If it's the end of August, then it must be time for the new Ikea catalogue.
My mother is obsessed with looking at it every year, despite the fact that she never goes there. She's all about the Ercol rather than the flat pack. But for some reason she loves to look through it.
Especially at the lampshades .
But this year she has been less than impressed. I was making us a cup of tea when I heard her shouting -
"What the hell!, these lampshades look like a Victorian tart's bloomers"
I ran in from the kitchen and immediately started laughing, the woman had a point....
LYRIKShades from £25
As we continued to look, it became evident, that someone over at the Ikea buying department had been thinking not just about tarts but also about nuns!
The varmluft lampshade makes me think of a nun's cornette
A cornette is a piece of female headwear that was especially popular in Europe in the 15th to 17th century. It is essentially a type of wimple consisting of a large starched piece of white cloth that is folded upwards in such a way as to create the resemblance of horns (French: cornes) on the wearer's head.
The cornette was retained however as a distinctive piece of clothing into modern times by the Roman Catholic society of apostolic life of the Daughters of Charity, founded by St. Vincent de Paul. The founder wanted to have the sisters of this new type of religious congregation of women, that tended to the sick poor and were not required to remain in their cloister, resemble ordinary middle-class women as much as possible in their clothing - this was the reason why the cornette was adopted.
After the cornette generally fell into disuse, it became a distinctive feature of the Daughters of Charity, making theirs one of the most widely recognised religious habit. Because of the cornette, they were known in Ireland as the "butterfly nuns".
isThey abandoned the cornette on 20 September 1964 but it seems Ikea are all set to bring it back in 2012!!!
VARMLUFT Shade, square off-white £5
As if tarts and nuns weren't enough, they also threw a ballerina into the mix.
Ikea PS 2012 Floor Lamp is aBallerina inspired shade offers a dramatic effect when integrated LED lamp is lit. But would you pay £100 for an oversized illuminated tutu?
You know how much I love me some lamps but there is no way in hell, I would give any of these palace room...
Queen Marie
