Tyne O'Connell

T’was a long & harrowing journey from London to Coventry where I had long yearned to celebrate Daniel Lismore’s extraordinary exhibition but oh what a joyous wealth of treasure awaited me when I finally arrived at the Herbert Gallery Art unites us & reminds us of our shared humanity @daniellismoreexhibition - @the_herbert_cov @daniellismore @yosclark @valentino_vecchietti #lgbtqia #lgbtqhistory #pride2022 (at Herbert Art Gallery & Museum) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfHC-kqtxsH/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Strolling down #stjamesstreet with My Lord & Liege @daniellismore there is no one I’d rather make #history with than you … every moment spent with you is a Work of Art… Environmentally friendly Licensed Sedan Chairs were introduced by King CharlesI in 1625 after the historic arrival of his 15 year old wife French Queen Henri (beloved Icon of #oscarwilde ) became the fascination of London when she arrived outside St James’s Palace earlier that year with Dashing liveried footmen almost as handsome as mine! She caused a sensation as the assembled crowd of curious Londoners & #Fleetstreet newsmen caught a sight of her ruby & diamond encrusted 4 inch heels - creating an instant fashion trend throughout the kingdom as every chap & chappess of style deemed them the must have accessory of the Halcyon Age. Even King CharlesI equipped himself with jewel encrusted heels to bring him closer to heaven👠 Remember life’s too short not to make history! Thank you to my handsome #footmen Patrick & George @furiousgoose & @ego_lapinus - also @jameswill.01 Film by @daniellismore #queerhistory #mayfairhistory #stjamespalace #lgbtqhistory #lgbtqia Thank you everyone for your support during my recent health struggles @braintumourrsch https://www.instagram.com/p/CSkxzzWIR1b/?utm_medium=tumblr

When #oscarwilde was incarcerated in Reading Gaol in May 1895 for the crime of “being himself” it exposed the inhumanity & bigotry of Victorian Calvinism. In prison he began his book De Profundis in which he wrote: “When first I was put into prison some people advised me to try & forget who I was. It was ruinous advice. It is only by realising what I am that I have found comfort of any kind.” These words remain as profound & as relevant today as 1897. For if we allow politicians & moralists to govern who we are, we are ruined! It is no longer a crime to be gay in Britain but we are still demanding the government #stopdithering & criminalise the torture of transgender children -many people are shocked at the scale & barbarity of #conversiontherapy in Britain especially as transgenderism was considered perfectly natural until the Victorian Age when LGBTQIA TORCHBEARERS like #shakespeare & #sirfrancisbacon were ghosted maligned or their sexuality “realigned” to conform to Victorian heteronormative ideals. Many of Shakespeare’s plays were inspired by the trans actor-activist & celebrity Mall Frith (born Mary 1584-1659). London’s viaducts flowed with wine after his funeral which was attended by thousands more than Puritan Military Dictator #olivercromwell 1658 Raise a glass to Frith on the anniversary of his death 26th July. TORCHBEARER GOWN created by trans-artist @highfashionhockey (in video) @petertatchellfoundation #banconversiontherapy #transrightsarehumanrights https://www.instagram.com/p/CQwBWoTAW7L/?utm_medium=tumblr

The TORCHBEARERS GOWN created by proud #transman artist @highfashionhockey in celebration of LGBTQIA TORCHBEARERS of HISTORY - “Turning one's back on the poisonous lie of bigotry, disguised as conformity; The hemlock served in a gilded goblet, The eternal lie that if we blend in, we will be safe! Camouflaged by convention but to sip from the goblet isolates us from the magnificent possibilities of our true selves” QUOTE by TYNE O’CONNELL “The Poisonous Lie” @highfashionhockey @daniellismore @petertatchellfoundation #transpride #lgbtqia #lgbtqpride #stopdithering #stoptransphobia #stopconversiontherapy #queerhistorymatters (at Mayfair, W1 London) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQhPBfgg8cL/?utm_medium=tumblr

