now they can be found all together in one place.

Actually that pic has made me come over fee;ing so cruel that I couldn't resist posting this other one (right) Just how a girl in an institution should look.

Women's WorkWear and Uniforms - New Resource Links Added

As most will by now know, I rarely post anything much at the weekend. However, I have been adding more of my scanned uniform and nylon overall catalog images to my albums and have now decided to arrange them by manufacturer. There are only three albums present at the moment but I will be extending the collection in between bouts of writing, when I get bored and have plans for a couple of albums of corsellete (as these undergarments are something mentioned many times in INSTITUTIONALISED volume 1) and corset pics at some point. The album links may now be found in the side bar to the right just below 'messages'. If there is sufficient interest I will arrange other topics that have been covered in a similar manner to create easily navigable pages of illustrations by Paula Meadows and Hardcastle for example or popular search subjects such as enemas, caning pics etc.

Women's Workwear and Uniforms Catalogue Scan Collection Album Started

Today I've made a start on creating a series of new photo albums in which I am planning to eventually deposit my entire collection of women's work-wear and uniform catalog scans of which I've spoken previously. In creating theses albums I am attempting to endow this blog with something more of the feeling of a full-blown web site. The resolution will be kept relatively low to save bandwidth but I will be more than happy to provide the full size image of any picture for anybody interested. Just e-mail me with the request. Similarly should anyone out there have any relevant photos, drawings, scans etc then please feel free to contribute - just send them to me by e-mail and I will add them to the album and / or the blog. They don't have to be directly relevant to the goings-on in the book / books but it would be really great if folks would send in their impression of how they imagine the girls and staff etc to look or indeed how they would like them to look (there are one or two changes mooted for volume 2, in particular in the schoolroom - and then there are the prison uniforms for the girls held in that particular section).

Part of the reason for providing this resource is to share around my collection (for those interested in such things) and thus ensure its survival and partly it is to illustrate some of the terms used in the INSTITUTIONALISED series. In particular I've noted that to the American audience, and perhaps to others, the term ‘overalls’ probably conjures up an image of bib and braces dungarees and denim even as pertains to women. In the book I have a definite, if perhaps somewhat dated, image in mind when I use the terms – dress style overall, frock overall or nylon overall -as descriptive terms applied to the green and white striped uniforms that the young ladies incarcerated in the institution are obliged to wear. Some of the pictures will also help illustrate certain aspects of the staff uniforms that some may not be familiar with such as Petersham ribbon or tippet as pertaining to part of a nurse's uniform.

There is not that much there at the moment but I plan that this resource will grow over time, and hopefully quite rapidly, and will cover a range of uniforms across a swathe of time from the 1950s to the near present.

New Link Added

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Gymslips, School Boaters, Ribbons and Spanking Drawers

Hi folks, I'm kinda cheerful today: my eye test yesterday went quite well and today - touch wood (as we say here for luck) - I'm seeing quite sharply (or at least I was until a few moments ago when I put in my eye drops). So I'm back at my desk and things are almost, but not quite, back to normal - except that I've decided to try to go three months without booze while at the same time training hard at the gym (with a little pharmacological assistance purchased off the Internet, must be said).

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Today I'm going to upload a few more of those vintage photos sent in by ‘Domestic Disciplinarian’ along with one or two that I've come across myself.

I'm pretty sure that just about everyone out there now knows exactly what a gymslip actually is, and more importantly, hopefully has a better idea of the form of the garment as I imagine it applied as a disciplinary measure to the various young ladies populating my tales. But nevertheless, for completeness (and because several people visiting this site have been looking for gymslip pictures) I thought I'd add a few more variations and in particular a couple of different views of arguably the perfect example (click to view previous example). It is the open-sided bodice form that I envisaged my storylines, with a sharp-pleated skirt. I've included a couple of pictures of the closed-sided form for interest and also because others may be looking for pictures of these styles.

If you have read INSTITUTIONALISED volume 1 you will have encountered it several times, primarily within the context of the domestic aspect of a girl’s regime. In the forthcoming volume 2, and particularly in volume 3, you will encounter a form of it as part of a young lady's uniform in a more institutional environment. In the latter volume, a particularly strict governess, one highly skilled in her rather unorthodox approach to curbing the young women under her care (I can say no more without the risk of giving too much away), is seen to introduce a singularly unusual variation on the theme - suffice it to say that her version pays little heed to the relative maturity of her charges.

Incidentally, I had intended to include a couple of these gymslip pics in any case at some point as they illustrate so well the type of traditional ribbon-adorned school uniform hat that I envisaged when writing INSTITUTIONALISED: it is alluded to that one of the protagonists has been required to wear something like this as part of the uniform insisted upon by her ‘aunt’ at home prior to being delivered to the doors of institution and as it with her upon her arrival. It will be encountered again in volumes 2 and 3, albeit in a more exaggeratedly beribboned form.

The picture of the girl in the car I've included as much for the detail it shows of the pleating of her skirt as for the view it gives of her uniform school hat and blazer.

This final picture has very little to do with gymslips or any of the uniforms worn by the hapless young ladies incarcerated in the institution - it is of a far earlier time - but I just had to include it: those drawers (a form of old fashioned knickers) they are wearing are just so perfectly made for a caning, aren't they? Just bent them over, whip open the back and… swish…Crrrrack!

A Small Apology and Some Info / Site News

For those that haven't noticed there is something of a financial crisis occurring, especially in the banking sector. Here in the UK the government compensation scheme, should your bank crash, is less than generous (although we are assured it is soon to be improved). For this reason, and having suffered a near miss over the weekend with one of my accounts, I spent pretty much all of yesterday in various queues in various banks moving and splitting up my savings (absolutely exhausting). Today I'm off for another eyesight test in Harley Street and as they put in various drops in my eye as part of the procedure, some of which disturb my sight for quite a while, I probably won't be able to make a post today. My apologies - as you know I try to update the blog every weekday and occasionally at the weekend if I was unable to do so during the week for some reason.. The next update therefore will be tomorrow and I'm thinking of putting up some more of those old gymslip pictures as I've noticed more and more people coming to this site of late having typed the term ‘gymslip’ into Google. I'll also be, at long last, starting to upload all my women's workwear catalogue pictures, but these I will be loading into an album and then placing a link to it on the site as for those with little interest it could all become a bit tedious to have to view page after page of uniforms and overalls. Meanwhile; for now, why not have a dig around through some of the older posts in the archive - see what you can find. Or contribute some story ideas.