This is a sponsored post brought to you by ABC1
Some people like to imagine life in the future – how we’ll work, what we’ll eat, the clothes we’ll wear. Not me, mainly because no one really has a clue. I grew up watching The Jetsons, fully expecting that by the Year 2000 we’d be flying little personal jets through cities and wearing dresses with collars that looked like Saturn’s rings. It never happened. Ripped. Off.
History, on the other hand, is more reliable, and as far as I’m concerned, infinitely more seductive. We know the clothes, the cars, the language – we can make up stories leaving out the dull bits and embellishing the juicy parts.
And history is long and varied. The time that most appeals to me mightn’t do much for you. Don’t hate me but Ancient Rome leaves me cold.
My thing is about the nineteen twenties. After I grew out of those phony Jetsons, I was seduced by The Great Gatsby. What wasn’t to love about Robert Redford in pastels? Then I was captivated by the TV adaptation of Brideshead Revisited (whatever happened to Anthony Andrews, the foppish blond boy with the bear?)
The twenties was a photogenic decade, and a daring one, so it was a natural breeding ground for great stories. There was money, crime, sex, fashion and music. Also, nice lamps. Roll them together and it’s not surprising today’s writers and filmmakers are still drawn to it.
So I’m a teensy bit excited about Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries – a new murder mystery series set in the 1920s starting on ABC1 this Friday at 8.30pm.
Phryne Fisher is a glamorous woman of the 1920s – and she’s Australian. The lady sleuth sashays through the back lanes and jazz clubs of Melbourne, fighting crime with a pearl-handled pistol and dagger sharp wit.
If (for some bizarre reason) I’m not doing my usual thing and hanging out at a jazz club or something equally cool, I’ll be glued to it.
To celebrate the screening of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, ABC1 is giving you and a friend the chance to enjoy a sumptuous, 1920’s inspired weekend at The Hotel Windsor in Melbourne. Have your hair and makeup done and enjoy their famous High Tea. For your chance to win, go to www.abc.net.au/phrynefisher and write the opening paragraph of a mystery crime novel set in the 1920s. All entries will be judged by the author of the Phryne Fisher novels, Kerry Greenwood.
This post is sponsored by ABC1. Comments on this post are just for this post. If you want to talk about the IDEA of sponsored posts or the choice of advertisers please click here. We will be reading all those comments too for feedback.
In the meantime, tell us what’s your favourite period in history?
Comments
56 Comments so far
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Loved the first episode – can’t wait to watch more. It’s kind of quirky, beautifully filmed.
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For as long as I can remember I wished I was a teenager or in my early 20′s in the 1960′s. I really feel I missed an era that would have suited me (instead of the 80′s/ 90′s!) My hair, figure, love of 60′s music and passion for standing up for whats right would have fitted in so well to this time!!
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Omg yes! I didn’t realise this show was based on the books! Must watch.
I love the 1920s too. I’d love to go back to the 50s or 60s, if only for the fashion and the feminist revolution. I think that’s partially the fault of Mad Men.
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Forget the Jetsons, Star Trek PROMISED I’d be teleporting everywhere by now. That’s what I’m hanging out for!
Oh, and I’m a bit of a fan of the period between the wars. When we bought our first house (built 1925) we found the original lino had been stuck down with newspapers between the floorboards and the lino. I got completely lost in the stories of the day and have been a bit of fan ever since.
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Have been a big fan of The Hon Ms Phryne Fisher for a long time.
Dont know about this show…
Will have to wait and see.
As for my favorite time, I want a TARDIS so I can see them all!
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I have a few eras I like.
Medieval times. I love the clothes.
Victorian times. I love bustles (not corsets though).
The 1920s. The clothes suit my straight up and down figure.
The 1960s. When I was born, would’ve loved to be a hippy, at least for a while.
Sadly, it’s only about how the clothes look. I don’t think people were as clean years ago (no sewage), women died in childbirth, people were poorly fed on the whole and uneducated, women had no rights. Let’s face it, I’m a midwife, I probably would’ve been burned at the stake. At least there were improvements in the last century.
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Strangely, the eras that interest me the most, fashionwise would suck for my body! I really like Edwardian and the 20s, both for women built like you!
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Give me the 1950′s any day. Rock and roll, gorgeous big skirts, beautiful makeup.
Love the ’20s too, I was drawn to Underbelly: Razor for this very reason.
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Well being an Indian, I have always been fascinated with ancient civilization that existed more than 5000yrs ago between 1800 – 1900 BCE. We now have archaeological facts that is living proof of a roaring civilization with a rich tradition and cultural diversity that existed, in a very sound and self sufficient economy. Truly the “Golden Era”, there was bustling trade and freedom of creativity with almost zero crime rates. Men and women were considered equals and free to take up profession of their choice. The average life span was more than 100 yrs and people lived a life of virtue and dignity.
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I love love love the phyrne fisher books and can’t wait to see the series. I hope they haven’t meddled with the stories too much!