My greatest wealth is the #inspiration of those precious #memorymaking moments created with friends. Nothing can #inspire new ideas or the #artistsmuse like the gaiety of moments shared with friends. It is these memories which have sustained me - not only through #lockdown - but through all the uncertainty & fear that assail one during those “dark nights of the soul”. The power of friendship to inspire is so great in fact it has inspired more art than any single emotion, event or idea. Shakespeare wrote almost 200 sonnets on the power of love which remain as poignant now as they did over 400 years ago. He dedicated 2/3rds of these sonnets to his lover William Herbert (W.H.) & the other 1/3rd to his closest friend Mary Wroth, the first celebrated female playwright (best known as Shakespeare’s Dark Lady). Mary was not only The Bard’s closest friend. The two shared the same lover for over 20 years - for William Herbert was the lover of both Shakespeare & #marywroth My Friends inspire me as do the intriguing friendships of all the great Eccentric & Queer Torchbearers of History - from #shakespeare & Mary Wroth - Queen Henri & #francescacaccini - #aphrabehn & #nellgwynn - Dorothy Savile & her husband’s lover #williamkent - Ignatius Sancho & Elizabeth Monagu - abolitionists Danieloconnell & Frederick Douglass - OscarWilde & Robbie Ross - Evelyn Waugh & Nancy Mitford ⚜️Olivier Mourao & his magnificent Salons of Eccentric Friends remind us of the power of friendship to inspire & sustain! “For friends are the roses heart cheering & fair, that make life a journey both happy & rare. Friends lend a gladness & make care depart for friends are the roses that bloom in the heart” ♥️ Photographs by @jamesdkelly @raja.aulla @oliviermourao.art @victoriagrant @marthasitwell @oloferlandsson @juliusjust #fashionasart #eccentrics #artisticsalon #sustainablefashion @queerhistory #eccentricity #torchbearers (at South Kensington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CP3tY1pg0rH/?utm_medium=tumblr

Oscar Wilde wrote in Reading Gaol (where he’d been incarcerated for being himself: “most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinion, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation” “The world needs more #eccentrics - bold enough to step beyond the lie of conformity & cut a line of their own. Queer icons of History- from the #transgender #actor #transactivist & hero Mall Frith 1584/5-1659, #Lesbian spy playwright & #abolitionist Aphra Behn 1640-1689 to #oscarwilde & #quintencrisp paid a high price for their refusing to fit it. By celebrating the dandies Dandizettes & Eccentrics of #history from 1603 - by honouring all those who dare to resist the safety of fitting in we the keep the torch of the LGBTQ torchbearers of history burning! For The Dandy & the #dandizette expose the cruel lie; that if we sacrifice our true-selves & conform to the uniform of fitting in, we will be safe from bigots. But in truth for all their spluttering objections & threats, no one will ever thank you sacrificing your true self. Fitting-in is a flawed myth, for if everyone is lying to everyone else, conformity lacks any credence.” Extract from by article “The Sartorial Power of Dandies & Dandizettes” Tyne O’Connell “Art is relinquishing all, & turning one's back on the poisonous lie of bigotry, disguised as conformity; The hemlock served in a gilded goblet, The eternal lie that if we blend in, We will be safe! Camouflaged by convention. But to sip from the goblet isolates us from the magnificent possibilities of eccentricity. Everything I do is a quest for beauty, The apotheosis of life lived as art ... The holy grail of that fragile, precious, exquisite gift we never know we've been bequeathed… until it begins to slips away”Poetry by @tyneoconnell Filmed by @meihuiliu8 @victimfashionst with @markogm & @douglasdaremusic (at Victim) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPqH1OyAAoa/?utm_medium=tumblr

