Fashion In The Time Of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603)

Fashion In The Time Of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603)

By Melinda Camber Porter

Volume 2, Number 1:

Foreward: Robbie Lyle, One of the Four Lords of the Lizard, Cornwall, UK

Drawings and Text by Melinda Camber Porter

Ebook: (ISBN: 978-1-942231-10-3) 84p, illus., glossary

Hardcover: (ISBN: 978-1-942231-43-1), 8½x11, 84p, illus., glossary

Blake Press, New Title, Fashion in the Time of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) by Melinda Camber Porter, publication date April 2016, print (ISBN 978-1-942231-43-1), $49.99, Ebook ISBN 978-1-942231-10-3) both available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, ebookmall, and worldwide through Ingram distributors.

As we commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday this month,

Blake Press is excited to announce the publication of:

Fashion in the Time of Queen Elizabeth 1 (1558-1603).

By Melinda Camber Porter

Travel back in time with this captivating book of drawings of historically accurate fashions from the time of Queen Elizabeth 1, done by the British artist, journalist, and writer Melinda Camber Porter when she was an eight-year-old student at the City of London School for Girls. Inspired by the Elizabethan reference work of Dion Clayton Calthrop, Melinda Camber Porter created a 2nd grade school report illustrating an array of costumes and clothing spanning the years 1558 -1603, and the resulting work is mesmerizing. It demonstrates what a very young artist can achieve when applying their talent and focus. As well as inspiring young artists to take up their pens, it will appeal to all young people with a love of fashion. In addition, it provides accurate visuals of Elizabethan costumes.

A Foreward by Robbie Lyle, a classmate of Melinda Camber Porter’s at Oxford University, contains memories of the author and her unique intellectual gifts, as well as a preview of the costumes illustrated in the subsequent pages. In Robbie’s words “Melinda sets the reader out on a fascinating journey discovering how babies finally escaped the medieval practice of swaddling clothes; how both boys and girls adopted the Northern European fashion of ankle-length garments and starched aprons; then as young adults displayed the changing fashions such as the breeches and trunks of the day.”

The text of the book is most likely also taken from the same reference work entitled English Costume Painted and Described by Dion Clayton Calthrop. There can be few connoisseurs of early English costume history who are not familiar with his name. Also included are photographs and documents from the City of London School for Girls.

Fashion in the Time of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) was a hand written thirty-four page document on eight inch by twelve inch lined British school tablet paper with thirty-one separate drawings on white paper by Melinda Camber Porter. Each drawing was cut out and glued into document. The seventeen page document on two sides was bound by pink yarn tied through two holes on the left side as the binding. Melinda Camber Porter wrote and illustrated this book as a school report in Second Grade (Class 2), where she attended The City of London School for Girls. Her teacher (unnamed) gave her a grade of A and commented, ‘Where did you find such descriptive material.’

The book encourages young women and men to sketch and write about their favorite fashions and inspirations. The book also serves as a piece of history for The City of London School for Girls, and includes photos and awards of Melinda Camber Porter in the appendices. The City of London School for Girls has moved twice since the early 1960s as many records from Melinda’s time at the school (1958-1971) are no longer available. Mr. Robbie Lyle, who had known Melinda Camber Porter since their Oxford University days, provides background in the Foreward on the clothing in the time of Queen Elizabeth I and memories of Melinda Camber Porter.

Melinda Camber Porter passed away from ovarian cancer in 2008 and left a significant body of work in art, journalism, and literature. Her creative works are available in two volumes: The Melinda Camber Porter Archive of Creative Works (Volume I is a series of Journalism Books and Volume II is a series of Art and Literature Books) designated with the International Standard Serial Numbers: ISSN: 2379-2450 (Print), ISSN: 2379-3198 (Ebook), ISSN: 2379-321X (Audio).

Events:

Fashion in the Time of Queen Elizabeth 1 (1558-1603), a newly published book from the Melinda Camber Porter Archive, will be presented at the Fifth Annual New York City LIM College’s Fashion: Now and Then Conference (at 12 East 53rd St. between Fifth & Madison Ave., on Friday, October 23rd from 1-2 PM). The conference runs from Thursday October 22 to Saturday October 24, 2015. An enchanting book of hand-drawn, historically accurate fashions from the time of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), done by the British artist, journalist, and writer Melinda Camber Porter, when she was an eight-year-old student at the City of London School for Girls c.1960. Melinda Camber Porter was an arts and culture correspondent for The Times (of London) from Paris in the 1970’s, and continued her art and writing career from New York until her death from ovarian cancer in 2008.

A major exhibition with readings is now scheduled for September 15 to October 15, 2016 at the National Museum of Music and Art Gallery located at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD. The University of South Dakota John A. Day Gallery is one of the largest modern university exhibition facilities with over 185 feet of linear wall space and nearly 2,900 square feet. From September 15 to October 15, 2015 the Art Gallery will be dedicated solely to the exhibition of the art, books and films of Melinda Camber Porter.