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I love the 1920′s!
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Talking about having an “era”, have you seen “Midnight In Paris” Kate?
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I did! Loved it. Also loved Monsuier Wilson.
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I like the era and will give it a go. Haven’t got high hopes though I’m afraid. For some reason Australian TV does period drama really really badly.
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ooh! 1940s France. French Resistance
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70s…. im a hippy at heart…. fashion wise and in a few other ways
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Im definitely another 20s girl! A few years ago, I cut my hair into a short Louise Brooks style bob. At the time, I had no idea who Louise Brooks was, and I was only vaguely aware of the fashions of the 1920s. I loved the haircut so much that I began researching the history of bobbed hair, and as a result, became obsessed with the Jazz Age. As much as I adore the clothes (oh my!) it’s not just about the fashion for me. The music, art, and architecture, and the fact that this was the dawn of a new age for women, minorities and society in general.
I’ve loved the Phryne books for quite a while. Reading one feels like an indulgence to me – sweet, decadent and a little but naughty. Can’t wait for the series!
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My era is the 90s. I rocked the 90s. I belong in the 90s. I know every word to every Spice Girls, 5ive and Backstreet Boys song. I think friendship is best shared over coffee in a regular coffee house, with canned laughter following timeless jokes. I know Wally is a gun at hide and seek, and if you can find him you’re even better. I know where in the world Carmen Sandiago is and how to use a payphone. I would love to spend hours taping songs off the radio onto my cassette and cursing the DJ for interjecting before my favourite song finished. And is there any fashion trend more comfortable than wide-leg pants, a hoodie tied around your waist, and a backwards baseball cap? Yep, I belong in the 90s.
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Based purely on the clothing, I’d pick late 1930s (think Margaret Lockwood in Hitchcock’s film “The Lady Vanishes”) or mid 1940s (think Lauren Bacall in that lovely skirtsuit in “The Big Sleep”).
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I simply adore the roaring 1920′s. The flappers, the fringe, the beads and the bobs. Where the modern woman blossomed. I adore going to The Windsor and being taken back in time to an era of Wondeful Nonsense, Jazz and fashion inspiration. I just love Phrynne Fisher and can’t wait till Friday night – we are having a Phrynne party to watch!
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I’m looking forward to Phryne too. Haven’t read the books but I think I would have been a good Bright Young Thing.
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OOOOHHHH give me the 70′s any day. When brown, lime green and orange were the “in” colours, bean bags arrived, macrame hanging pots were cool and wearing tartan Roller Strollers was fashion. The era where everyone had Farrah on their wall and Willy Aames from Eight is Enough made curly hair cute and bench seats in cars were practical and roomy. Flares were in, rockstars wore makeup (think KISS) and Molly did us a favour with Countdown. Give me the simple 70′s any day…….
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My era is now….whilst I love the romance of the 1920′s in books that I read, the reality would have been quiet different. I love that I have freedom of speech and choice as a female. I love that my pram fits into the boot of my car, and that I can travel in my car in any weather without the smell of a horse lingering in the air. I love my heater in the winter time and aircon in the summer. Most of all, I love that my husband does not dictate everything I do (and that my mother or father did not choose him for me), and if I want to go down the street for some girly time away from my beautiful children he loves looking after them while I’m out and he lets me spend “our” money without any sort of approval.
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Renaissance Italy. Sigh. The art, the architecture…
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I love the 80s/90s. Yes it’s dorky fashion but it is the most fun to dress up in. And the music from the 80s and 90s is the best stuff to dance to with your friends. AMAZING!
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I should have been born in the 19th Century. Marry for love (that conveniently happened to also be a really rich bloke) like Lizzie Bennet and never work. But wear corsets. Lots of corsets with frilly umbrellas. I look best in a corset with my hair all up and my skin deathy pale.
Of course that’s ignoring the horrible poverty, lack of medicine, inequality and strong possibility you would die in childbirth…
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You have beaten me to write this! I definitely should have been born in Jane Austen’s time. Although a bit of family money would be nice and minus the lack of reasonable medical knowledge and death in childbirth as you said. I just love the clothes and hairstyles with nothing to do all day other than painting and playing the piano. Sigh!
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Me three! I love everything about Jane Austen and Georgian times. Whilst it would have been very difficult as a woman without many of the freedoms we have today, I just love everything about that time. I have always wanted to dress as Lizzie Bennett at a dress up party. I’m fascinated by everything Jane Austen.
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I have gone to a dress up party in one of those dresses.
And did I mention I am, actually, a painter? Think I’d fit in really well.
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Funny how almost all the answers have to do with fashion, especially as there’s nothing stopping you from dressing like your in the 20′s, 50′s etc. today. What people wore is just about the last thing I’d think about when choosing an era.
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Probably would be discouraged from wearing a corset and full 19th Century gown to work though… And it might be hard to catch the bus.
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Baha!