ALWAYS DEFY Whatever economies you make in life, never stint on #defiance ...it’s what #memories are made of! I have lain alone in the lonely #pain on the cold tiles of bathroom floors in those cruel hours before dawn - amongst the assembly of all suffering souls assaulted by #fear & #selfdoubt Stripped of dignity, hope & reason. This #braintumour is closing my mortal-aperture & my ability to muffle the relentless agony with the splendour of #ancestral #jewels & #ballgowns Yet in my crusade to medicate with regal glamour subversive women & lgbtqia I have unleashed a #cornucopia of history’s most extraordinary torchbearers who led Britain out of the superstitious-brutality of the medieval into a cornucopia of liberties ideas & opportunities of the Modern Age - bathed in priceless #tiaras & #artworks in the sparking #champagnefountains of laughter & love For I have been exulted by the #elixir of the #ancient #alchemists ancient quest to #transmute the ordinary into the exquisite ...Whatever economies must be made, never stint on defiance ...it’s what #memories are made of...©️TYNE OCONNELL #braintumourawareness #philipsalon @thegrouchoclub #pain #makingmemories #queerhistory #photographer @muirvidler #lgbtqia #history #irishhistory (at The Groucho Club) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPmJrvqA9Yr/?utm_medium=tumblr

Celebrity & Eccentricity emerged during the Rising visibility of women & LGBTQIA Torchbearers from 1603 after the openly gay KingJamesI removed a host of restrictions & #class & gender barriers designed to “keep people in their place & women & LGBTQ+ in the shadows”⚜️By loosening censorship laws, James enabled the rise of #newvoices & #newideas but it was his abolition of ancient Sumptuary Laws which had oppressed people via thousands of laws limiting clothes as a uniform of class & gender. His abolition of ALL sumptuary laws unleashed a host of freedoms triggering the Birth of Fashion as Art for the masses as clothes became a means of expressing ideas & individuality. The leading LGBTQIA Torchbearers such as Shakespeare, trans-actor & activist Mall Frith, Mary Wroth, Mary Herbert, Elizabeth Cary, Sir Francis Bacon became the first #celebrities of the Modern Age from 1603-1642 (Puritans dragged British & Ireland back to medieval thinking & law by abolishing democracy & imposing a Puritan Military Dictatorship) 1660-1840! #lgbtqia #queerhistory #womenshistory #eccentricity #dandy #dandizette #celebrity #fashionasart #shakespeare #mallfrith #marywroth #sirfrancisbacon #kingjamesi (at Mayfair, W1 London) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPjFbVCg0K-/?utm_medium=tumblr

#creatingmemories @chilternfirehouse #vintageburgandy dreams forever! I’m swathed in ancestral robes & jewels @daniellismore in @alexandermcqueen (at Chiltern Firehouse) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPhFMOzgE9O/?utm_medium=tumblr

“If you think we’re waxworks” he said “you really ought to pay you know”Lewis Carroll Alice In Wondered - A magical day on Friday @vamuseum #aliceinwonderland exhibition with #artist & p#photographer @lorna_may_ & #millinery artist @victoriagrant - this week has been a glorious adventure through the looking glass of the arts! “Is Wonderland really a wonder when you have nowhere to land?” Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Dodgson) #lewiscarroll #aliceinwonderland Photograph by @lorna_may_ https://www.instagram.com/p/CPeUbplALWj/?utm_medium=tumblr

Excited to be back @thewolseley this afternoon to make new memories with @katia_sergeeva - for it is the merry month of May, tra la la la la! Let’s go #Maying … @markogm (at The Wolseley) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPDOlikAmcV/?utm_medium=tumblr

Adventures in #nottinghill on Thursday with the debonair artist @oliviermourao.art at the #atelier of The Empress of #millinery @victoriagrant where I tried on a few of her exquisite millinery confections, including Sacred Heart & Fierce Grace - both of which I wore as we delved into the extraordinary history of millinery as a means of expressing both individually & ideas from 1603 when our first gay Monarch King JamesI son of #MaryQueenofScots abolished the ancient #sumptuarylaws which had restricted fashion to the aristocracy. The Worshipful Company of Felt makers & Hat makers were also incorporated by “Letters of Patent” by #kingjamesi in 1604 which gave milliners intellectual copyright over their designs. Millery reached its apotheosis during the Halcyon Days of 1625-1642 Which saw an unprecedented expression of personal #eccentricity throughout fashion & the arts specifically through #crossdressing before Puritans banned #highheels & #millinery along with #theatre singing dancing the arts, sport & all other forms of pleasure. In 1660 Military was finally re-established along with Theatre & everything else the puritans had outlawed. The Restoration of 1660 saw King CharlesII was restored to the throne. Hat makers received further Royal Charters in 1667 - once again establishing hats as an essential part of fashion. Victoria Grant is blazing a trail of millinery revival & representing hats as the crowning glory of every sartorial presentation #millinerycouture #queerhistory @victoriagrant @oliviermourao.art @raja.aulla https://www.instagram.com/p/CPOGkMUAqLY/?utm_medium=tumblr