Dates of many scheduled book exhibitions and readings at book stores, galleries, libraries, and museums are forth coming with exact dates and times.

Advance Comments and Praise:

“Fashion in the Time of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603)” by Melinda Camber Porter is a remarkable book and a product of a great deal of work. We will put a copy in our school Library.”

Ena Horrop

Head Mistress, The City of London School for Girls.

Melinda Camber Porter, in Fashion In The Time Of Queen Elizabeth I (1558 – 1603), sets the reader out on a fascinating journey discovering how babies finally escaped the medieval practice of swaddling clothes; how both boys and girls adopted the Northern European fashion of ankle length garments and starched aprons; then as young adults adopting the changing fashions such as the breeches and trunks of the day.”

Robbie Lyle

One of the Four Lords of the Lizard, Cornwall, UK
Director of the Commonwealth Disaster Management Agency
Hon Vice-President Overseas Territories British Red Cross Society
President of the Commonwealth Beekeepers Association
Director of the Music of the Great War Ltd.

Melinda Camber Porter Bio:

Melinda Camber Porter (1953 - 2008) was born in London and graduated from Oxford University with a First Class Honors degree in Modern Languages. She began her writing career in Paris as a cultural correspondent for The Times of London. The Boston Globe describes her book, Through Parisian Eyes (Oxford University Press), as "a particularly readable and brilliantly and uniquely compiled collection." She interviewed many cultural figures during her career including: Nobel Prize winners Saul Bellow, Gunter Grass, Eugenio Montale, and Octavio Paz; and many leading filmmakers and writers. Her novel Badlands, a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, was set on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It was acclaimed by Louis Malle, who said: "better than a novel, it reads like a fierce poem, with a devastating effect on our self-esteem," and by Publishers Weekly, which called it, "a novel of startling, dreamlike lyricism."

A traveling art exhibition celebrating Melinda's paintings, curated by the late Leo Castelli, opened at the French Embassy in New York City in 1993. Peter Trippi, Editor of Fine Art Connoisseur magazine said: "In our era of slickly produced images, teeming with messages rather than feelings, Melinda's art strikes a distinctive balance between the achingly personal and the aesthetically beautiful." Robin Hamlyn, world expert on William Blake and senior curator Tate Britain, said about Melinda Camber Porter's watercolors, "I believe that all great art is, in its essence, defined by fearlessness. Both Melinda Camber Porter's and William Blake's works exemplify and illuminate the fearlessness that is part of the very essence of all great art. "Melinda Camber Porter passed away of ovarian cancer in 2008 and left a significant body of work in art, journalism, and literature.

The Melinda Camber Porter Archive wishes to share her creative works with the public to ensure the continuation and expansion of the ideas expressed in her art, journalism, and literature. The Melinda Camber Porter Archive of Creative Works comprises two series of books. Volume 1 are books of journalism. Volume 2 are books of art and literature. [ISSN: 2379-2450 (Print); 2379-3198 (E-book); 2379-321X (Audiobook).]

Blake Press Catalog (request a catalog):

V1N1: Melinda Camber Porter In Conversation With Eugenio Montale, Milan, Italy 1976

V1N2: Melinda Camber Porter In Conversation With Roy Lichtenstein: Green Street Mural 1983

V1N3: Melinda Camber Porter In Conversation With Wim Wenders, Paris, Texas 1983

V2N1: Fashion In The Time Of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), by Melinda Camber Porter

V2N2: Luminous Bodies: Circles of Celebration, by Melinda Camber Porter

V2N3: Luminous Bodies: Circles of Mourning, by Melinda Camber Porter

V2N4: Night Angel, by Melinda Camber Porter, Composer Carman Moore

V2N5: Night Angel, by Melinda Camber Porter, Composer Keith Bright

Fashion In The Time Of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603)

By Melinda Camber Porter

Volume 2, Number 1:

Foreward: Robbie Lyle, One of the Four Lords of the Lizard, Cornwall, UK

Drawings and Text by Melinda Camber Porter

Ebook: (ISBN: 978-1-942231-10-3) 84p, illus., glossary

Hardcover: (ISBN: 978-1-942231-43-1), 8½x11, 84p, illus., glossary

Blake Press, New Title, Fashion in the Time of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) by Melinda Camber Porter, publication date April 2016, print (ISBN 978-1-942231-43-1), $49.99, Ebook ISBN 978-1-942231-10-3) both available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, ebookmall, and worldwide through Ingram distributors.

As we commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday this month, Blake Press is excited to announce the publication of:

Fashion in the Time of Queen Elizabeth 1 (1558-1603).

By Melinda Camber Porter

The Melinda Camber Porter Archive of Creative Works comprises two series of books. Volume 1 are books of journalism. Volume 2 are books of art and literature. [ISSN: 2379-2450 (Print); 2379-3198 (E-book); 2379-321X (Audiobook).]