Sullington Windmills WI

*Image courtesy of the Creative Fashion Forum website. Click on the 'Susan Bishop' link below for more information.

This month we had a very interesting and enjoyable talk provided by Susan Bishop.

Susan is a Fashion Historian and Curator. Her research includes historical department store fashion shows, marketing and consumer shopping habits.

She has worked in fashion for over 45 years and is an avid collector of vintage jewellery, toys and a variety of other objects.

Susan has a particular interest in fashion and cinema and her talk looked at how, in the 1920s, Hollywood influenced fashion, largely because Paris couturiers were designing for the stars.

Before high street designers and catwalk shows existed, the general public obtained their fashion ideas from the stars in the cinema. Way back in the 1920s female (mostly) actors would have their clothes for the silver screen made by designers who worked for the film studio and designed clothes to suit the star and the role they were playing.

Later on, the designers and studios would allow some businesses to copy the 'costume' designs to make for the retail market.

The talk was illustrated with many slides showing actors such as: Greta Garbo, Gloria Swanson, Joan Crawford, Elizabeth Taylor etc. in their fabulous clothes.

Many of the iconic looks still go in and out of fashion today.

If you’re looking to use up leftover mincemeat after Christmas, the Waitrose Cheat’s Fruitcake with Mincemeat recipe is a brilliant option.

It’s wonderfully simple and makes one large, light fruitcake — perfect with an afternoon cup of tea or served warm with custard as a comforting dessert after dinner.

If you have half-empty jars of mincemeat sitting in the cupboard, this recipe is ideal. While the walnuts and sultanas are listed as “optional,” they’re well worth including. I've used pecans and sultanas, which work beautifully, but you could easily substitute:

• Walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts.

• Raisins, currants, dried cranberries, or chopped apricots.

• A mix of your favourite dried fruits and nuts.

It’s a very forgiving recipe, so feel free to adapt it to whatever you have on hand — that’s part of its charm.