I Love Manchester!

The more I visit, the more I discover about this great city. Steph and Gaz are building their life there, and it does seem to have a lot to offer. But this week I learned something else...in Sweden, and a few other countries, Manchester is the name they give to corduroy fabric.

 According to quirky fashion historian, Amber Butchart, corduroy developed in the 18th century from 'fustian', which was a heavy cotton twill weave cloth, from before Tudor times. The mills in Manchester produced yards of it, as it became a durable workwear fabric for the poor folk during the Industrial Revolution.
And at the other end of the social scale, this warm cloth became popular with country gents - their cord trousers and caps were a perfect foil for their tweed jackets.
Two years ago, the catwalk trends were all about cord, and somehow [according to AB] there was rather a surplus among the clothing manufacturers. So cord is very much back in vogue [and in Vogue] this autumn. 

I'm clearly ahead of the trend here. A few weeks ago, I picked up a brown cord pinafore dress in a CS for £3 [I found a picture of one just like it on the net - £15 on eBay!] Its very 1960's. I'm sure Twiggy had one like this! [this may even be that dress, who knows]
But it is warm, looks good alone or over a long sleeved top, and it has pockets.
I just love a dress which has somewhere for my hanky, my keys and my phone!
And I just love Manchester - the city and the cloth!