- I'm Blue -

Mannequins completely dressed in blue in a shopwindow at the MEN_at_WORK;)-store in Bruges.

Picture taken January 2nd, 2013 | Mariastraat, Bruges, Belgium

#Belgium #Bruges #CcBySa #CreativeCommons #Mannequins #ShopWindow #Shops

“All for the Ladies: the Thread about Darlings, where the Older Woman could “forsake the styles of youth to select fashions that have dignity”

The following is taken from a wartime guide to Edinburgh, published by the Citizens Advice Bureau in 1940-41.

FASHIONS FOR THE OLDER WOMAN. To-day, when a woman finds she must forsake the styles of youth to select fashions that have dignity as their key-note, she will find in her quest for appropriate clothes that here requirements are happily anticipated at Darling’s. There are Gowns, Coats and Accessories for her specially, in which elegance and comfort are well allied to a wise economy. DARLING’S “ALL FOR THE LADIES” PRINCES STREET, EDINBURGH.

Sir William Young Darling CBE FRSE LLD MC (1885-1962) joined the family drapery business in 1922, which was located at 124-5 Princes Street, where the New Look store now is and advanced to become its Director. He was a member of the Corporation of the City of Edinburgh from 1933, made city treasurer from 1947-40 and was Lord Provost from 1941-44, for which he was awarded the customary knighthood. During wartime he was the Chief Air Raid Warden for the city from 1939-41, a period when it saw sporadic and occasionally fatal aerial attacks. Post war he was the Unionist Party (predecessor to today’s Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party) Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South from 1945-57. He was the great uncle of the late Edinburgh Central (later Southwest) Labour MP, Baron Darling of Roulanish.

A 1932 advert for the company in The Scotsman declared that their sale offerings include: Hats of Every Description, Travel Coats and Costumes, Model Afternoon and Evening Gowns, Washing Dresses, Kintwear, Blouses, Stockings, Gloves and Shoes, Lingerie and Corsets, Furs, Including Model Fur Coats, Silks, Cloths, and Tweeds.

Darling was a bit of an author; during his wartime service during the Irish War of Independence (1920-22) he was joint editor of an army newspaper called Weekly Summary. He published 5 anonymous novels in the 1930s, after which he behind to use his own name. He published a book to celebrate the centenary of the family business in 1949, “Princes Street Parade. A Century of Fashion“. I have found a few pages online from auction sales of what now seems to be a collectors item:

Published by Darling & Company. Purveyors of Merchandise for Ladies and their Daughters for THREE GENERATIONS in the Capital of Scotland

Woman. In Her Pursuit of Fashion

WHILE KINGDOMS rise and fall and new communities are born, there is one thing which is stabled through all the flux of years. Woman is always with us – Woman, with her endless search for the beautiful, the adequate and the appropriate – Woman in her pursuit of Fashion. THIS REMAINS, whatever else betides

1872. THE FEMALE FIGURE begins to find itself*1. It emerges, if only frontally, in its straight elegance, but the flounced importance remains, and a romantic atmosphere is engendered by the adoption of the bustle”

1928-1929 THE SILK STOCKING HAS ARRIVED. No longer, except in the pages of history, can a Queen assert that she has no legs! All the ladies have legs2, and how proud they are to show them!

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Japan's version of 7Eleven looks even better than M&S 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3EH4VmxMAo

#retail #convenience #PoshNosh
#SevenElevenJapan #shops #shopping

Today's photo: Prinsengracht (1893).

[EN] The entry to the Rozenstraat. In the middle is the building 'Ons Huis', which was one of the first community centres in Europe. It was built in 1892 according to a […]

[NL] De ingang van de Rozenstraat, met in het midden het gebouw 'Ons Huis', een van de eerste buurthuizen van Europa. Het was gebouwd in 1892 naar een ontwerp van de […]

Via https://020apps.nl/olie/random/ #Amsterdam #JacobOlie #Prinsengracht #OurHome #shops #urinal #handcart

Urban Wanders

Monochrome captures in local town

Lens: Viltrox 13mm f/1.4 XF Wide Angle on a Fuji X-T30

#urbanphotography #shops #monochromephotography #photography #photographer

It really annoys me the way security or shop workers follow you about like you're trying to steal things. I assume they do it to everyone, but they really make a point of making their presence known.

Do they want people to browse or not?

It just makes the whole shopping process even less enjoyable. If their aim is to kill off high street shopping for good, then they are doing a good job. In a way those shop employees are destroying their own job.

You read about gangs of youths who blatantly steal, by keeping in large numbers, being intimidating and using violence. Yet store managers think making ordinary customers feel like their are under suspicion is the way to go.

The way the shop workers make you feel like a suspect, I won't be sad to see the shop close and those people lose their jobs. So perhaps that style of shop 'security' is there so companies can easily close branches and get minimum resistance.

It doesn't make sense. The shop must be open for a reason. It must make profit.

I suppose they just push the customer experience, remove good service, and make you feel watched but reduce the shoplifting in the process. It's a trade off.

But I think the bad experience is outweighing the value these stores have.

#Shops #HighStreet #ShopSecurity #SecutiryGuards

Saturday, April 4, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/04/saturday-april-4-2026/

Urban Sculpture

Early morning town wander in Workington

Lens: Viltrox 13mm f/1.4 XF Wide Angle on a Fuji X-T30

#urbanphotography #sculpture #modernart #bench #shops #retail #photography #photographer #viltrox #fujifilm