“The spirit of Mayfair beats in the heart of Dandies and Dandizettes everywhere!” ©️Tyne O’Connell Mayfair arose like a Sphinx from the ashes of the brutality of The Puritan Military Dictatorship of #olivercromwell following the Restoration of King CharlesII on the 29th May 1660. The design of Mayfair was based his father’s dream for a Modern London of residential garden squares & glass fronted retail arcades. Mayfair immediately became the heartland of the #Eccentric dandies & Dandizettes so despised by the #puritans who had first coined the terms #dandy & #dandizette in 1618 as insults against #crossdressing & flamboyant fashions. Stay tuned for more Mayfair secrets as we gear up to celebrate Oak Apple Day this Saturday 29th May 2021. #olivercromwell @muirvidler #jermynstreet #piccadilly” #mayfair #dandy #dandizettes #queerhistory #eccentrics #beaubrummell #dorothysavile (at Mayfair, W1 London) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPRCCRAAMwY/?utm_medium=tumblr

Adventures in #nottinghill on Thursday with the debonair artist @oliviermourao.art at the #atelier of The Empress of #millinery @victoriagrant where I tried on a few of her exquisite millinery confections, including Sacred Heart & Fierce Grace - both of which I wore as we delved into the extraordinary history of millinery as a means of expressing both individually & ideas from 1603 when our first gay Monarch King JamesI son of #MaryQueenofScots abolished the ancient #sumptuarylaws which had restricted fashion to the aristocracy. The Worshipful Company of Felt makers & Hat makers were also incorporated by “Letters of Patent” by #kingjamesi in 1604 which gave milliners intellectual copyright over their designs. Millery reached its apotheosis during the Halcyon Days of 1625-1642 Which saw an unprecedented expression of personal #eccentricity throughout fashion & the arts specifically through #crossdressing before Puritans banned #highheels & #millinery along with #theatre singing dancing the arts, sport & all other forms of pleasure. In 1660 Military was finally re-established along with Theatre & everything else the puritans had outlawed. The Restoration of 1660 saw King CharlesII was restored to the throne. Hat makers received further Royal Charters in 1667 - once again establishing hats as an essential part of fashion. Victoria Grant is blazing a trail of millinery revival & representing hats as the crowning glory of every sartorial presentation #millinerycouture #queerhistory @victoriagrant @oliviermourao.art @raja.aulla https://www.instagram.com/p/CPOGkMUAqLY/?utm_medium=tumblr

Excited to be back @thewolseley this afternoon to make new memories with @katia_sergeeva - for it is the merry month of May, tra la la la la! Let’s go #Maying … @markogm (at The Wolseley) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPDOlikAmcV/?utm_medium=tumblr

Raising awareness of #idahoblit2021 #idahobit INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA - TRANSPHOBIA - BIPHOBIA & LESBOPHOBIA - it is only by supporting one another that we can overcome bigotry by raising awareness of breaches of #humanrights & brutality against #lgbtqia torchbearers globally! Art is relinquishing all, & turning one's back on the poisonous lie of bigotry, disguised as conformity; the hemlock served in a gilded goblet, the eternal lie that if we blend in, we will be safe, camouflaged by convention - but to sip from the goblet isolates us from the magnificent glory & possibilities of eccentricity #queersafeplace #lgbtqsafespace #queerhistory #lgbtqghana #queerhistorymatters @highfashionhockey @daniellismore @markogm @garyeverett77 @therealpandemonia @dragsyndrome @samkindon (at Mayfair, W1 London) https://www.instagram.com/p/CO_ZWZ1Ap-R/?utm_medium=tumblr