Marilyn's Photos - Polka Dots

 

Polka dot designs have been with us for a long time. Since medieval times. But I think before that - in indigenous cultures where tattooing was prevalent and dots formed patterns.  But they weren't the patterns that polka dots have come to mean.  More on that to come. So medieval times? Dots meant rashes like leprosy syphilis, smallpox, bubonic plague and measles. It was after the mid 1700s that polka dots came into their own with the sewing machine, and perfectly round and evenly spaced dots because of mechanized weaving. And dancing the polka. The polka dot pattern is said to bring wealth and prosperity in the Philippines.  The round shapes symbolize money and fortune.  Dresses, shirts, pants, shoes or any accessories with polk dot patterns are part of New year's celebrations and blessings. And there's a theory that when celebrities are pregnant they often turn up in polka dots. The Hindustan Times says that  "the most viral example of the same was Anushka Sharma who announced her pregnancy in 2020 wearing a polka dotted dress. Kareena Kapoor had also opted for a polka dotted dress as part of her maternity wardrobe." Yes, it tends to be a feminine pattern.  Men can have polka dot ties and socks, maybe a festive shirt.  But forget the rest.  George Clooney in the polka dot suit leaning against the polka dot car was outrageous and fun.  That was 2013 with the artist Kusama creating the dot style for all the photos.    Part of the fun is that there was sa tradition of American actresses and celebrities who wore polka dots - Lucille Ball, Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren and Audrey Hepburn. Even the sophisticated Grace Kelly is seen in polka dots.  But the rest of us - we aren't so adventurous.  Polka dots are considered the realm of children's clothing, bathing suits, and similar attire. There is a heads-up on a rebel theme. Since the 1980s the polka dot appears in gay culture and representing subversion and rebellion.  Supposedly unconventional colour choices, textures and styling do it. So polka dots in our times are in recession.  In fact, most prints are in recession.  They have gone into the unconscious past.  It is consistent with our  colour journey which has receded into dark hue - blacks, greys, blues. Maybe if we started doing the polka dance again, the collective conscious polka dot memory would come back.

Tulips vs polka dots today.

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May 24 2025 - How Old?

 

The headline says Canada Residents Born 1945 to 1985 could be eligible for this - you have to click to find out "this."  But the disgruntled older person in the picture gets your attention.   Was this person born in 1945?  If I sat next to hear at the table would you ask if we were sisters?  THat's interesting isn't it? So I went about the internet doing some asking.  The first site says 79, the second 36, the third 88, and the fourth says 79.  These are all sponsored sites selling other things.  What about sites that are interested in discerning age.  The last one says 82 years old.  If we go to Perfectcorp.com we will find the YouCan Makeup: AI Selfie editor will give us all kinds of advice - it is a virtual makeup ap, free AI hairstyle and hair colour changes, clothes changer and avatar generator, a one-tap photo face shaper, and AI skin and photo retouch. And don't forget to get an AI-powered body editor.  These all require a download "for free."  So we'll let them go by. And how old does this lady look - older than my mother when she passed away at 93. It could be how grumpy she looks. And I start to look carefully at the image and can see a 40kpm sign in the background, so think this is a Toronto street scene.  But even though I put the image into ClarityCheck, I don't want to give my email for the report so maybe I'll have to figure out this age-looking thing some other day. Should I look at those apps that predict a person's age progression?  At the Perfect app, it shows a person's age progressions - 16, 24, 35,  and so on.  Can you imagine young people at 16 looking at themselves and what they will look like at 45?  It seems a bit scary to me.   Here's the example, with the postings  to instagram, X and TikTok.   Historically, this technology started out as a method to identify and apprehend fugitives and locate missing children.  We do get to odd places from where we started.

A polka dot abstract today.

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Polka Dots

What makes Polka Dots the subject of satire and derision? Baffoons in cartoons are portrayed wearing  polka-dot boxer briefs.  Men should perhaps wear a small repeating polka dot on a tie, particularly a bow tie in black with white dots.  That's what Sir Winston Churchill and his father Lord Randolph Churchill were pictured wearing.  A Polka dot pattern today is seen on children's clothing, toys, furniture, folksy products - but not considered a fashion pattern in our current design context. Polka dots were a design craze in the 19th century.  They gained popularity then because machines started to make fabric and the evenly-spaced dots could be created with machines. The oldtimey.com site tells me that in Medieval Europe, the pattern represented disease and impurity. They also say that in Non-Western cultures, dots are viewed as symbols of male virility and magic.  There's a rite of passage in which a young man, painted in white dots, knocks persistently on a polka-dotted door until it opens. In women's fashion, polka dots have a history dating back to the 1800s. Godey's Lady's book was the first magazine to sport a spotted fabric in print - that was 1857.  It was in reference to a scarf - it was embroidered in rows of round polka dots. From the 1920s to the 1940s, polka dots made their way into popular fashion clothing as well as house accessories.  Minnie Mouse was dressed in a red and white polka dot dress and hair bow.  Popularity continued in the 1950s when Dior created an elegant black dress with white dots, and 1960s fashion continued to play with the design. Today we've relegated polka dots to the context of fun and play.  Sometimes white-on-black dots appear in more formal clothing. That happened at the Golden Globes with Zoe Kravitz in a polka-dotted off-the shoulder Saint Laurent gown.  You should see some of the dresses HERE.  They range from gorgeous to scary. To see the picture history in famous polka dot outfits (including Frank Sinatra in a polka-dot shirt and Marilyn Monroe in her polka dot bikini) click this link HERE.  My own inventory of images contains few tagged with "dot".  This little cactus, though, is perfect.

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Polka Dots

The subtropical garden has plants that we don't have at all. These little yellow polka dots look more like something fabricated than a product of nature. These turn out to be a Psilotum nudum also known as the Skeleton Fork Fern.  Its name means 'bare naked' in Latin, because it lacks most of the organs of modern plants.  It is considered a'primitive' plant.  It is prized in Japan and called pine needle orchid there.  In the Hawaiian Islands it is known locally as Moa because of its chicken feet like stems.  Hawaiians use the spores like talcum powder. Children have a game called 'moa nahele'  or cock fighting with the branches and stems.  The winner would crow like a rooster.  It also has a common name of Whisk Fern, as a handful of its branches would be tied together and used as  broom.   All this history from an unusual plant in the conservatory of the Marie Selby Gardens in Florida.