Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Topsy's Purple Trousers


One thing I love about my love for the Brotherhood is how many throwaway lines in biographies give me a tickle that keeps me in a good mood for days.

In this case, I am reading a biography of Edward Burne-Jones, and I found out in a tossed out line that when he and William Morris started a magazine in college, Topsy bought himself a pair of purple trousers.

Now I can't help but imagine that the pants in this photograph are actually a gorgeous shade of my favorite color.


11 comments:

Pegasus said...

I wonder if he was wearing this pair when he proposed to Jane...

Hermes said...

And he was so slim then.

Grace said...

I know I'd totally accept a proposal from a man in purple pants :D

Hermes, he was, wasn't he??

Anonymous said...

Oh yes I would accept a proposal from any man in purple trousers.......

teabird said...

Mine as well!
Perhaps a mauve-ish purple?

Anonymous said...

I imagine a pair of trousers in a dark purple velvet akin to lovely pair of camel-colored corduroys.

Grace said...

LOL! I actually suspect that they were rather garish...I looked up the passage in the official biography of Topsy, and it says that the purple pants were his only major "fashion misstep", so they must have been pretty hideous.

Anonymous said...

This post totally cheered me up, thank you :D

I can't wait to read the new Burne-Jones biography by Fiona MacCarthy...I think it's supposed to be out the 8th of September.

Grace said...

Anonymous, I am curious to read it as well, though mildly concerned at some of the things she said in an article I read. I meant to do a post on here about it...perhaps I still will!!!

Anonymous said...

The idea of purple pants doesn't shock my sensibilities. I was raised in Polynesia where men wear "lavalavas"/waist to floor wraparounds which are brightly colored and featuring all manner of floral and scenic designs.

Raine Szramski said...

Grace, which Fiona MacCarthy article on the book did you read? Was it the one from The Telegraph? I already pre-ordered the book, as its over 600 pages of Burne-Jones material. I'm very curious about it now...