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1920′s my hair was made for it!
It’s probably the only era where my uncontrollable thick curly hair will adopt the hairstyles without complaint. Straightening my hair is impossible, pin curls, fancy hats, oh my!
See!
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Wah. You look like me! That’s scary!
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Hair wise, yes, but I’m too curvy for the straight up n down flapper look!
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1960′s for me….preferably London circa 65-66…….yeah baby!
P.S. Anthony Andrews was in ‘The Kings Speech’, playing British PM Stanley Baldwin
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I would have to say the 50′s … I would love to live in a time where you get dressed up to go to town, where the shops shut at midday so there was family time.
Where picnics on a sunday were what you did.
I love the 50′s dresses, where men wore suits and ties – and hats!
I know there are other aspects of that time that perhaps I wouldnt like – the fact I can speak about my deceased daughter (8 weeks, SIDS) and keep photos around the house, that my (soon to be ex) husband and I were able to split and show our children that this is a healthier realtionship than what we had. But there are the simple aspects of the 50s that draw me in too!
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I have always wanted to visit the 1960s – especially San Francisco in the Summer of Love. I love the idea of wearing love beads, ponchos, sitting in the street playing guitar, going to ‘love-ins’ and ‘sit-ins’ and watching the world change right before your eyes. Missed it all – I was a baby.
For those of you saying the 1970s – it wasn’t that great. it was okay for your boss to pinch your bum (try complaining about it – you were told you had no sense of humour), there were still ‘men only’ bars, everything was expensive especially things like TVs and fridges and there were no stretch jeans or GHD hair straighteners (so we ALL had bad hair back then – sorry that was a little glib but I love my GHD)
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I’m a 70s baby, and I have a theory that you don’t naturally dig the stuff that was trendy when you were born. So I detest flares, disco, etc. I don’t know many people my age who were keen when it all came back for some reason. Stuff goes out of fashion for a reason!
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I was born during the summer of love and I’d have loved to be a young adult then. I also love the music from back then, it’s not just the fashion. We made a point of going to Haight-Ashbury when we went to San Francisco last year, but it started to bucket down.
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I watched that movie The Time Machine when I was a kid (the 1960 version with Rod Taylor) and it blew my mind. How I would love to have a time machine.
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My favourite eras are the ’20s and ’60s/’70s, but as much as I would love to wear an original Chanel or Ossie Clark, I could not deal with a society that was that racist & sexist.
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I am an early 60′s girl all the way, the dresses and cars, the music.
This reminds me of the movie Midnight In Paris though, we always look back to the past.
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I love the Phryne Fisher novels. Very entertaining.
Mother always told me I was born about 100 years too late. Perhaps then my era is somewhere in the mid to late 1800′s? Although I suspect I may be a bit of a problem child if I really did live then!
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Yes, Mid to late 1800′s too, the time of Marie Antoinette, I find that era facinating.
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Your timing is a little out (she lived from 1755 – 1793 so missed the 1800s completely) or do you mean the 18th century?
It’s fun to think about the good bits about earlier lives but remember that you average Australian worker has an infinitely higher standard of living than Henry VIII or pretty much any other historical figure you can think of. Just think what life would be like without hot water, modern dentistry and antibiotics let alone the social attitudes that saw virtually all women as married, breeding and dependent on the tolerance of their husbands. And the further back in time you go and the more primitive the society, the worse it would have been. Quite happy here in the 21st century thanks.
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What a buzz kill, this is someone else’s fantasy not yours.Let them eat cake !
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I don’t look modern- never have. So, 50′s/60′s have always been my schtick.
Lately, I’ve gone mad for the roaring 40′s though: Belted waists, pussy bows, utility dresses, wide-legged pants, head scarves… And I love the mentality of it … women’s rights (eg. Rosie the Riveter), “make do and mend”, buy quality etc… It’s a lovely backlash to nasty, current day consumerism.
I’m fast becoming obsessed
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Easy 1950′s – Dior’s New Look. Amazing clothes and a time of great change post WWII. My wedding dress was based on a 1950′s design that’s how much I love it. Although 1900′s would run a close second again great clothes and a time when women really began to come to the fore in society.
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Regency – but I think this has more to do with wanting to shag Colin Firth in a lake than anything else.
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Ha ha! Great!
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Here, Here!
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Definitely between the the 1920′s and the 1940′s. And Edith Head designs in gorgeous old movies… Wow wow wow the gowns.
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I’m a late 20′s/early 30′s girl myself. I love pin curls and finger waves and bold lipsticks and eye flicks.. I suppose that could put me in the 50′s as well though.
I was thinking about this for my 25th birthday party! Everyone has an era that they love, so i decided the dress up theme will be come as your fave era.. Fun!
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Yes this is definitely my era too! Great Gatsby eat your heart out!
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I’ve always said I would’ve liked to have been born 30 years earlier. I think the 70s would have suited me well – for the music and fashion, if nothing else.