Put On Your Nylons, Dollface, It’s Time For An Air Raid Party
Posted by: Jessica Wakeman
Filed in:
news
9:30AM, Saturday June 6th 2009
Brits. We will never understand them sometimes—and not just because of the cute accents.
Tonight some rather cheeky Brits are celebrating a “Blitz Party,” the 65th anniversary of D-Day, when the Allied forces invaded Normandy, France, during WWII. (The Blitz was when the Germans bombed the city of London for over a month straight, tens of thousands of Brits were killed and millions of homes and buildings destroyed.)
The Guardian says the Blitz Party will be held under Shoreditch railway arches, done up to look like an air raid shelter with sandbags, searchlights, and bunk beds, and promises a “blackout” till late. The dress code, of course, is 1940s glam, with ladies rationed nylons and men in uniform. Yum, yum!
OK, the whole party sounds fabulous. But also a smidge tasteless. What do you think? [The Blitz Party]
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misspixie
wrote on June 6 2009 @ 09:40 am: [report]
Oh maaaan, if it wasn’t in the middle of my exams I would have gone to that like a shot! Shoreditch is tres cool for party luvaaars. xxxx
charliecat
wrote on June 6 2009 @ 09:44 am: [report]
The name is a bit tasteless, but the intention is good. It seems like they are celebrating D-Day, the end to the Blitz & the begining of the end on the war. Much like an Irish wake, celebrate the positive of the moment. It is a day to be celebrated, like our Fourth of July, their independence was restored.
But yes, the name Blitz Party puts more focus on The Blitz, less on the hard won freedom.
writergirl
wrote on June 6 2009 @ 10:54 am: [report]
The name is the only thing that’s wrong. The sentiment is spot-on.
Ginger
wrote on June 6 2009 @ 11:31 am: [report]
The name is a tad tasteless, but also has a nice ring to it. And it makes me think of the phrase “Let’s get blitzed”.
But the sentiment makes this one of the best party ideas I have ever heard of. I’d much rather celebrate that than the Fourth of July.
LadyAlys
wrote on June 6 2009 @ 11:49 am: [report]
It sounds like they are actually celebrating the bombing of London instead of the end of the war. Celebrating the end of the war makes perfect sense to me. A party for the deaths and destruction throughout London, not so much. Even celebrating D-day (when the allied troops landed there leading to the end of the war) seems a bit wrong. We don’t celebrate the bombing at Hiroshima, even though it was a major factor leading to the end of the war.
Ginger
wrote on June 6 2009 @ 12:26 pm: [report]
I think that England celebrated the end of the war more than we did. Not to lessen anything that America went through during that time, but the people in Europe had it a lot worse. Their outlook on the events is bound to be different.
misspixie
wrote on June 6 2009 @ 01:46 pm: [report]
Damn right - rationing went on for years after the war had ended whereas America didn’t have food rationing.
As for the name, I doubt even my grandparents would have found this insulting - having all lived through The Blitz in London and through various other aspects of the war. They probably would have appreciated the fact that people were still remembering what people went through.
In a way, having had the Blitz and the destruction of parts of London, we would not have had the modern developments that we have here today (although it’s so very sad that so many lost their lives).
xxxx
retro chic
wrote on June 6 2009 @ 02:20 pm: [report]
LadyAlys says it for me already. In fact, why not ask London partier grandparents if this is in good taste—if they’re still alive. Chances are, not, their horrifying stories would quash this. Tho, it was their families’ funerals of 10,000+ so I guess its their dark event to memorialize any way they wish. And, why bother separating the criticism of the title from the sentiment, what does that mean? As for any American reference, we’d still have one more year of war to go in the Pacific—far from any semblance of final victory celebrations.
LadyAlys
wrote on June 6 2009 @ 02:31 pm: [report]
exactly (retro chic). I have no problem with people remembering what they went through, but I believe things like this deserve an honorable remembrance rather than a ‘let’s get drunk and party’ party. Not saying that you can’t remember the good things that came of it, but let’s not forget all the innocents who were sacrificed during that time.